Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)
July 21, 2022 2:07 PM - Subscribe
Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) and his bride-to-be, Kate (Phoebe Cates), who have previously dealt with Gremlins run amok, discover that Gizmo and an impish legion of reptilian pals are inhabiting the downtown skyscraper where they work, owned by egomaniacal billionaire Daniel Clamp. The couple tries to stop the creatures from escaping into New York City, but this new batch of beasts might be uncontrollable.
Directed by Joe Dante. Rated 71% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Currently streaming in the US on HBO Max and available for digital rental on multiple outlets.
Directed by Joe Dante. Rated 71% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Currently streaming in the US on HBO Max and available for digital rental on multiple outlets.
I think this was covered pretty well in Gremlins 2 Brainstorm.
posted by snofoam at 2:37 PM on July 21, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by snofoam at 2:37 PM on July 21, 2022 [8 favorites]
-“None of us has been in New York before. There are the Broadway shows - we'll have to find out how to get tickets. There's also a lot of street crime, but I believe we can watch that for free. We want the essentials. Dinettes. Complete bedroom groups. Convenient credit, even though we've been turned down in the past.”
-“Would the owner of the car with license number 1AG 401 please remove it from the Clamp parking garage, your car is old and dirty.”
-“Because of the end of civilization, the Clamp Cable Network now leaves the air. We hope you've enjoyed our programming, but more importantly, we hope you've enjoyed... life.”
-“All they have to do is to eat three or four children and there'd be the most appalling publicity.”
-“Public address system: Fire: The untamed element, oldest of man's mysteries, giver of warmth, destroyer of forests, right now this building is on fire.
Woman in corridor: What?
Public address system: Yes! The building is on fire! Leave the building! Enact the Age Old drama of Self-Preservation!”
-“Tonight, on the Clamp Cable Classic Movie Channel, don't miss Casablanca, now in full color with a happier ending.”
-"Oh, uh, your mom baked you an apple pie! Uhhh... somebody sat on it on the bus. I'm sure it'll taste okay, though."
-"What if one of them eats something at eleven o'clock, but then he gets something stuck in his teeth?"
-"Well, it's rather brutal here. We're advising our clients to put everything they've got into canned food and shotguns!"
-"They put me on at 3am. People who are awake at 3am aren't afraid of the Wolfman. The only thing that frightens those people is sobering up and going to work."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:44 PM on July 21, 2022 [7 favorites]
-“Would the owner of the car with license number 1AG 401 please remove it from the Clamp parking garage, your car is old and dirty.”
-“Because of the end of civilization, the Clamp Cable Network now leaves the air. We hope you've enjoyed our programming, but more importantly, we hope you've enjoyed... life.”
-“All they have to do is to eat three or four children and there'd be the most appalling publicity.”
-“Public address system: Fire: The untamed element, oldest of man's mysteries, giver of warmth, destroyer of forests, right now this building is on fire.
Woman in corridor: What?
Public address system: Yes! The building is on fire! Leave the building! Enact the Age Old drama of Self-Preservation!”
-“Tonight, on the Clamp Cable Classic Movie Channel, don't miss Casablanca, now in full color with a happier ending.”
-"Oh, uh, your mom baked you an apple pie! Uhhh... somebody sat on it on the bus. I'm sure it'll taste okay, though."
-"What if one of them eats something at eleven o'clock, but then he gets something stuck in his teeth?"
-"Well, it's rather brutal here. We're advising our clients to put everything they've got into canned food and shotguns!"
-"They put me on at 3am. People who are awake at 3am aren't afraid of the Wolfman. The only thing that frightens those people is sobering up and going to work."
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:44 PM on July 21, 2022 [7 favorites]
The (long defunct) Institute of Gremlins 2 Studies has all your "deep dive" analysis needs covered. Sort of.
posted by absalom at 4:47 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by absalom at 4:47 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
I absolutely love this movie including how they lampshade Kate's confession about her father's death. It's just so much fun!
posted by miss-lapin at 5:21 PM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by miss-lapin at 5:21 PM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
We watched this several months ago after hearing recommendations for it as another weirdo meta movie after watching Matrix Resurrections, and I don't know what I'd expected, but it sure was a hell of a thing. It really did have a sort of live-action Looney Tunes feel to it, and the comedy was incredibly sharp — even though Clamp was eventually rewritten to be a sympathetic character, it is also extremely obvious that this movie fuckin loathes Donald Trump.
