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“Well, the situation is pretty dire here. We’re advising all of our clients to invest all their resources into preserved goods and firearms.” This nugget of shrewd guidance comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, speaking, bespectacled member of the slick creature crowd that infests Manhattan’s super-smart Clamp Tower skyscraper in filmmaker Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. At first glance, it’s simply an investment tip from one monster to another. But, oddly enough, it’s also pretty solid existential counsel. Truly, consider my perspective.

When situations deteriorate, the biggest mistake you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. Indeed, most of the fang-bearing creatures that occupy Dante’s wild 1990 film (arguably his best) possess the same knowing, self-referential funny bone regarding the hazy boundary separating the mundane and absolute bedlam. It’s a single component of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and as I age, it’s the message that echoes the loudest.

A Childhood Fixation

Of course, my connection with this movie wasn’t born on such an introspective level. In my youth, we only had a few scratched-up video tapes at home. Part of that group were Gremlins and its follow-up, the latter housed in a thick former-rental sleeve probably bought from an off-brand video shop and boasting grimacing beasts on its knackered cover. I was right away smitten and these films did not delay embedding themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. Henceforth, they became an near-everyday part of my childhood viewing routine.

Dante’s first film usually receives all the accolades, thanks mostly because of its legacy as a semi-scary seasonal fave – and let me be clear, I’ve watched Gremlins more times than I can count. Nevertheless, its sequel rarely gets the same level of lofty appreciation, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During sunny school summer breaks, I’d retreat into the house and stick it on. When I acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it remained on repeat in my bedroom. With repetition, it etched itself permanently in my psyche. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they didn’t seem to mind.

Subtler Discoveries and Cultural References

As I matured, new insights rewarded multiple watches, amplifying the pleasure of watching diminutive verdant beasts joyously wreck a New York high-rise. I learned the ahead-of-its-time development mogul and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was based squarely upon the eventual commander-in-chief Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) alluding to his one-time partner Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp possesses greater compassion than his genuine article inspiration.

The “doomsday” video Clamp plays during maximum monster mayhem? I discovered it was modeled after a real-life “Doomsday” video produced by the CNN boss Ted Turner as a contingency for the world truly faced apocalypse. I noticed how Dante went out of his way to film different iterations of a self-aware scene where Gremlins hijack the exact movie you are viewing. An edit for movie houses, another for home video and television, each delivering a smirking slice of fourth-wall-breaking cultural alchemy ahead of its time.

A Lasting Influence

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that drew my gaze as a child, this deeper gold held my interest as an adult. In time, I even spoke to Dante about it myself and he had no qualms revealing to me he made the movie with the direct intention of mocking 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 gleefully confessed. This cartoonish defiance and resolve to not take his sequel as solemnly as his Warner Bros bosses clearly wanted him to, only increased my affection for it.

When I went through a abrupt familial death not long ago, I was taken aback to discover that, during my heightest mourning, all I felt compelled to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Maybe not. The comforting familiarity it furnished was necessary to weaken my mind’s sadness sludge – but the insights it had given me as an adult were similarly beneficial.

Like Gremlins running amok in a genetics laboratory, there’s some things in life you just can’t control. Dante is aware of it. The Brain Gremlin shares this wisdom. Sometimes, you have to be like them: embrace the chaos, commit your entire being into canned food and shotguns and try not to approach life with excessive gravity.

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