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“Well, it’s rather brutal here. We’re advising all of our clients to put everything they’ve got into preserved goods and firearms.” This piece of sage advice comes from the Brain Gremlin – a lab-engineered, speaking, spectacled 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. Superficially, it’s nothing more than an financial suggestion from one monster to another. However, oddly enough, it’s also remarkably sound life advice. Truly, consider my perspective.

When situations deteriorate, the most counterproductive action you can do is take things too seriously. The Brain Gremlin comprehends this. In fact, most of the fang-bearing creatures that occupy Dante’s unrestrained 1990 movie (arguably his best) possess the same sly, self-aware funny bone regarding the blurry line separating everyday life and absolute bedlam. It’s one element of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that keeps me coming back – and with the passage of time, it’s the underlying idea that strikes the deepest chord.

A Youthful Fascination

Naturally, my attachment to this movie didn’t start on such an deeply thoughtful note. As a child, we possessed merely a few battered VHS tapes at home. Included within that collection were Gremlins and its follow-up, the latter housed in a thick former-rental sleeve probably bought from an independent video outlet and boasting snarling creatures on its worn-out artwork. I was instantly captivated and these films quickly proceeded embedding themselves inside my young, susceptible psyche. After that point, they became an near-everyday part of my youthful watching schedule.

Dante’s original commonly garners all the accolades, thanks largely to its status as a partly frightening holiday classic – and to be fair, I’ve watched Gremlins more times than I can count. However, its sequel rarely gets the same level of lofty appreciation, which feels unjust. As a kid, I’d always seize the chance to watch Gremlins 2. During bright summer vacations, I’d lock myself inside and pop it in. When I got my own TV-VHS combo unit, it remained on repeat in my bedroom. Gradually, it etched itself permanently in my mindset. If my parents noticed this obsession, they didn’t seem to mind.

Subtler Rewards and Societal References

As I grew, new understandings rewarded frequent screenings, amplifying the pleasure of watching diminutive verdant beasts happily vandalize a New York high-rise. I learned the ahead-of-its-time development mogul and Clamp Tower owner, Daniel Clamp (John Glover), was modeled closely on the later-to-be-president Donald Trump, with his ginger staff member Marla (Haviland Morris) echoing his former spouse Marla Maples. Fortunately, Clamp possesses greater compassion than his genuine article inspiration.

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 should the world truly faced apocalypse. I noticed how Dante took extra pains to film varying versions of a self-aware scene where Gremlins seize control of the very film you’re watching. A version for theaters, a separate one for tape and broadcast, each offering a winking bit of meta pop-culture magic prior to the concept being mainstream.

An Enduring Legacy

While it was makeup maestro Rick Baker’s fantastically vile creatures that captured my attention as a child, this hidden treasure held my interest as an adult. In time, I even interviewed Dante about it myself and he had no qualms telling 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 happily revealed. This Looney Tunes-esque rebelliousness and resolve to not take his sequel as seriously as his Warner Bros bosses obviously desired, only made me love it even more.

When I experienced a unexpected loss in the family earlier this year, I was taken aback to discover that, during my heightest mourning, all I felt compelled to do was sit and watch Gremlins 2: The New Batch. Strange, isn’t it? Maybe not. The nostalgic calm it provided was necessary to weaken my mind’s grief morass – but the stuff it had imparted to me as an adult were just as useful.

Like Gremlins tearing apart a genetics laboratory, there’s certain elements in life you just are powerless over. Dante is aware of it. The Brain Gremlin knows it too. Sometimes, you have to follow their example: accept the turmoil, commit your entire being into canned food and shotguns and try not to view the world with undue solemnity.

It’s strong life advice from a very unlikely source – and it’s why Gremlins 2: The New Batch will forever remain my comfort movie.