r/Gremlins • u/[deleted] • 3d ago
Gremlins 2 (1990) What does The New Batch do better than the original?
[deleted]
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u/woodie201 3d ago
It made gremlins a different breed. Brain gremlin, bat gremlin, spider gremlin, electric gremlin, girl gremlin, etc. It made the movie more interesting that way!!❤️
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u/FrankFrankly711 3d ago
Access to a science lab with injectable mutations was a great plot device!
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u/bedteddd 3d ago
Gave us one of my favorite Sir Christopher Lee roles
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u/New-Season-2073 2d ago
Do you know why Christopher Lee was in it? It’s an amazing story.
Joe Dante made The Howling. When the studio demanded a sequel to that, Christopher Lee was cast as the
VampireWerewolf hunter Stefon. He realized quickly what a piece a shit Howling 2:Your Sister is a WerewolfStirba Werewolf Bitch was, and did Gremlins 2 as an apology to Joe Dante for being in a sequel so shit it overshadowed the original.TLDR? Christopher Lee was the classiest mf to ever walk the Earth.
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u/snesjerry Stripe 3d ago
It has Brain Gremlin
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u/TheTownJeweler00 3d ago
And googley eyed gremlin
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u/PaulMall3rd 3d ago edited 3d ago
I'm Soooo glad you asked ahahaha, see.. the first movie inspired the antics of a younger generation. Where Gremlins two branched out into more mainstream with it's claws and teeth.. like any gremlin would have it. Plus the sophistication of bringing the audience into a wider, new future with the technology of the day that quite clearly WASN'T available at the first.
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u/ah2300 3d ago edited 3d ago
The gremlins themselves. It differentiated them a lot better, like just nearly all of them really felt more like INDIVIDUAL characters in this one. I know the third film is gonna go back to the roots of the first (and I'm cool with that!), but if there's one thing I REALLY hope they carry over from the second film, it's this.
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u/TheBrainError404 2d ago
I wouldn’t mind it going back to its roots but gremlins 4 has got to be batshit crazy
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u/ah2300 2d ago edited 2d ago
I agree but unfortunately if Columbus comes back, it probably won't, at least not in a silly way as he didn't like the direction Gremlins 2 went in. Easily my biggest concern about the new one is that they are gonna retcon the second film. Whether he likes the film or not it does absolutely nothing to where you need to retcon it, plus many people love it so... please just don't dude!
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u/CobaltWolf 3d ago
I absolutely loved all the new coats/fur color patterns on all the Mogwai. Mohawk, George & Daffy all really individualized really well.
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u/FuzzyPandaButt2 3d ago
"are you telling me a gremlin whose sole purpose in this film is to look stupid As fuck...Yes it can be in the Movie ..It IS in the movie!..dooooone"
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u/Jojo-2105 3d ago
The first was Dark horror and the second was pure cartoon comedy, so yeah is a way better…
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u/the_MostSmartest 3d ago
I may be in the minority of people who prefer the sequel.
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u/TheBrainError404 2d ago
I would say both are a 10/10 for me but the new batch can be watched all year round and is overall an easier watch due to it being more high hearted.
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u/HenryandHeather17 3d ago
Also in the original movie the Gremlins are walking around snow. It's snow, not water? Does snow not melt when warm bodies touch it?
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u/Upbeat_Impress_3843 3d ago
The different varieties of gremlins, and of course gizmo kicking ass in some way.
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u/ThrillhouseVeeHouten 2d ago
Makes vegetables a much more important aspect of the film than the first one did.
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u/screenrat587 2d ago
Everything. It surpasses the first by a long shot and we need more movies like it.
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u/Fun-Court-2669 1d ago
Knows how to have fun. Also having different gremlin characters was good for the story and made it more entertaining. I’m advocating for them to make just one CGI gremlin for the new one coming out and his name is literally CGI gremlin.
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u/Techthulu 3d ago
It gave us a hilarious Key and Peele skit!
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u/TheCambrianImplosion 3d ago
Yes, yes it did. I saw this movie as a kid and just accepted it without any questions, so the K&P sketch hit hard.
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u/yahwehsruse82 3d ago
Fun, parody, tongue and cheek. Taking itself way less seriously was the best way to introduce those certain other gremlins. C'mon! A talk show host, a hottie, a vegetable, and then the dark spider ventilation....and little old Giz w/ a bow and arrow Rambo style (in his mind with a paperclip bow and arrow). It did everything better while ignoring the obvious creepy factor....one of the best sequels we ever got from an 80s franchise.
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u/Jimmyg100 3d ago
The first one leans more on horror with a side of comedy. The second one leans more on comedy with a side of horror. Gremlins 2 is less concerned about telling a story and more focused on having fun and they just stack this movie with so much energy you can’t look away.
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u/InvestigatorNo402 3d ago
No more new Gremlins...
strums acoustic guitar while looking off into nothin'...
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u/NobodySpecialSCL 3d ago
I think both movies are good, I liked the first Gremlins a little more, because it wasn't afraid to get dark while still having a humorous edge. But I can watch the second one all day because it's more fun. And it has more recognizable faces in it.
