The "Tremors" Franchise

[StevePulaski]

Tremors (1990)
Directed by: Ron Underwood

Giant worms terrorize a sleepy Nevada desert-town in Tremors.

Rating: ★★★½

The way Ron Underwood's Tremors builds, foreshadows imminent events, and plays with its wide variety of eccentric characters is something that often gets overlooked in the face of obvious fun and lighthearted nature of the film. Beyond basic cable entertainment, however, there is a seriously sturdiness and intelligence to the way the film operates that I've admired since I was a young child, at one point, watching each film of the franchise (all except for the fourth film) and a daily basis; it's a film written with the kind of thoughtfulness that's rare for B-movies of any era, especially the 1990's, when they were already becoming an extinct breed.

The film revolves around Valentine and Earl (Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward), a likable pair of smartass handymen, who curse the sleepy desert-town of Perfection, Nevada, where they've spent most of their days. They're sick of the laborious work that offer little pay in return, and both men find one anothers mannerisms and sentiments contemptible, despite the fact that, at the end of the day, they're really all they got. Just when they come to the conclusion that they will ditch deserted Perfection for the more promising land of Bixby, strange and rampant deaths of notable townfolk become apparent: the alcoholic electrician is found dead from dehydration on top of an electric pole, a herd of sheep and their farmer are all killed by a mysterious force, and two roadworkers are mysteriously found dead on their jobsite.

Val and Earl are convinced a killer is on the loose, but before they can back up their assertion, they discover an unidentified species of subterranean worm. The worm, which makes use of its three or four smaller tongue-like worms inside of its mouth to grab hold of its victims, hunts by sound and sonic vibrations, making up for its inability to see and smell. They can travel at incredibly speeds and usually manage to elevate the entire ground before breaking onto the surface, screeching in an attempt to alert its presence.

The entire film feels like a National Geographic TV show gone horribly awry, as Val and Earl enlist in the help of their close friends and fellow Perfection residents like the known survivalist, World War III-prepper Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) and his wife Heather (Reba McEntire), in addition to helpless store owner Walter Chang (Victor Wong), to bring down the worms. There's also a grad-school-age seismologist named Rhonda (Finn Carter), who has been monitoring seismic activity and been receiving extremely alarming results, which, upon discovery, bring no surprise.

The result is a nonstop parade of terrifically suspenseful action setpieces, with tense elements of horror placed in for good measure, as well as pleasant humor from the likes of Bacon and Ward. Tremors, above all, however, is an immensely well-structured film, working to build suspense and naturally foreshadow events in the very beginning of the film, doing so in a way that's not entirely obvious nor trivial and tacked-on. Consider a little girl's pogostick, Walter Chang's new cooler, or Burt's underground bunker, all of which subtle and very believable story inclusions that go on to assume greater significance as the film develops.

The comedic elements are also balanced very neatly with the more horror-driven elements; consider the opening scene, when we see all that we need to in efforts to define the relationship between Val and Earl. It's the telling state of their friendships, filled with quips, pranks, and mindless bickers settled by one round of rock, paper, scissors. With any other actors or under a script that is far inferior to the balanced and cheerful one that S.S. Wilson has penned, these could've been two insufferable blokes with not a shred of wit or chemistry. With the likable traits Wilson gives them and with the affable, relatable nature Bacon and Ward bring to the characters, the two souls click almost instantly.

Finally, there are the action elements, which also work incredibly well. Underwood, Wilson, and the remainder of the cast are essentially given an entire Nevadan desert to play in, which warrants results that aren't locationally confined nor are they limiting, given the wealth of possibilities they could offer. We spend enough time riding horseback with Val and Earl, sitting on rocks with the gang of townfolk, sitting inside Chang's general store, and even a brief few minutes inside Burt and Heather's bunker, where one of the film's best scenes occurs, that the location-variety is exhaustive and all-encompassing. This results in a film that's very fluid and fun, never stopping and sitting for too long and never forgetting its true purpose - to have fun and create a well-developed film about bizarre creatures.

Tremors goes down as one of the strangest, yet most unabashedly enjoyable, pieces of 'weird west' I have yet to see. It was a film I grew up on, appreciating its originality at first, but growing to love the smaller, more low-key elements in the film working with the more obvious ones to, in turn, create a film that's layered and exhilarating, all while operating on the scale of a B-movie. Call it whatever word you want - I call it ingenuous and developed.

Starring: Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross, Reba McEntire, and Victor Wong. Directed by: Ron Underwood.

[StevePulaski]

Tremors II: Aftershocks (1996)
Directed by: S.S. Wilson

Fred Ward returns in Tremors II: Aftershocks.

Rating: ★★★

Despite meager box office returns and only late success on home video, Tremors may be one of the only films to spawn a franchise out of a film that was never a big hit nor really intended to be a series. But unlike contemporary, flash-in-the-pan successes like The Hangover and Taken, the substance of the Tremors sequels is what kept their longevity and their quality at least in some ways comparable to the original masterwork. Tremors II: Aftershocks is a very strong sequel, and with the original film's screenwriter S.S. Wilson getting promoted to director and Brent Maddock assisting Wilson once again in the writing department, the original film's spirit is still captured in what is also a pleasantly different film than the first. For all the griping I, myself, and others do about sequels failing to raise the stakes, here's a film that doesn't mind changing the rules late in the game because, hey, it was already told that Graboids themselves don't play fair.