They say that horror movie sequels tend to trend toward comedy, since the genres share the same setup-payoff structure (and you can't continue to bank on the fear of the unknown indefinitely), but rarely have I seen it applied so directly and deliberately.
posted by DoctorFedora at 6:15 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
They say that horror movie sequels tend to trend toward comedy, since the genres share the same setup-payoff structure (and you can't continue to bank on the fear of the unknown indefinitely), but rarely have I seen it applied so directly and deliberately.
posted by DoctorFedora at 6:15 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
Perhaps I'm biased but my favourite part is when they go to the Canadian themed restaurant which is totally a throwaway nothing bit but I like it.
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:50 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Ashwagandha at 7:50 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
even though Clamp was eventually rewritten to be a sympathetic character, it is also extremely obvious that this movie fuckin loathes Donald Trump.I mean, yeah, but just to take two examples from DirtyOldTown's list of quotables:
“Because of the end of civilization, the Clamp Cable Network now leaves the air. We hope you've enjoyed our programming, but more importantly, we hope you've enjoyed... life.”Dante probably has opinions on Ted Turner, too.
“Tonight, on the Clamp Cable Classic Movie Channel, don't miss Casablanca, now in full color with a happier ending.”
posted by dumbland at 1:38 AM on July 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
Better, more contemporary, more relevant (see final line!) article about colourisation.
posted by dumbland at 1:42 AM on July 22, 2022
posted by dumbland at 1:42 AM on July 22, 2022
Yeah the Clamp Cable Network is definitely a swipe at TCM.
posted by miss-lapin at 8:34 AM on July 22, 2022
posted by miss-lapin at 8:34 AM on July 22, 2022
I'll go into detail if anyone wants to hear it, but the novelization of this film was part of my wedding decorations.
posted by Servo5678 at 10:43 AM on July 22, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by Servo5678 at 10:43 AM on July 22, 2022 [7 favorites]
This one ranks pretty high on my list of "movies that were much better than they had any right (or need) to be".
posted by Zonker at 11:20 AM on July 22, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Zonker at 11:20 AM on July 22, 2022 [4 favorites]
I think both movies were great but actually prefer the sequel over the original. The only thing missing from two was the wonder and amazement of getting to see Gizmo and the gremlins for the first time. Both are top notch monster movies for the whole family.
posted by hoodrich at 12:18 PM on July 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by hoodrich at 12:18 PM on July 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'll go into detail if anyone wants to hear it, but the novelization of this film was part of my wedding decorations.
I need to know more about this.
posted by miss-lapin at 5:41 PM on July 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
I need to know more about this.
posted by miss-lapin at 5:41 PM on July 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
I think this was covered pretty well in Gremlins 2 Brainstorm.
One of the best Peele performances: ever "I love it so much that it's not only in the movie, it's definitely in the movie, there's no backsies on that one."
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:43 PM on July 22, 2022 [4 favorites]
One of the best Peele performances: ever "I love it so much that it's not only in the movie, it's definitely in the movie, there's no backsies on that one."
posted by fifteen schnitzengruben is my limit at 9:43 PM on July 22, 2022 [4 favorites]
So, the wedding story...
At the wedding my wife suggested for decoration that we set up a display of books. Some were mine, some were hers, and some were books we had in common. Guests were invited to choose which books belonged to whom. Gremlins 2 was one of my books.
posted by Servo5678 at 5:31 AM on July 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
At the wedding my wife suggested for decoration that we set up a display of books. Some were mine, some were hers, and some were books we had in common. Guests were invited to choose which books belonged to whom. Gremlins 2 was one of my books.
posted by Servo5678 at 5:31 AM on July 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
One of my favorite weird Gremlins 2 facts is that the theatrical release has a scene where the film 'melts' and all sorts of havoc is supposedly happening in the projector room / audience's theater in one of the most overt fourth-wall breaks around. On the VHS release, since that gag wouldn't play they same, they just put together an entirely new sequence.
posted by FatherDagon at 11:44 AM on July 25, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by FatherDagon at 11:44 AM on July 25, 2022 [4 favorites]
The novelization features a different "fourth wall" segment in which Brain Gremlin locks the author in the bathroom and takes over the narrative, talking to the reader directly with his own ideas on living in society.
posted by Servo5678 at 6:17 AM on July 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Servo5678 at 6:17 AM on July 26, 2022 [2 favorites]
I do believe Kenneth Tobey from The Thing is in there.
posted by infinitewindow at 1:43 PM on July 28, 2022
posted by infinitewindow at 1:43 PM on July 28, 2022
AV Club: How accurate was that Key & Peele sketch?
Joe Dante: Totally accurate.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:11 AM on September 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
Joe Dante: Totally accurate.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:11 AM on September 8, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:08 PM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]