Product Details

• Actors: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, John Glover, Robert Prosky, Robert Picardo
• Directors: Joe Dante
• Writers: Charles S. Haas, Chris Columbus
• Producers: Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy, Michael Finnell, Rick Baker, Steven Spielberg
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, NTSC
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
• VHS Release Date: April 13, 1993
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (115 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301871944
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #491,615 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Zach Galligan, the star of the first Gremlins, is back, along with Phoebe Cates, his girlfriend from the first film. They're both working in an ultramodern skyscraper owned by a Donald Trump clone (a hilarious John Glover). Galligan's furry little buddy is captured by a mad scientist, who not only helps it multiply, but invests the nasty, scaly offspring with intelligence and the ability to talk. (Watch for the one that has Tony Randall's voice.) What follows is imaginative mayhem that spoofs old movies, modern television, and the conveniences of postmodern technology. In some ways, the sequel is even more inventive and laughter-inducing than the original. --Marshall Fine

From The New Yorker

The director, Joe Dante, and his team (which includes the screenwriter Charlie Haas and the effects supervisor Rick Baker) have made a multimillion-dollar, special-effects-crammed picture that has the loose, improvisatory feel of the great Warner Brothers cartoons of the forties and fifties. They're fearless and indefatigable gagsters, and the movie is smarter, wilder, and more unfettered than the original "Gremlins" (1984). There's an ideal setting for the gremlins' rampaging consumption: they've been let loose in a state-of-the-art Manhattan office building and mall called the Clamp Centre (after Daniel Clamp, the egotistical developer who built it). This towering steel-and-glass wedge is a monument to the runaway acquisitiveness of the eighties, and by the time the little monsters have chomped and guzzled (and sung and danced) their way through its cheerless offices and boutiques, Dante and his collaborators have trashed-or at least lobbed spitballs at-quite a few of the most unattractive aspects of life in these United States. In its adolescent way, the movie's almost subversive: a high-spirited combination of Looney Tunes principles and Dante's own manic pop-culture-in-a-blender sensibility. Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Dick Miller, and Jackie Joseph return from the first film. They're joined by John Glover, who plays Clamp as a doltish child; Haviland Morris, who is hilarious as an ambitious, fast-talking businesswoman named Marla; and the horror-movie veteran Christopher Lee, who plays Dr. Catheter, the director of a genetic-engineering laboratory. The animated pre-credit sequence, featuring Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny, was written and directed by Chuck Jones, who made some of the greatest Warners cartoons. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gremlins in Gotham, July 19, 2004

By 

Rocco Dormarunno (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gremlins 2 - The New Batch (DVD)

I'm not saying this just because I am a New Yorker, but GREMLINS 2--THE NEW BATCH is slightly better than the original. First, it's a much less mean-spirited film than the first (which I also gave five stars, but for different reasons). Just the fact that a character who was crushed to death in the first film, shows up in the sequel (wearing a small cast) because he really was likeable, shows that Joe Dante and the scriptwriters were going into this film for the fun of it. Second, the casting was flawless. Whoever chose Tony Randall to do the voice of the strangely-William F. Buckley-sounding, intellectual gremlin was responding to nothing short of divine inspiration. Everyone involved in this production had their hearts in the right places and the effect shows. GREMLINS 2--THE NEW BATCH is an astounding piece of comic fantasy and horror that should endure.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Underrated sequel, August 4, 2000

By 

Inspector Gadget "Go Go Gadget Reviews" (On the trail of Doctor Claw) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gremlins 2 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Gremlins 2 has a bigger scope than the first film. It takes place in Manhattan and deals with a lot more than the original did. The main difference is that Gremlins 2 is kind of a spoof of the first. With frequent references to it (even by Leonard Maltin at one point) and only 2 characters (or 3 if you include Gizmo) it's not really continuing the Gremlins story but using it to make fun of early '90s big city culture.

