12 Most Rewatchable Movie Sequels Of All Time

The original Gremlins is a masterpiece of simple storytelling, setting out its rules and subsequently breaking them in a tale so efficiently self-contained it could pass for a dark fairy tale, or an episode of a creepy anthology series. Audiences adored the story of all-American Billy, his adorable pet mogwai Gizmo, and the toothy terrors who unleash havoc on his small hometown.

In the years that followed, the studio was desperate for a sequel as countless knockoffs flooded the market. Innumerable Ghoulies, Critters, Munchies, and Hobgoblins proved there was interest in a return from the titular menaces, so all director Joe Dante had to do was re-tread the same ground as the original and he’d have a guaranteed hit on his hands.

Luckily for us, The Howling helmer had no such plans. Instead he wrote a wild, endlessly original meta-sequel whose scattershot satire takes aim at everything from American consumer culture, to the Rambo movies, to Donald Trump, to the original film itself. Bookended by inspired animated interludes from Looney Tunes creator Chuck Jones, the sequel became a live action cartoon, dense with sight gags, hysterically funny, and surprisingly insightful toward the targets of its sharp wit.