GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH (1990)

Back before meta was even a thing, when self-awareness movies were few and far between, we had the underrated genius that is GREMLINS 2:THE NEW BATCH. Who would have thought after a first outing that plays it like straight like an actual little horror film (that kitchen scene alone with the holiday music blaring is tense even by today’s standards) we would have a sequel that seems to go in the opposite direction with sheer camp but still knows where to draw the line with enough terror moments and new ideas to justify this outing. Gizmo has since been captive in a science lab in a high-rise in NY and eventually him and Billy cross paths again but we all know what happens when Mogwais are put in mischievous situations. We eventually get them wet and hence spawn new ones. However, not only do we get a new leader, Mohawk, we get a crazy new bunch with the help of genetic experimentations that are found in the science lab. Cue female Gremlin, cue Bat-Gremlin, cue electricity-Gremlin, even smart/brain/talking Gremlin! This makes for a hilarious riff on the ‘new batch’ we get and adds some creativity and inspired-ness. However, though we get plenty of laughs…don’t sleep on the spider-Gremlin scene. Stuff nightmares are made out of. This is a sequel bigger and better in every way: self-aware without going into too much parody and meta without becoming too sanitized…shame we didn’t get a proper third flick back in the day.

SLASH SCENE: Anything with Smart Gremlin

SLASH SCORE: 4.5/5