Joe Dante/USA/1990; R4
Warner Bros, NZ$14.95 | Reviewed by John Spry

THIS 1990 sequel to the modest 1984 hit Gremlins, also available from Warner Bros. Home Video, comes newly released to DVD. With its intertextuality and layered pop culture references, Gremlins 2: The New Batch deserves a revisit – not only via the Spielberg influence, but through the B-movie pedigree brought to the plate by director Joe Dante making the most of a formulaic script.

This may be a shock for some younger readers, but before CGI special effects it was commonplace for filmmakers to actually build puppets and models, to give the feeling of otherworldly creatures and fantasy constructs. Instead of a computer generated Yoda from the last three Star Wars films (or first three, I am still a little confused as to how I should refer to these movies) for instance, George Lucas had to build a life-size Yoda for the now dubbed Episode V and VI. Whatever one prefers is a personal choice, but with both Gremlins 1 and 2, Dante had no choice in method but to construct the gremlin creatures from scratch. The monster-maker in this case was special effects wizard Chris Walas; his effects were (and still are) amazing (witness the master’s ultimate creation in the 1986 David Cronenberg remake of The Fly) as well as believable, and these effects almost twenty years later still entice us to believe in the possibility that real gremlins can cause havoc.

Gremlins 2 contains within its narrative framework staples of genre films that when combined, produce a film that is not quite as strong as the sum total of its varied parts. Not only are there recognisable genre plots, but many of the actors involved have been and would become recognisable genre players. Many of the older actors would have been cast because of their familiarly with the type of film, as well as an obvious homage to Dante’s favourite and most influential films.

This sequel follows a familiar path, particularly for those viewers who enjoyed the first feature. The obvious difference is that the setting has shifted from suburbia to the Big Apple, which assists one of its themes – the clash between the natural and artificial in addition to the role man plays interfering in the working of the natural world. The heroes of the first film, Charlie, Gizmo and Kate (her of the horror Christmas story from the first film) are now living in New York and are employed in differing positions for Donald Clamp, a Richard Branson/Donald Trump-like businessman, on the way to constructing a worldwide empire cast in his own image. All three principals are living unhappy lives for one reason or another, and it is at this point that all three rules (now common knowledge from the original) are broken. Gizmo is exposed to water and his offspring are all fed after midnight, with the breaking of the final rule saved for the penultimate act. Once the crux of the premise is complete and hundreds of gremlins are let loose, the fun really begins, with the film considerably more manic than the first thanks in part to a well placed “gene-splicing” laboratory run by Christopher Lee. It is here gremlins are now able to change and improve themselves with the addition of many varieties of DNA.

Whilst enjoyable as a fantasy/comedy, it’s almost a given that the film is ultimately a let down, following much the same track as the original. The highlight without doubt is the gene-splicing shop, adding to the gremlins’ arsenal a talking brain gremlin, a lightning gremlin trapped in a phone listening to “muzak”, a bat gremlin impervious to the sun who ends up trapped "gargoyle-like" after a run in with Billy’s neighbor from the first film, vegetable gremlins and a scary spider gremlin, the nastiest of them all. Of course, outside of this original concept, the film moves at a predictable pace, and towards its inevitable conclusion. In the end, all gremlins are wiped out, and the quasi-nuclear family of Charlie, Kate and Gizmo go on to happier things.

Gremlins 2 does have some magnificent casting that any cineaste or lover of B-movies can spot a mile away. Some of these actors and actresses are still plying their trade in genre films to this very day. In fact, I missed seeing Charles Napier whom I thought could have featured somewhere. Possibly the best known genre actor appearing in the film, and not taking himself to seriously is Christopher Lee (LOTR, Hammer Horror Films and the two most recent Star Wars movies) who does a great double take upon seeing the bat gremlin; images of his own past.

Other character actors to look out for are Dick Miller (a veteran of Roger Corman films), Robert Picardo (a regular Dante staple as well as featuring in many genre TV series), Robert Prosky, John Astin (The Addams Family), John Glover (a well known character actor) and many more in speedy cameos.

Overall Gremlins 2's success as a comedy relies on fantastical elements thrown in as realism – especially considering how fast people in the film are accepting of being terrorized by possible mythical beings. Unlike many classic and postmodern horror films, we're shown the gremlins from the outset, and as beings with an ironic side; memorably, in scenes involving the brain gremlin elaborating what they are going to do and their method of control (expertly voiced by Tony Randall).


THE FILM is presented in widescreen and has a variety of special features that are suited to this kind of fantasy film based in a real world context. Normally I am not an admirer of the ‘gag reel’ – usually a quickly sliced reel of actors laughing or swearing (beeped out naturally) – but these are all quite amusing in their own right, and show what can happen with both people and animals alike when faced with gremlins in the works. My favorite involves a monkey refusing to come out of his cage, scared at the large plastic gremlin coaxing him out.