Gremlins 2: The New Batch Movie Review

This sequel to Gremlins is superior to the original, which was quite good. Here, director Joe Dante presents a less violent but far campier tale of critters on the rampage. This time the gremlins take Manhattan, getting into a research lab housed in a skyscraper with disastrous results. The film pays surreal tribute to classic movies, including The Wizard of Oz, and musical extravaganzas of the past (the gremlins’ version of “New York, New York” is not to be missed). Tony Randall is splendid as the voice of “the Brain,” a gremlin inadvertently given super intelligence. The film on the whole is so good you almost wish there'd been a third movie.

1990 (PG-13) 107m/C Phoebe Cates, Christopher Lee, John Glover, Zach Galligan, Robert Prosky, Richard Picardo; Cameos: Jerry Goldsmith; D: Joe Dante; W: Charles Haas; M: Jerry Goldsmith; V: Tony Randall. VHS, Beta, LV, 8mm WAR, HHE