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“Well, the situation is pretty dire 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 scientifically altered, talking, glasses-wearing member of the oozy monster mob that overruns Manhattan’s high-tech 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. Yet, oddly enough, it’s also surprisingly sturdy life guidance. Truly, listen to my reasoning.

When life takes a turn for the worse, the biggest mistake you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin understands this. Indeed, a large portion of the toothy monsters that occupy Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (debateably his greatest) possess the same wry, meta funny bone regarding the hazy boundary separating everyday life and absolute bedlam. It’s one element of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that ensures my return – and as I age, it’s the underlying idea that strikes the deepest chord.

A Childhood Obsession

Of course, my attachment to this movie wasn’t born on such an philosophical plane. In my youth, we only had a few well-worn videocassettes at home. Included within that collection were Gremlins and its sequel, the latter housed in a bulky previously-rented case almost certainly acquired from an non-chain rental store and boasting snarling creatures on its tattered front. I was right away smitten and these films wasted no time lodging themselves inside my small, malleable brain. After that point, they became an near-everyday part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s initial installment typically gets all the praise, thanks primarily due to its status as a semi-scary seasonal fave – and let me be clear, I’ve watched Gremlins more times than I can count. Nevertheless, its follow-up rarely gets the same level of elevated esteem, which feels unjust. As a kid, I’d never miss an opportunity to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d seclude myself indoors and pop it in. When I obtained my very own TV-VHS combo unit, it continued playing looped in my bedroom. Gradually, it etched itself permanently in my mindset. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they appeared unbothered.

Subtler Discoveries and Cultural Nuggets

As I got older, new revelations rewarded repeat viewings, heightening the enjoyment of watching diminutive verdant beasts happily vandalize a New York high-rise. I learned the future-focused development mogul and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was based squarely upon future president Donald Trump, with his auburn-haired worker Marla (Haviland Morris) echoing his former spouse Marla Maples. Thankfully, Clamp has more heart than his actual-world equivalent.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was based on a genuine “Doomsday” video produced by the CNN boss Ted Turner in case the world actually met its demise. I noticed how Dante took extra pains to film alternate cuts of a meta sequence where Gremlins seize control of the very film you’re watching. One for cinemas, another for home video and television, each offering a winking bit of self-referential entertainment sorcery ahead of its time.

An Enduring Legacy

While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s gloriously nasty-looking creatures that captured my attention as a child, this subsurface richness kept me hooked as an adult. In time, I even spoke to Dante about it myself and he had no qualms informing me he made the movie with the specific aim of ridiculing those who loved its silly-yet-sincere predecessor and wanted more. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he cheerfully disclosed. This Looney Tunes-esque rebelliousness and resolve to not take his sequel as gravely as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only deepened my appreciation further.

When I went through a unexpected loss in the family earlier this year, I was astonished to realize that, during my heightest mourning, all I desired to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Maybe not. The soothing reminiscence it provided was needed to thin out my mind’s mourning mire – but the insights it had given me as an adult were just as useful.

Like Gremlins running amok in a genetics laboratory, there’s certain elements in life you just cannot manage. Dante understands this. The Brain Gremlin knows it too. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: accept the turmoil, put everything you’ve got into canned food and shotguns and try not to take things too seriously.

It’s robust worldly wisdom from a most improbable origin – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my go-to cinematic solace.