Movies - Gremlins 2: The New Batch

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	Movies - Gremlins 2: The New Batch

Gremlins 2: The New Batch is a 1990 movie directed by Joe Dante, written by Charles S. Haas, with creature design by Rick Baker and is a sequel to the original Gremlins
. It stars Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, John Glover, Robert Prosky, Haviland Morris, Dick Miller, Jackie Joseph, Robert Picardo, and Christopher Lee.

It is a comedy-horror, where the violence is fairly cartoon-like and slapstick, and there are a number of references and spoofs of many other films, including Rambo
, The Wizard of Oz, The Phantom of the Opera, and even the original Gremlins movie. There is also a famous scene wherein hundreds of Gremlins sing Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York".

Taglines: Here they grow again.--We told you the rules. You didn't listen!

Plot summary

The film takes place in New York City, a few years after the original movie, wherein Billy Peltzer (Galligan) had acquired Gizmo (voiced by Howie Mandel), a mysterious and cute furry creature called a Mogwai, which multiplies when exposed to water. The new creatures spawned by this method look similar to Gizmo, but are malicious. When these new Mogwai eat after midnight they mutate into green, lizard-like creatures with sharp teeth and claws, their new physique and strength given them the ability to channel their fiendish personalities into manaical acts of destruction and mayhem.

Billy and his girlfriend Kate Beringer (Cates) now live in New York, where they are having difficulty adapting to the large and impersonal city after being brought up in a small town. Billy works for the Clamp Organization, which is based in a large skyscraper in Manhattan (the owner, Daniel Clamp, is a pastiche of tycoon Donald Trump and media mogul Ted Turner). Kate also works at the building as a tour guide.

As part of a new development in the area, the old man who owns Gizmo is offered money to sell his store to the Clamp Organization. He refuses, but not long afterwards dies of natural causes. Gizmo is captured and is taken to a bio-lab in the Clamp Office Building, where bizarre genetic experiments are carried out on all sorts of animals (the lead scientist, Dr. Catheter, is played by Christopher Lee in a fairly type-cast role that harks back to his days starring in Hammer Horror movies).

Billy eventually finds out Gizmo is in the building and rescues him. However, at some point, Gizmo gets wet and the new Mogwai (Mohawk, Daffy, George, and Lenny) soon eat after midnight and turn into rampaging Gremlins, quickly causing a fire that triggers sprinklers, meaning they multiply yet further.

Soon enough they are causing mayhem and destruction all through the building, and it is up to Billy, Kate, and the stoic Daniel Clamp to get things under control.

Differences with the original

The original Gremlins was a surprise success, and Warner Bros. and Terry Semel wanted Joe Dante to do a sequel straight away. Dante declined, but five years later agreed on the condition that he could have free rein with the movie.
The Gremlins in the sequel are still malicious, but are far less capricious than the monsters of the first film. As a result, their activities are more along the lines of pranks more likely to cause annoyance and destruction than death, although they do kill and (presumably) eat a few humans and even some of their own number.
Gizmo has a new fur-do from the original.
The film has many meta-references, including a part wherein—in a film studio within the Clamp Building—a film reviewer (Leonard Maltin) holds up a copy of the original Gremlins movie and denounces it as ridiculous and stupid, his rant cut short when a Gremlin pounces on him and attacks. Also, when Billy is trying to explain the safety precautions regarding the Mogwai (don't get them wet, feed them after midnight, or expose to bright lights) to security guards in the building, the guards find them quite absurd and interrogate Billy, asking him "What if they get a bit of food stuck in their teeth before midnight and eat that piece shortly after midnight?" These are queries raised by some fans of the original movie concerning these rather bizarre rules.
Joe Dante having most control over the script realized gremlins being small in size and weak (compared to humans) would pose no real threat to humans besides fiddling with man's technology opted to make the series a comedy over a dramatic horror for the sequel

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