‘Ingrained in My Psyche’: The Reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch Is My Feelgood Movie
“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. We’re advising all of our clients to commit their entire holdings into preserved goods and firearms.” This piece of shrewd guidance comes from the Brain Gremlin – a genetically modified, talking, spectacled member of the slick creature crowd that overruns Manhattan’s super-smart Clamp Tower skyscraper in helmer Joe Dante’s zany follow-up Gremlins 2: The New Batch. On the surface, it’s simply an investment tip from one monster to another. However, in a strange manner, it’s also pretty solid existential counsel. Seriously, hear me out.
When life takes a turn for the worse, the worst thing you can do is approach matters with excessive gravity. The Brain Gremlin grasps this. Actually, the majority of the toothy monsters that populate Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (arguably his best) possess the same knowing, self-referential funny bone regarding the hazy boundary separating daily routine and absolute bedlam. It’s one element of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that ensures my return – and the older I get, it’s the message that echoes the loudest.
A Youthful Fascination
Naturally, my fondness for this movie didn’t start on such an introspective level. In my youth, we were limited to a few well-worn videocassettes at home. Included within that collection were Gremlins and its follow-up, the latter housed in a bulky previously-rented case probably bought from an off-brand video shop and boasting snarling creatures on its worn-out artwork. I was instantly captivated and these films wasted no time inserting themselves inside my small, malleable brain. After that point, they became an near-everyday part of my youthful watching schedule.
Dante’s initial installment usually receives all the plaudits, thanks largely to its reputation as a partly frightening holiday classic – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins on countless occasions. However, its sequel seldom receives the same level of lofty appreciation, which feels unjust. As a kid, I’d always seize the chance to watch Gremlins 2. During sunny school summer breaks, I’d lock myself inside and stick it on. When I obtained my very own TV-VHS combo unit, it remained on repeat in my bedroom. Gradually, it ingrained itself in my psyche. If my parents noticed this obsession, they gave no indication of concern.
Deeper Rewards and Pop-Culture References
As I grew, new insights enriched frequent screenings, heightening the enjoyment of watching little green monsters 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 ginger staff member Marla (Haviland Morris) echoing his former spouse 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 real-life “Doomsday” video produced by the CNN boss Ted Turner should the world truly faced apocalypse. I noticed how Dante took extra pains to film alternate cuts of a self-aware scene where Gremlins seize control of the very film you’re watching. One for cinemas, a separate one for tape and broadcast, each offering a winking bit of meta pop-culture magic ahead of its time.
An Enduring Appeal
While it was effects expert Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that caught my eye as a child, this subsurface richness kept me hooked as an adult. Ultimately, I even conversed with Dante about it myself and he had no qualms revealing to me he made the movie with the express purpose of mocking 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 happily revealed. This anarchic defiance and resolve to not take his sequel as seriously as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only made me love it even more.
When I went through a sudden family bereavement recently, I was astonished to realize that, during my most profound sorrow, all I wanted to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Weird, right? Possibly not. The nostalgic calm it offered was needed to dilute my mind’s mourning mire – but the perspectives it had given me as an adult were equally valuable.
Like Gremlins tearing apart 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 emulate them: welcome the pandemonium, put everything you’ve got into canned food and shotguns and try not to view the world with undue solemnity.
It’s robust worldly wisdom from a very unlikely source – and it’s the reason Gremlins 2: The New Batch will forever remain my feelgood film.
