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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 nugget of wise counsel comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, articulate, bespectacled member of the slimy Gremlin horde that infests Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in director Joe Dante’s zany follow-up Gremlins 2: The New Batch. At first glance, it’s merely an financial suggestion from one monster to another. Yet, curiously, it’s also remarkably sound life advice. Seriously, consider my perspective.

When situations deteriorate, the most counterproductive action you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin grasps this. Actually, the majority of the dentally-gifted beasts that inhabit Dante’s wild 1990 film (arguably his best) possess the same wry, meta comic sensibility regarding the indistinct border separating the mundane and pure pandemonium. It’s a single component of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that maintains my loyalty – and the older I get, it’s the underlying idea that strikes the deepest chord.

A Childhood Fixation

Understandably, my fondness for this movie didn’t start on such an philosophical plane. Growing up, we were limited to a few well-worn videocassettes at home. Among them were Gremlins and its sequel, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box almost certainly acquired from an independent video outlet and featuring growling monsters on its tattered front. I was instantly captivated and these films quickly proceeded inserting themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. Henceforth, they became an near-everyday part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s first film typically gets all the accolades, thanks primarily due to its legacy as a partly frightening holiday classic – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. That said, its follow-up rarely gets the same level of elevated esteem, 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 acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. Over time, it etched itself permanently in my psyche. If my parents observed this fixation, they appeared unbothered.

Hidden Delights and Pop-Culture References

As I got older, new understandings enhanced multiple watches, heightening the enjoyment of watching diminutive verdant beasts happily vandalize a New York high-rise. I learned the forward-thinking real estate tycoon and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was inspired directly by the eventual commander-in-chief Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) echoing his one-time partner Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp possesses greater compassion than his actual-world equivalent.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during maximum monster mayhem? I discovered it was inspired by a genuine “Doomsday” video produced by the CNN boss Ted Turner in case the world actually met its demise. I noticed how Dante made a special effort to film different iterations of a meta sequence where Gremlins seize control of the very film you’re watching. A version for theaters, another for home video and television, each providing a grinning portion of meta pop-culture magic prior to the concept being mainstream.

A Persistent Influence

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s wonderfully grotesque creatures that caught my eye as a child, this hidden treasure maintained my fascination as an adult. Eventually, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no reservations revealing to me he made the movie with the express purpose of poking fun at 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 gleefully confessed. This cartoonish rebelliousness and determination to not take his sequel as solemnly as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only deepened my appreciation further.

When I endured a abrupt familial death not long ago, 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? Possibly not. The soothing reminiscence it offered was essential to dilute my mind’s sadness sludge – but the perspectives it had given me as an adult were just as useful.

Like Gremlins running amok in a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just can’t control. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin shares this wisdom. Sometimes, you have to be like them: embrace the chaos, 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.