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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 canned food and shotguns.” This nugget of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a genetically modified, speaking, spectacled member of the slick creature crowd that swarms Manhattan’s high-tech Clamp Tower skyscraper in helmer Joe Dante’s madcap sequel Gremlins 2: The New Batch. On the surface, it’s nothing more than an investment tip from one monster to another. But, curiously, it’s also remarkably sound life advice. Honestly, listen to my reasoning.

When situations deteriorate, the biggest mistake you can do is view events with undue solemnity. The Brain Gremlin understands this. Indeed, the majority of the toothy monsters that inhabit Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (arguably his best) possess the same wry, meta comic sensibility regarding the hazy boundary separating daily routine and pure pandemonium. It’s one element of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that ensures my return – and as I age, it’s the theme that strikes the deepest chord.

A Childhood Fascination

Understandably, my fondness for this movie didn’t start on such an deeply thoughtful note. As a child, 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 non-chain rental store and boasting grimacing beasts on its knackered cover. I was right away smitten and these films wasted no time embedding themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. From then on, they became an near-everyday part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s initial installment commonly garners all the accolades, thanks primarily due to its legacy as a moderately spooky festive favorite – and don’t get me wrong, I’ve watched Gremlins more times than I can count. That said, its successor infrequently obtains the same level of high regard, which feels unjust. As a kid, I’d always seize the chance 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 continued playing looped in my bedroom. Gradually, it etched itself permanently in my psyche. If my parents detected this preoccupation, they didn’t seem to mind.

Hidden Delights and Pop-Culture Nuggets

As I grew, new insights enriched repeat viewings, amplifying the pleasure 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 the eventual commander-in-chief Donald Trump, with his auburn-haired worker Marla (Haviland Morris) alluding to his one-time partner Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp possesses greater compassion than his genuine article inspiration.

The “apocalyptic” video Clamp plays during maximum monster mayhem? 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 alternate cuts of a self-aware scene where Gremlins take over the actual feature in progress. A version for theaters, a separate one for tape and broadcast, each offering a winking bit of meta pop-culture magic before the term was even a thing.

An Enduring Influence

While it was effects expert 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 spoke to 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 absurd-yet-genuine predecessor and wanted more. “We were going to make fun of the fact you came to see it,” he cheerfully disclosed. This cartoonish rebelliousness and commitment to not take his sequel as gravely as his Warner Bros bosses obviously desired, only made me love it even more.

When I experienced a abrupt familial death recently, I was surprised to find that, during my most profound sorrow, all I wanted to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Weird, right? Perhaps not. The nostalgic calm it furnished was necessary to weaken my mind’s mourning mire – but the insights it had given me as an adult were equally valuable.

Like Gremlins tearing apart a genetics laboratory, there’s particular aspects in life you just are powerless over. Dante is aware of 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 approach life with excessive gravity.

It’s powerful existential guidance from a most improbable origin – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will always be my go-to cinematic solace.