Gremlins 2: The New Batch is a 1990 movie directed by Joe Dante, written by Charlie 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 , Dick Miller, Jackie Josephs , 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 whereby hundreds of Gremlins sing Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York".

Synopsis

The film takes place in New York City, a few years after the original movie whereby Billy Peltzer (played by Zack Galligan ) had acquired Gizmo (voiced by Howie Mandel), a mysterious and cute furry creature called a Mogwai, which multiplies when wet. 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 (played by Phoebe Cates) now live in New York, where they are having difficulty adapting to the large and impersonal city after being bought up in small town. Billy works for the Clamp Organization , which is based in a large skyscraper in Manhattan (the owner, Daniel Clamp , is clearly inspired by tycoon Donald Trump). 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 Trump Tower, 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 however, but five-years later he agreed on the condition that he could have free reign with the movie.

The Gremlins in the sequel are merely malicious, rather than outrightly homicidal, and their activities are more along the lines of pranks designed to cause annoyance and destruction, rather than death.

The film is has many meta-references, including a part whereby - 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 rules of 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.

The Gremlins are more varied as well, thanks to many of them taking over the bio-labs and taking various 'potions'. One is turned into a hybrid with a bat (thus becoming the Bat Gremlin), Mohawk (voiced, like Stripe in the first Gremlins film, by Frank Welker) becomes a hybrid of a spider, one becomes part vegetable (director Joe Dante calls him "the Vegetable Gremlin"), another drinks a "male-to-female" potion and turns into a female Gremlin named Greta (dressed like a prostitute with shiny red lips and mascara), another becomes the Electric Gremlin, and yet another - the self-styled leader - takes a drug that makes him super-intelligent. This blesses him with the ability to speak with a very charming and refined voice (he was voiced by Tony Randall). In another piece of cartoonish humor, this Brain Gremlin magically acquires a pair of spectacles to denote his new intellect (see hammerspace).

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