PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Gremlins 2: The New Batch isn’t just a follow-up to Joe Dante’s 1984 horror-comedy, Gremlins. It’s a cinematic prank, a meta-spectacle that turns its back on the original’s relatively darker edge in favor of even more chaos, satire, and total self-awareness.
Gremlins 2: The New Batch: A Cartoon in a Skyscraper
Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) and Kate (Phoebe Cates) have traded their sleepy hometown for New York City. They work in a soulless corporate tower run by Daniel Clamp, a grinning mashup of Donald Trump and Ted Turner played with giddy absurdity by John Glover. The building is a “smart” skyscraper packed with automation, consumer tech, and a genetics lab — because why not? That lab also contains a mad scientist played by Christopher Lee, which is pretty cool.
Naturally, Gizmo the Mogwai (voiced by Howie Mandell) ends up in trouble, and as always, he gets wet. New Mogwai spawn, transform, and kick off a new wave of gremlin-fueled destruction, this time with an upgrade.
Gremlins, But Extra
Thanks to that genetics lab, the gremlins mutate into wild new versions. There’s a spider gremlin, an electricity gremlin, and the Brain gremlin, who speaks perfect English, wears glasses, and drinks cocktails while pontificating about civilization. The film leans into ridiculousness, not away from it — and it works because it knows exactly what it’s doing.
Satire on Overdrive
Everything in Gremlins 2: The New Batch is a jab. The movie mocks:
1. Corporate culture and media monopolies
2. Consumerism and soulless branding
3. The very idea of sequels and cinematic logic
It breaks the fourth wall multiple times. Leonard Maltin cameos as himself, criticizing the first Gremlins movie only to get mauled by them. Even Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck show up at the start and end, framing the whole movie like a Looney Tunes episode.
This is by design. Dante doesn’t just let the movie go off the rails, he lights the rails on fire and builds a ramp off a cliff. It’s bold, anarchic, and refuses to play by any rules. Critics at the time didn’t get it. Words like “junk,” “excess,” and “moronic” probably showed up in reviews. But in retrospect, that’s the point. Pre-racist era Hulk Hogan also appears, back when he was at least vaguely more respected. And why not?
Cult Classic Chaos
Gremlins 2 didn’t match the box office success of its predecessor, but over time it gained a devoted following. Fans and critics came to see it for what it really is: a clever, unhinged commentary on Hollywood and itself.
It’s not just a sequel. It’s a satire of sequels. A film that says, “Why repeat the formula when you can shred it and toss it in a blender?” Granted, a few other actors from the original movie (Dick Miller, Jackie Joseph and Keye Luke) appear, but this is mostly a new batch of cinematic junk food for thought. The movie also features Robert Prosky as “Grandpa Fred,” which is a nice nod to the character of Grandpa Munster from that classic series.
Those sorts of characters and the insanity make Gremlins 2: The New Batch stand out. It’s messy. It’s ridiculous. It’s too much. And it’s unforgettable because of it.
As a random bit of trivia: Years before he was Tuco on Breaking Bad, Raymond Cruz appeared briefly as a messenger in Gremlins 2: The New Batch.
