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“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. Our recommendation is all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into preserved goods and firearms.” This piece of wise counsel comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, articulate, spectacled member of the oozy monster mob that overruns Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in filmmaker Joe Dante’s madcap sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. On the surface, it’s nothing more than an financial suggestion from one monster to another. Yet, oddly enough, it’s also pretty solid existential counsel. Honestly, listen to my reasoning.

When situations deteriorate, the biggest mistake you can do is approach matters with excessive gravity. The Brain Gremlin understands this. In fact, most of the toothy monsters that inhabit Dante’s chaotic 1990 feature (arguably his best) possess the same wry, meta comic sensibility regarding the indistinct border separating daily routine and absolute bedlam. It’s a single component of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that maintains my loyalty – and with the passage of time, it’s the message that echoes the loudest.

A Childhood Fascination

Of course, my connection with this movie did not begin on such an introspective level. As a child, we possessed merely a few battered VHS tapes at home. Among them were Gremlins and its sequel, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box probably bought from an off-brand video shop and sporting grimacing beasts on its tattered front. I was immediately enamoured and these films did not delay inserting themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. From then on, they became an near-everyday part of my early years entertainment regimen.

Dante’s initial installment usually receives all the praise, thanks mostly because of its status as a partly frightening holiday classic – and don’t get me wrong, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. That said, its sequel seldom receives the same level of elevated esteem, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d always seize the chance to watch Gremlins 2. During bright summer vacations, I’d retreat into the house and pop it in. When I got my own TV-VHS combo unit, it continued playing looped in my bedroom. Gradually, it became deeply rooted in my psyche. If my parents noticed this obsession, they appeared unbothered.

Deeper Rewards and Cultural Nuggets

As I got older, new revelations enhanced multiple watches, amplifying the pleasure of watching small emerald creatures happily vandalize a New York high-rise. I learned the ahead-of-its-time real estate tycoon and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was modeled closely on the later-to-be-president Donald Trump, with his ginger staff member Marla (Haviland Morris) referencing his second wife Marla Maples. Luckily, Clamp has more heart than his genuine article inspiration.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was based on a genuine “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner in case the world really ended. I noticed how Dante took extra pains to film different iterations of a self-aware scene where Gremlins seize control of the exact movie you are viewing. One for cinemas, one for VHS and TV, each delivering a smirking slice of self-referential entertainment sorcery ahead of its time.

A Lasting Appeal

While it was creature designer Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that drew my gaze as a child, this subsurface richness maintained my fascination as an adult. Eventually, I even conversed with Dante about it myself and he had no qualms telling me he made the movie with the specific aim of ridiculing those who loved its goofy-but-heartfelt predecessor and craved further installments. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he happily revealed. This cartoonish rebelliousness and commitment to not take his sequel as gravely as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only increased my affection for it.

When I endured a abrupt familial death earlier this year, I was taken aback to discover that, during my most profound sorrow, all I felt compelled to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Weird, right? Perhaps not. The nostalgic calm it provided was needed to thin out my mind’s grief morass – but the stuff it had bestowed upon me as an adult were equally valuable.

Like Gremlins rampaging through a genetics laboratory, there’s certain elements in life you just are powerless over. Dante is aware of it. The Brain Gremlin agrees completely. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: accept the turmoil, commit your entire being into canned food and shotguns and try not to take things too seriously.

It’s strong life advice from a very unlikely source – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my feelgood film.