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It’s important to remember that Joe Dante’s 1990 monster comedy “Gremlins 2: The New Batch” isn’t just the director’s best film, it’s also one of the best films of the 1990s. It functions perfectly well as a comedy, and it certainly boasts some of the best practical creature effects of its decade, but it really serves as a clever meta-narrative on the tenuous relationship audiences have with the movies they watch. Several times throughout “Gremlins 2,” the\u00a0Gremlins break the fourth wall<\/a>, gleefully deconstructing the very nature of films. In one scene, they strangle movie critic Leonard Maltin with a strip of 35mm film. Similarly, in the sequel’s most notorious sequence, the gremlins break into the projection booth and appear to start ripping apart the movie as you’re watching it.<\/p>\n At the time, critics were generally positive about the film, although not overwhelmed. It wasn’t a hit, either making only $41 million at the box office against a $50 million budget. It seems that “Gremlins 2” was just too wild and weird for mainstream audiences. It didn’t help that the movie also repeatedly mocked a lot of the elements from the original “Gremlins,” almost to the point where it seemed like it was teasing “Gremlins” fans. There’s even a scene where characters nitpick the rules of gremlin procreation the same way a fan might. These characters are then eaten by gremlins for their troubles.<\/p>\n And notable critics have been drawn to the movie in the decades since it was made. Indeed, even Quentin Tarantino feels it’s something special. The filmmaker once appeared on Eli Roth’s podcast, “History of Horror,”<\/a>\u00a0to discuss the horror genre, and he wound up going on a brief tangent about “Gremlins 2,” arguing it’s a perfect comedy and comparing it positively to MAD Magazine.<\/p>\n