Gremlins 2: The New Batch

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

Runtime: 106 minutes

Directed by: Joe Dante

Starring: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, John Glover, Robert Prosky, Robert Picardo

From: Warner Brothers

Here's a movie I finally saw after not having seen it for years, as Friday night I rewatched the original Gremlins on the El Rey Network. Both of these films are entertaining, for different reasons. My review of this is below, via Letterboxd:

For years now I've had the DVD of this film in my collection, yet because I am me I had not watched it until last night. I had seen the movie before in my childhood but the last viewing was years ago. As I just rewatched the first Gremlins on Friday night, why not watch this the next night?

In this day and era of the safe and lame and overly cautious studio pictures we keep on getting from Hollywood, it's something else to see something so crazed, so cartoony, so anarchic come from Warner Brothers and it's a sequel to a popular film to boot. They gave Joe Dante complete creative freedom and he created this odd satire that spoofs many targets, from modern living (the “futuristic” skyscraper) to cable television to itself. That makes this quite uneven at times but I was still entertained by this. When Looney Tunes characters appear in the beginning and end & Christopher Lee plays a character named Dr. Catheter.... that says a lot about what sort of movie this is. What an odd beast, yet a fun beast.

I was amused that the Daniel Clamp character was a spoof of both Donald Trump and Ted Turner. No, he doesn't hate Muslims or Hispanics or has creepy feelings for one of his daughters but he's an unscrupulous real estate developer from New York City. He's Turner as he has his own cable network, he wants black and white movies to be colorized and in a bit I did not remember at all, they actually spoofed the long rumored (and only proven in January of 2015) video that would play on CNN if they had to sign off for the final time due to the world ending. Besides that, there are plenty of short bits, sight gags and quick quips.

As in the original, it is put together well and has talent behind the screen also. The practical effects that brought the title critters to life are tremendous; whether it's a sequel or a reboot or a remake, the long-rumored next installment of the series (which I hope doesn't happen; I have long been sick and tired of this sequel/reboot/remake trend) just won't be the same with CGI, as I know it won't look as authentic. As there's a subplot involving genetic research, it allows for a lot of creativity in different gremlin hybrids; there finally is the “electrical gremlin”.

Anyhow, I am glad that a big studio film like this ended up so wacky and strange, and it ends up being good, especially for a horror-related sequel. It may be Hulk Hogan's finest hour of acting in that field... at least if you don't count that sex tape.