There are a gazillion in-jokes and dozens of cameos all over the place. Including Jerry Goldsmith who's music is even better in this movie than in the first. It is such a cool and catchy little theme. I love it.

The Gremlins seem cuter and funnier in this one. My fave Gremlin is Daffy, he's insane. The other main ones are George (the frowner), Lenny (the dumb one) and Mohawk (the one with the uh...mohawk). And of course there's Gizmo. I wish so much that Mogwai were real because he's so cute and adorable.

Rent this movie or catch it on TV. If you like it wait for Warner to release the DVD. The opportunity for extras and invention is endless.

One last thing. Stay with this film until the end of the credits.

Give us a Blu Ray NOW Warner!

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars INCREDIBLY BETTER SEQUEL, August 30, 2000

By 

MAS (Porterville, Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gremlins 2: New Batch [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

Gremlins 2: The New Batch,is the sequel to the underrated 1984 classic,Gremlins (well,sort of.) In my perfectly honest opinion,it's much better than the original and as a previous reviewer said,it's the perfect example of how a sequel should be done.

Story: Billy Peltzer (Zach Galligan) from the first Gremlins movie now lives in Manhattan,New York where he works for a super-rich corporation in a Skyscraper.He's an Adult now,lives a good life,and is even married.

When several workers of the corporation try to talk Mr.Wing (Keye Luke) into letting them demolish his shop so they can have room for more businesses,Gizmo (from what I can remember) escapes,but is soon captured by Scientists who work at the corporation.

Billy one day sneaks into the Labratory Gizmo is at and soon starts living with Billy again.However,a maintenace man accidently (and unknowingly) squirts Gizmo with water from a fountain.Gizmo once again spawns more Mogwais,who are MUCH nastier than in the first Gremlins.

They look uglier,are swifter and sneakier,and even use mutagenic chemicals to enhance themselves.Many of them are soon transformed into giant Spiders,flying Gargoyles,Electronic menaces,and one even talks.

Gremlins 2 is unbelieveably better than the original. The acting is once again top-notch.Galligan rocks as Billy, Howie Mandel is still fantastic at voicing Gizmo,the casting is terrific (John Glover is perfect for the role of Daniel Clamp,the corporations boss and founder) and the script is excellent and is quite unpredictable.Dante's direction is even stronger and more solid than the first Gremlins,and gives the film a (truly) hard worked feel to it.

The special effects are also mind blowing,despite that their still not CGI.Gizmo is even cuter and more likeable than in the first Gremlins (he even dresses like Rambo at one point late in the film).The Gremlins are totally brilliant. As I said earlier,they look scarier and nastier than in Gremlins,and the mutated Gremlin effects are absolutely stunning.The Giant Spider Gremlin is a way cool Monster,the Electro-Gremlin rocks big time,and the talking Gremlin is one of the most memorable characters in the History of Hollywood.

As a previous reviewer said,it's not really a sequel to Gremlins.Well,I (personally) tend to call Gremlins 2 a semi-sequel.It picks up where Gremlins left off,but "rips off" Gremlins.The way the Gremlins take over the Skyscraper is VERY similar to the classic theater scene from Gremlins and one Gremlin,Lenny,dresses like a deranged Dentist at one point and wields a nasty dental drill (Lenny is sort of like Stripe from Gremlins,who wielded a chainsaw and was very deranged). I also LOVE the Gremlin with the Spiky Mohawk (who becomes the super cool Spider) and the Electro-Gremlin,just awesome. And tell me you wouldn't want to have Gizmo for a Pet.How could you possibly hate him? He's such a brilliant and original character!

Overall,Gremlins 2: The New Batch is an unbelieveably better sequel that it's predicessor,with a stronger (and better) story even more original than Gremlins,incredible special effects,loveable and memorable characters, countless in-jokes,a wicked finale,and is HIGHLY entertaining and NEVER EVER gets boring.This is even more underrated than Gremlins,which is saying a LOT.

Buy it right now.You DO NOT know what you are missing.

Can't wait for Gremlins 3!