After opening with a stunningly suspenseful scene of an oil worker trying to avoid a Graboid, we are dropped right in the middle of the sleepy desert-town of Perfection, Nevada, once more, where Earl Bassett (Fred Ward) is now making his living as an ostrich farmer. Despite him and his partner Valentine gaining unprecedented popularity from their discovery of Graboids, Earl hasn't received much, if any, royalties from the licensing of the beasts, from comic books to arcade games. He still makes his living as a humble handyman and is almost going to keep it that way until Señor Carlos Ortega (Marcelo Tubert) and Grady Hoover (Christopher Gartin) show up on his doorstep informing them of the most recent Graboid, large, subterranean worms that hunt by sounds and sonic vibrations in the ground, crisis. An oil rig in Mexico has been deemed a serious hazard to employees and occupants after numerous Graboid attacks have resulted in the deaths of innocent workers. Ortega is prepared to offer Earl $50,000 per each Graboid he kills whilst in Mexico, in addition to $100,000 if he can capture one alive.

After much persuasion from Grady, Earl reluctantly agrees to make good use of his big "second chance," taking Grady along with him as his right-hand-man. When the two realize the Graboid operation is more dangerous and prolific than they thought, even after managing to blow up several using a remote-control car and dynamite, they enlist in the help of survivalist Burt Gummer (Michael Gross), who has spent his most recent days wallowing in self-pity and frustration after his wife Heather chose to leave him. The three, in addition to Kate (Helen Shaver), a local paleontologist, work to complete Ortega's operation, which goes rather seamlessly until the worms wind up undergoing metamorphosis and subsequently transforming into something more dangerous and more ubiquitous.

While the amiable and often hilarious chemistry of Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward is subtracted from the formula of this sequel, Gartin steps in to do an okay job at playing second banana to Fred Ward's always interesting Earl character. Gartin's obnoxiousness is grating at times, and while his character is clearly the comic relief here, he comes off as a sign as being that a bit too obviously. The great thing about the original Tremors was no blatant comic relief was needed (even the listless teenager Melvin really didn't constitute as one, in my mind) because both leading men were capable of being funny without forgoing any element of seriousness and believability. Gartin does what he can within the screenplay of Wilson and Maddock and the result is fair but not totally destructive to the plot.

Tremors II largely works because it doesn't settle to do the same thing twice; it keeps its story moving by not only changing the setting and adding a few more characters in the mix, but changing the entire biological spectrum of the monsters. Wilson and Maddock put a lot of thought into the mindset of these Graboids, biologically, physically, and conceptually, which results in a fairly elaborate and well-played detailing of the next wave of monsters sure to plague our characters. In addition, much like the original Tremors, this is a film that makes total use of its desert setting, spending considerable amounts of time in some settings, but always giving different locations their time of day in a manner that feels very regionally democratic.

Tremors II: Aftershocks is a thoroughly pleasant sequel because it helps to revoke the spirit of the original film, whilst deviating course into something that expands upon the mythology of the monsters in the film and general likability of most of the film's characters. Rarely has there been a franchise quite like Tremors that has proven its own longevity better than most established, financially successful franchises and rarely has there been an impressive sequel quite like Tremors II: Aftershocks.

Starring: Fred Ward, Christopher Gartin, Michael Gross, Helen Slater, Marco Hernandez, and Marcelo Tubert. Directed by: S.S. Wilson.

[StevePulaski]

Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001)
Directed by: Brent Maddock

"Desert Jack" (Shawn Christian) rescues Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) from a Graboid attack in Tremors 3: Back to Perfection.

Rating: ★★★

Tremors 3: Back to Perfection was the point in the Tremors franchise where (a) was strictly catering to the love and admiration the fans of the first two had for the characters and biology of the subterranean worm creatures and (b) the budgets for these films began to dramatically decrease. Tremors 3, as it sits, is a film made for hardcore fans of the franchise and those who don't mind a little Sci-Fi (capitalized for a reason) treatment to their beloved franchise in the respect of look and feel.

The low-budget is evident by the limited human interaction with these beasts, be them Graboids, Shriekers, creatures with that hatch from Graboids that can walk on land and sense any kind of nearby heat with thermal sensors, and the new "Assblasters," which are pretty much Shriekers with the ability to soar thanks to butane gas in their hindquarters. This time, instead of a Mexican oil field, we return to Perfection, Nevada to find Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) residing in a heavily armed and secured bunker, despite no Graboid sighting in the valley for the past eleven years, and residents from the first film, such as Miguel (Tony Genaro), the Mexican rancher and Nancy (Charlotte Stewart) and her daughter Mindy (Ariana Richards), also still residing in Perfection. Earl and Grady have moved on to start their own theme-park in Bixby after making a fortune killing Graboids in the Mexican oil refinery so, much like Val in Tremors II, their significance in this film is reduced to a sidenote.

