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“Well, conditions are quite harsh here. We’re advising all of our clients to commit their entire holdings into canned food and shotguns.” This nugget of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a scientifically altered, articulate, glasses-wearing member of the slick creature crowd that swarms Manhattan’s high-tech Clamp Tower skyscraper in director Joe Dante’s zany follow-up Gremlins 2: The New Batch. At first glance, it’s merely an investment tip from one monster to another. But, oddly enough, it’s also pretty solid life advice. Seriously, listen to my reasoning.

When things go bad, the biggest mistake you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin grasps this. In fact, most of the dentally-gifted beasts that populate Dante’s wild 1990 film (possibly his finest) possess the same sly, self-aware comic sensibility regarding the blurry line separating everyday life and unadulterated chaos. It’s a single component of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that maintains my loyalty – and with the passage of time, it’s the theme that resonates the most.

A Youthful Obsession

Naturally, my attachment to this movie didn’t start on such an introspective level. As a child, we possessed merely a few battered VHS tapes at home. Included within that collection were Gremlins and its sequel, the latter housed in a chunky ex-rental box almost certainly acquired from an off-brand video shop and featuring grimacing beasts on its knackered cover. I was instantly captivated and these films did not delay lodging themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. From then on, they became an near-everyday part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s first film typically gets all the praise, thanks largely to its reputation as a semi-scary seasonal fave – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins an incalculable number of times. Nevertheless, its successor seldom receives the same level of high regard, which feels a travesty. As a kid, I’d always seize the chance to watch Gremlins 2. During long summer holidays, I’d retreat into the house and play it. When I acquired my personal TV-VHS combo unit, it stayed in constant rotation in my bedroom. Over time, it ingrained itself in my mindset. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they gave no indication of concern.

Deeper Discoveries and Cultural Nuggets

As I matured, new revelations rewarded repeat viewings, heightening the enjoyment of watching small emerald creatures joyously wreck a New York high-rise. I learned the forward-thinking development mogul 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) referencing his one-time partner Marla Maples. Luckily, Clamp demonstrates more humanity than his real-life counterpart.

The “doomsday” video Clamp plays during peak-Gremlin chaos? I discovered it was inspired by a real-life “Doomsday” video commissioned by the CNN boss Ted Turner as a contingency for the world truly faced apocalypse. I noticed how Dante took extra pains to film varying versions of a meta sequence where Gremlins seize control of the very film you’re watching. A version for theaters, a separate one for tape and broadcast, each providing a grinning portion of fourth-wall-breaking cultural alchemy ahead of its time.

A Lasting Legacy

While it was creature designer Rick Baker’s wonderfully grotesque creatures that captured my attention as a child, this hidden treasure held my interest as an adult. In time, I even conversed with Dante about it myself and he had no hesitation revealing to me he made the movie with the specific aim of ridiculing 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 cheerfully disclosed. This cartoonish rebelliousness and resolve to not take his sequel as gravely as his Warner Bros bosses evidently expected, only increased my affection for it.

When I endured a unexpected loss in the family earlier this year, 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. Weird, right? Possibly not. The soothing reminiscence it offered was essential to thin out my mind’s mourning mire – but the perspectives it had given me as an adult were just as useful.

Like Gremlins tearing apart a genetics laboratory, there’s some things in life you just cannot manage. Dante understands this. The Brain Gremlin shares this wisdom. Sometimes, you have to emulate them: accept the turmoil, commit your entire being into tinned provisions and hunting rifles and try not to take things too seriously.

It’s powerful existential guidance from a very unlikely source – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my comfort movie.