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“Well, it’s rather brutal here. The guidance we offer all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into tinned provisions and hunting rifles.” That bit of shrewd guidance comes from the Brain Gremlin – a scientifically altered, articulate, glasses-wearing member of the oozy monster mob that infests Manhattan’s ultra-modern Clamp Tower skyscraper in director Joe Dante’s madcap sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Superficially, it’s simply an investment tip from one monster to another. However, in a strange manner, it’s also remarkably sound life guidance. Truly, consider my perspective.

When life takes a turn for the worse, the biggest mistake you can do is approach matters with excessive gravity. The Brain Gremlin understands this. In fact, the majority of the dentally-gifted beasts that occupy Dante’s wild 1990 film (arguably his best) possess the same wry, meta comic sensibility regarding the hazy boundary separating daily routine and unadulterated chaos. It’s a particular aspect of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that ensures my return – and the older I get, it’s the underlying idea that resonates the most.

An Early Life Fascination

Understandably, my connection with this movie did not begin on such an philosophical plane. In my youth, we possessed merely a few scratched-up video tapes at home. Part of that group were Gremlins and its sequel, the latter housed in a bulky previously-rented case probably bought from an off-brand video shop and sporting growling monsters on its tattered front. I was right away smitten and these films quickly proceeded embedding themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. From then on, they became an near-everyday part of my early years entertainment regimen.

Dante’s original typically gets all the praise, thanks mostly because of its reputation as a semi-scary seasonal fave – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. That said, its successor rarely gets the same level of high regard, which feels criminal. As a kid, I’d invariably jump at the prospect to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d lock myself inside and stick it on. When I got my own TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. Gradually, it etched itself permanently in my psyche. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they didn’t seem to mind.

Subtler Rewards and Societal Nuggets

As I got older, new understandings enriched multiple watches, heightening the enjoyment of watching diminutive verdant beasts joyously wreck a New York high-rise. I learned the future-focused real estate tycoon and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was modeled closely on the later-to-be-president Donald Trump, with his red-headed employee Marla (Haviland Morris) echoing his second wife Marla Maples. Thankfully, Clamp possesses greater compassion than his real-life counterpart.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was based on a real-life “Doomsday” video produced by the CNN boss Ted Turner as a contingency for the world really ended. I noticed how Dante made a special effort to film varying versions of a meta sequence where Gremlins seize control of the actual feature in progress. One for cinemas, one for VHS and TV, each offering a winking bit of self-referential entertainment sorcery before the term was even a thing.

A Persistent Legacy

While it was creature designer Rick Baker’s gloriously nasty-looking creatures that captured my attention as a child, this deeper gold held my interest as an adult. In time, I even conversed with Dante about it myself and he had no qualms informing me he made the movie with the specific aim of mocking those who loved its silly-yet-sincere predecessor and desired a sequel. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he cheerfully disclosed. This Looney Tunes-esque rebelliousness and determination to not take his sequel as solemnly as his Warner Bros bosses obviously desired, only increased my affection for it.

When I experienced a unexpected loss in the family 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? Maybe not. The soothing reminiscence it offered was necessary to thin out my mind’s mourning mire – but the stuff it had given me as an adult were equally valuable.

Like Gremlins rampaging through a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just cannot manage. Dante knows it. The Brain Gremlin agrees completely. Sometimes, you have to emulate 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.