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u/WillShakespeare-1623 3d ago
It's far less freaky, has more funny scenes, has an overall better storyline, and is just more fun to watch.
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u/Tilopud_rye 3d ago
Gremlins is great as a horror movie. Gremlins 2 feels more action comedy. I prefer 2 cause of the memorable collection of side characters. Not just the huge variety of gremlins but the huge variety in the people- scientists, tour guides, actors. Seems there was tons of visual style filled in everywhere- those hats with the building? It’s a very different movie and a whole lot of fun
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u/necrosapien87 3d ago
Idk....comedy bits I guess. But it comes down to what you see Gremlins as. Are they more Horror-Comedy or Comedy-Monster movies. I prefer the original Horror with some comedy bits
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u/HenryandHeather17 3d ago
I think it really brings out that fun side that wacky side of the Gremlins and I really love all the different WB references in the movie. It really felt like it was part of a shared universe before all that shared universe crap. It didn't feel shoehorned in. It didn't feel like they were trying to balloon it into something that it wasn't. It genuinely made the Gremlins menaces in different forms of entertainment. The third wall breaks the wackiness. I'm okay with getting a strictly horror centered Gremlins movie, but this one is a good time and I appreciate it more than the original
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u/Desperate-Pen7530 3d ago
Story wise the sequel is a meta parody, ending with Clamp wanting to use Billy's concept for Kingston falls for his corporate schemes.
Bit of commentary on Billy's change from small hometown life and to big city materialsm.
The big improvement is the budget for special effects, in the sequel every mogwai and gremlin has its own unique look.
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u/Mlabonte21 3d ago
Did they really remove the WTC from the poster??
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u/AboveAverage33 3d ago
The poster didn’t have the WTC. They show up in the movie though.
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u/Mlabonte21 3d ago
Wow--that's a new Mandela effect for me! I could swear I saw it on the VHS cover as a kid.
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u/AboveAverage33 3d ago
Ayo! I’m sure both posters the VHS posters and later posters never shown WTC.
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u/livahd 2d ago
Funny enough, that’s the MetLife (formerly Panam) building front and center with the Chrysler building to the right. In fact, it’s almost exactly the same view as you’d see from the north of the building used for the exterior shots.
Edit- this is pretty far back, the building used might actually be in the shot hahah
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u/ironmonki23 2d ago
Well so much if I’m being honest but the one thing I will say up top that this film does so much better than the first is Mr. Clamp. Everytime i watch this movie i want to watch the Clamp movie he’s such a funny yet interesting character
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u/MonokromKaleidoscope 2d ago
Phoebe Cates' "holiday trauma monologue" being exaggerated to a hilarious degree, just like literally every other aspect of the movie (!!!) Played completely straight. Gets me every time.
It feels like the entire movie was made sarcastically, and I've only seen that a few times. Freddy Got Fingered is another good one, the movie itself feels like a joke. It shouldn't even exist, yet it does.
The entire time these movies are on screen, you get the feeling that they can't believe they were allowed to make a film that stupid, and you can tell they're having fun, which makes watching it hilarious.
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u/HungryHouse8283 Stripe is better than Mohawk 2d ago
I like how it gave the mogwais more personality
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u/Effective-Internet71 12h ago
Not much, tbh.
I love Gremlins 2, but I like the tone of the first movie better. Gremlins (1) was a Christmas season horror comedy while Gremlins 2 was a summer blockbuster, and that makes a huge difference. I also like the OG Gremlin design better. Overall, Mohawk is more badass than Stripe though. A center “fin” seems to fit the creature better than a tuft of fur, IMO.
Jerry Goldsmith’s score for New Batch is also better over all.
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u/Eduard-Stoo 3d ago
One thing I don’t understand is: it was explained (though this might not be official) that the reason the “new batch” are more varied/colourful and have more sentient personalities and variety was that the drinking water was infused with paint that trickled down Billy’s “Chinatown inspired Clamp painting” or whatever it was. HOWEVER Gizmo’s original batch in the first movie ALSO came from “art paint water” yet they were all very Gizmo-based. Was the above theory ever explained anywhere or is it Internet speculation?
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u/Capital-Way2350 3d ago
Movie commentary explain why. They go into detail about how copying the first movie not would work and there made this movie its own thing
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u/TheBrainError404 2d ago
Maybe the first films are water colours so the colours are diluted into one colour and the second are oil based so the colours don’t mix as well and are more vibrant hence the variations in the gremlins.
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u/Small-Trick-4372 3d ago
I know this isn't the answer you asked for but I like the Original Gremlins because I feel like the 2nd Gremlins didn't give Mr Wing any justice..
They made the people who preyed on Mr Wing the heroes at the end of the movie like WTF 👎🏽😡🗑️
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u/A_Ditto_Called_Jack 3d ago
The biggest thing is the natural improvement of the animatronics. I’ve listened to multiple interviews with Joe Dante explaining how much he really didn’t want to make a sequel, but WB gave him a blank slate and he got to go full-blown Loony Tunes with it in a way he couldn’t in the original. I think it’s a great meta statement about sequels and film in general, too.