It’s important to remember that Joe Dante’s 1990 monster comedy, “Gremlins 2: The New Batch,” is not only the director’s best film, it’s also one of the best films of the 1990s. It works perfectly as a comedy, and it certainly has some of the best practical creature effects of its decade, but it really serves as a clever meta-narrative about the tenuous relationship audiences have with the films they watch. Repeatedly throughout “Gremlins 2,” the Gremlins break the fourth wall, gleefully deconstructing the very nature of films. In one scene, they strangle film critic Leonard Maltin with a strip of 35mm film. Likewise, in the sequel’s most famous sequence, the gremlins burst into the projection booth and appear to start tearing up the film as you watch it.
At the time, reviews were generally positive towards the film, but not overwhelmed. It was also not a success, grossing only $41 million at the box office against a budget of $50 million. It seems that “Gremlins 2” was just too wild and weird for general audiences. It didn’t help that the film also repeatedly mocked many elements of the original “Gremlins,” almost to the point where it seemed to be teasing “Gremlins” fans. There’s even a scene where the characters nitpick the rules of gremlin procreation in the same way a fan would. These characters are then eaten by gremlins for their troubles.
And notable criticism has been drawn to the film in the decades since it was made. Indeed, even Quentin Tarantino thinks it’s something special. The filmmaker once appeared on Eli Roth’s podcast, “History of Horror,” to discuss the horror genre, and he ended up going on a brief tangent about “Gremlins 2,” arguing that it was a perfect comedy and positively comparing it to MAD Magazine.
Quentin Tarantino loves how weird Gremlins 2 is
Tarantino just came out and said it while talking to Roth: he thinks “Gremlins 2” is Joe Dante’s best film. As he said:
“Joe Dante became a director so he could make ‘Gremlins 2’. He’s always been a smart kind of director, because he’s a smart guy. There’s always a little MAD Magazine parody of his own movie alongside a Joe Dante movie. And with ‘Gremlins 2,’ he was able to do a MAD Magazine takeoff on the first ‘Gremlins’ for the duration of the film. And it held up! For the duration of the film movie! But when they start to blunder over every aspect of the original Christopher Columbus premise! […] It was hysterical.”
Fans of the original “Gremlins” are likely familiar with the circumstances under which screenwriter Christopher Columbus wrote it. He wrote his screenplay as a specific script, simply to show studios what his writing style was like. He never intended for this to happen. Executive producer Steven Spielberg, however, loved his script and decided to buy it and put it into production. The original Columbus script was more horror than comedy, with more decapitations and a scene where gremlins break into a McDonald’s to eat its customers. In Dante’s original script, it was also explicit that gremlins were creatures from outer space.
For the film, Dante upped the comedic quotient, making the premise much more cartoonish. It was still a horror film, as Columbus wrote, but it was much sillier in Dante’s hands. For “Gremlins 2,” however, Dante kicked it into high gear, parodying every element of horror left over from Columbus’ script. It was, as Tarantino described it, a living parody.
Joe Dante satirized his own work with Gremlins 2
Tarantino preferred to view “Gremlins 2” as just another piece of Dante’s filmography. He noted that the original “Gremlins” film, while a huge success, was more or less a directorial gig for Dante. When the film became a huge hit, Tarantino posited that Dante might have been a little unhappy with it. Dante certainly lent his sense of humor to the original “Gremlins,” but he was never quite comfortable with how that became his calling card. As Tarantino observed:
“It’s always been kind of clear that Joe Dante had a bit of disdain for the first movie. It’s just not his kind of movie. He fought it to the end and made it his movie. But I don’t know if Joe Dante would see ‘Gremlins’ if he didn’t direct it. He’s just too wisenheimer not to hate himself for doing all the Mogwai stuff in the first place. I think it seriously depresses him that it was his biggest hit. So the idea of getting complete revenge for your fluke was just too powerful.
The “Mogwai stuff” refers to the first act of “Gremlins,” in which the film’s protagonist, Billy (Zach Galligan), receives Gizmo (voiced by Howie Mandel) for Christmas. There’s a warm, Rockwellian feeling to the opening scene that, for moments, seems downright sentimental. Dante allowed himself to tear away this sentimentality later in the film, but the opening is perhaps too warm for the kind of film Dante would have preferred to make. At least, according to Tarantino.
