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Gremlins 2 poster

Gremlins 2: The New Batch is a 1990 American comedy horror film, and the sequel to the 1984 film Gremlins. It was directed by Joe Dante and written by Charles S. Haas, with creature designs by Rick Baker. Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Dick Miller, Jackie Joseph, and Keye Luke reprise their roles from the first film. New cast members include John Glover, Robert Prosky, Haviland Morris, Robert Picardo, and Christopher Lee; additionally, the film features Tony Randall providing the voice for one of the gremlins. The story continues the adventures of the creature Gizmo (once again voiced by Howie Mandel), who spawns numerous small monsters when wet. In the first film, Gizmo's offspring rampaged through a small fictional town. In Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Gizmo multiplies within a skyscraper in New York City. The new creatures thus pose a serious threat to the city should they be able to leave the building, and much of the story involves the human characters' efforts to prevent this disaster.

Like the first film, Gremlins 2: The New Batch is a live-action horror comedy film; however, Dante put effort into taking the sequel in new anarchistic directions. The film is meant to be more cartoon-like and less dark than the original, with slapstick violence, so the film received a PG-13 rating by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). There are also a number of parodies of other films and stories, including Gremlins itself, the Rambo films, The Wizard of Oz, Marathon Man and The Phantom of the Opera. A third installment, Gremlins 3, is currently in development.

Plot[]

After his owner Mr. Wing dies, the mogwai Gizmo becomes the guinea pig of scientists at a lab in the Clamp Center, a state-of-the-art highrise building in Manhattan, owned by eccentric billionaire Daniel Clamp. At the mercy of the chief researcher Dr. Catheter, Gizmo is rescued by his former owner Billy Peltzer and his fiancée Kate Beringer, both of whom work elsewhere in the building. Clamp befriends Billy upon being impressed by his skills in concept design, also sparking the interest of Billy's superior Marla Bloodstone. Gizmo is left in the office, where water spills on his head from a broken drinking fountain and spawns four new mogwai, one of them being Mohawk, a reincarnation of Stripe. They detain Gizmo in the air vents and later eat at the building's food court after midnight, becoming gremlins.

After Gizmo escapes from the vent, Mohawk captures and tortures him. The other gremlins set off the fire sprinklers and spawn a gremlin army that throws the building into chaos. Billy attempts to lure the gremlins into the lobby, where sunlight will kill them; after Billy briefs Clamp on gremlin knowledge, Clamp exits through a secret tunnel to cover the front of the building in a giant sheet to trick the creatures. The gremlins drink genetic serums in the lab; one becomes the intelligent Brain Gremlin, another gremlin becomes female, and a third becomes a being of pure electricity and kills Dr. Catheter before Billy traps it in Clamp's answering machine. All the while, television host "Grandpa Fred" films the chaos, aided by a Japanese tourist named Mr. Katsuji.

Murray Futterman, Billy's neighbor from Kingston Falls who is visiting New York City with his wife Sheila, is attacked by a bat-gremlin hybrid immunized to sunlight by the Brain Gremlin with "genetic sunblock". After fending it off, Futterman realizes that he is not crazy and has to help; when Clamp escapes the building using his secret route, Murray uses it to sneak inside to aid Billy. Billy and chief of security Forster team up, but the enamored female gremlin chases Forster off. Mohawk drinks a spider serum and transforms into a monstrous gremlin-spider hybrid. He attacks Kate and Marla, but Gizmo saves them by killing Mohawk with an ignited bottle of white-out. The gremlins congregate in the foyer, but a rainstorm hampers the plan.

Billy formulates another plan to kill the gremlins: Futterman sprays them with water while Billy releases the electric gremlin, which electrocutes and melts them all. Clamp charges in with the police and press, but sees the conflict is resolved; thrilled by the result, he promotes Billy, Kate, Fred, and Marla and hires Mr. Katsuji as a cameraman. Billy and Kate then return home with Gizmo. Forster calls Clamp to notify him that he is trapped at the highest floor of the building. The female gremlin, the only surviving gremlin, corners him and entices him to marry her.

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