Embedded in My Consciousness’: Why Gremlins 2: The New Batch Is My Comfort Movie
“Well, it’s rather brutal here. The guidance we offer all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into canned food and shotguns.” This piece of wise counsel comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, speaking, spectacled member of the slimy Gremlin horde that overruns Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in director Joe Dante’s unhinged continuation Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Superficially, it’s nothing more than an investment tip from one monster to another. However, oddly enough, it’s also remarkably sound life guidance. Truly, hear me out.
When things go bad, the biggest mistake you can do is approach matters with excessive gravity. The Brain Gremlin grasps this. Actually, a large portion of the dentally-gifted beasts that populate Dante’s chaotic 1990 feature (possibly his finest) possess the same knowing, self-referential funny bone regarding the indistinct border separating daily routine and absolute bedlam. It’s one element of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that maintains my loyalty – and the older I get, it’s the underlying idea that echoes the loudest.
An Early Life Obsession
Naturally, my fondness for this movie did not begin on such an introspective level. As a child, we were limited to a few well-worn videocassettes at home. Among them were Gremlins and its second chapter, the latter housed in a thick former-rental sleeve almost certainly acquired from an non-chain rental store and featuring growling monsters on its worn-out artwork. I was right away smitten and these films wasted no time inserting themselves inside my tiny, impressionable mind. From then on, they became an practically routine part of my early years entertainment regimen.
Dante’s first film usually receives all the praise, thanks largely to its legacy as a semi-scary seasonal fave – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. However, its follow-up rarely gets the same level of high regard, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d retreat into the house and pop it in. When I obtained my very own TV-VHS combo unit, it remained on repeat in my bedroom. Gradually, it etched itself permanently in my psyche. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they didn’t seem to mind.
Subtler Discoveries and Cultural Easter Eggs
As I matured, new revelations enhanced multiple watches, amplifying the pleasure of watching little green monsters 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 modeled closely on the eventual commander-in-chief Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) referencing his former spouse Marla Maples. Thankfully, Clamp has more heart than his actual-world equivalent.
The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during the height of creature carnage? I discovered it was inspired by a actual “Doomsday” video created by the CNN boss Ted Turner should the world actually met its demise. I noticed how Dante made a special effort to film different iterations of a meta sequence where Gremlins take over the very film you’re watching. An edit for movie houses, one for VHS and TV, each offering a winking bit of self-referential entertainment sorcery before the term was even a thing.
A Persistent Appeal
While it was creature designer Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that captured my attention as a child, this hidden treasure maintained my fascination as an adult. Eventually, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no hesitation informing me he made the movie with the direct intention of ridiculing those who loved its goofy-but-heartfelt predecessor and wanted more. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he happily revealed. This anarchic rebelliousness and determination to not take his sequel as solemnly as his Warner Bros bosses clearly wanted him to, only made me love it even more.
When I went through a sudden family bereavement recently, I was taken aback to discover that, during my heightest mourning, all I wanted to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Possibly not. The nostalgic calm it offered was needed to weaken my mind’s grief morass – but the insights it had given me as an adult were similarly beneficial.
Like Gremlins rampaging through a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just cannot manage. Dante understands this. The Brain Gremlin knows it too. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: embrace the chaos, put everything you’ve got into tinned provisions and hunting rifles and try not to approach life with excessive gravity.
It’s robust worldly wisdom from a highly unexpected fountain – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my feelgood film.
