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“Well, it’s rather brutal here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into canned food and shotguns.” This piece of shrewd guidance comes from the Brain Gremlin – a scientifically altered, talking, spectacled member of the slick creature crowd that overruns Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in helmer Joe Dante’s zany follow-up Gremlins 2: The New Batch. At first glance, it’s simply an financial suggestion from one monster to another. Yet, oddly enough, it’s also surprisingly sturdy existential counsel. Truly, consider my perspective.

When situations deteriorate, the most counterproductive action you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin grasps this. Indeed, most of the fang-bearing creatures that occupy Dante’s wild 1990 film (debateably his greatest) possess the same sly, self-aware comic sensibility regarding the hazy boundary separating daily routine and absolute bedlam. It’s a particular aspect of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that ensures my return – and with the passage of time, it’s the message that strikes the deepest chord.

An Early Life Fixation

Naturally, my attachment to this movie didn’t start on such an introspective level. Growing up, we only had a few battered VHS tapes at home. Part of that group were Gremlins and its second chapter, the latter housed in a bulky previously-rented case likely purchased from an off-brand video shop and sporting growling monsters on its worn-out artwork. I was instantly captivated and these films quickly proceeded lodging themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. Henceforth, they became an almost-daily part of my childhood viewing routine.

Dante’s first film usually receives all the plaudits, thanks mostly because of its legacy as a partly frightening holiday classic – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. That said, its successor seldom receives the same level of lofty appreciation, which feels a travesty. As a kid, I’d invariably jump at the prospect to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d seclude myself indoors and stick it on. When I got my own TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. With repetition, it ingrained itself in my psyche. If my parents observed this fixation, they appeared unbothered.

Subtler Discoveries and Pop-Culture References

As I grew, new understandings rewarded frequent screenings, elevating the fun of watching little green monsters gleefully trash a New York high-rise. I learned the future-focused development mogul and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was inspired directly by future president Donald Trump, with his ginger staff member Marla (Haviland Morris) alluding to his former spouse Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp has more heart than his actual-world equivalent.

The “end of civilisation” video Clamp plays during the height of creature carnage? I discovered it was inspired by a actual “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner as a contingency for the world really ended. I noticed how Dante took extra pains to film different iterations of a meta sequence where Gremlins take over the actual feature in progress. An edit for movie houses, a separate one for tape and broadcast, each delivering a smirking slice of meta pop-culture magic before the term was even a thing.

An Enduring Legacy

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s gloriously nasty-looking creatures that caught my eye as a child, this deeper gold kept me hooked as an adult. Ultimately, I even spoke to Dante about it myself and he had no hesitation informing me he made the movie with the specific aim of ridiculing those who loved its silly-yet-sincere predecessor and craved further installments. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he happily revealed. This anarchic defiance and commitment to not take his sequel as gravely as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only increased my affection for it.

When I went through a unexpected loss in the family earlier this year, I was taken aback to discover that, during my deepest grief, all I felt compelled to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Weird, right? Maybe not. The nostalgic calm it offered was necessary to thin out my mind’s sadness sludge – but the perspectives it had given me as an adult were just as useful.

Like Gremlins rampaging through a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just cannot manage. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin shares this wisdom. Sometimes, you have to emulate them: accept the turmoil, commit your entire being into preserved goods and firearms and try not to view the world with undue solemnity.

It’s strong life advice from a very unlikely source – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will eternally stand as my comfort movie.