Burt's closest friend in town besides Miguel is Jodi Chang (Susan Chaung), who know owns and operates the general-store-turned-tourist-shop of her late uncle Walter Chang. Jodi is usually subject to Burt's paranoia and the antics of "Desert Jack" (Shawn Christian), who puts on a haunted tour of sorts through Perfection Valley for tourists. However, when Graboids prove to still occupy the land, Burt and the remainder of the valley are prohibited from fighting back by several government agents, who claim that the Graboid is an endangering species. If, however, harm is safety of the townfolk is compromised, the agents agree to evacuate everyone in Perfection, only making it easier for Melvin Plug (Robert Jayne), the spunky teen from the original film, and his band of realtor goons to build a series of condominiums in the area. Burt, "Desert Jack," and Jodi, however, still to take matters into their own hands in combating the uncommonly advanced Graboid species even as they continue their metamorphic state.

Tremors 3 directly appeals to fans simply by the genial and nostalgic sentiments it summons by reintroducing us to characters from the first film, all of whom played by the same actors they were originally played by. Call me sentimental or easily fascinated, but it's a delight to see characters like Miguel and Melvin back once again, in a way that personalizes the story and keeps it consistent, rather than having new characters populate the valley. Imagine how much worse this sequel could've been if Perfection were populated with people like "Desert Jack," who shout and holler every word like they were raised in a line-dancing bar. Because Brent Maddock, who worked on the previous two Tremors installments, commands the director's chair here, I feel there's a great respect for the source material through and through with this project, even if intentions and the end result are a tad questionable at times.

With that, the special effects have admittedly taken a sharp downturn. When the Graboids, specifically "El Blanco," the new albino Graboid we see in this film, rise from the ground, mostly to taunt their future victims by wiggling in the air, they look like soft-serve ice cream, and the action involving them is incredibly limited, showing great budgetary restraints on special effects. The limited interaction with these monsters shows the serious cutbacks of the film, and while the new "Assblaster" creatures initially seems juvenile, the fun continues when we see, again, what Tremors has really been about from the start: thinking of intuitive ways to hunt and kill subterranean behemoths that are almost always finding ways to outsmart the human characters.

Aside from one serious biological attribute about the Graboids at the end of the film, which, I feel, is simply a sign of screenwriting laziness on part of S.S. Wilson and Nancy Roberts, Tremors 3: Back to Perfection works to give us down-home nostalgia, as we return to Perfection, and provides in several ways the kind of suspense and silliness we've come to expect with this franchise. Forgive some evident special effects shortcomings and a potential flaw in biology and the film still has that lovable sense of fun and weirdness that has helped the series last in two separate decades.

Starring: Michael Gross, Shawn Christian, Susan Chaung, Tony Genaro, Charlotte Stewart, Ariana Richards, and Robert Jayne. Directed by: Brent Maddock.

[StevePulaski]

Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004)
Directed by: S.S. Wilson

Hiram Gummer (Michael Gross) uses a punt gun against a Graboid in Tremors 4: The Legend Begins.

Rating: ★★

The relationship Tremors 4: The Legend Begins and I have has long been a strange one, stranger than the original Tremors film going from a modestly successful, contemporary B-movie into a series that spanned three decades, a TV show, and an online video game. Tremors 4: The Legend Begins was never the sequel I craved to watch as a young child, totally invested in the universe of Perfection, Nevada and the biology of the Graboid. I always craved the first two films and watched the third film on special occasions, yet I was never drawn to the idea of a prequel to the franchise set all the way back in the 1880's. One faithful day when I was about nine, I settled into watch the film and shut it off after about forty minutes; the action wasn't there, the suspense was missing, the faithful characters I grew attached to over the course of the years weren't even a twinkle in the eyes of the characters, and, bottom line, the atmosphere felt all wrong. I put the film away and decided I'd never watch it again.

About six years later, I tried once again, made it to the end credits, and generally liked what I had seen; it was a film I found pleasant enough, somewhat entertaining, but again, never really wanted to see again nor craved every year like the previous three films. Watching it for the third time, making it to the end credits of the second time, I'm caught between my downright hatred from my first "viewing" and the acceptance of my second to reach a point of indifference. Tremors 4 is a mediocre addition to a franchise that otherwise boldly worked with the elements of suspense and constructing biology of obscure, constantly developing creatures and an assembly of quirky but, for the most part, instantly lovable characters.

Tremors 4 lacks that smoothness that made the first three films so investing, and doesn't really know how to assemble or make use of its time period without it seeming like a costume party. The film follows the town of Perfection, Nevada in 1889, when it is known as Rejection, Nevada. The town is a largely desolate, unremarkable town that is financially elevated by the silver mine, which soon becomes a dangerous location when numerous miners are reported dead or killed on the job in a mysterious fashion. To investigate, the mine's owner Hiram Gummer (Michael Gross), great-grandfather of the Tremors' franchise's Burt Gummer, a cold and mannered businessman concerned about his bottom dollar above all, arrives in Rejection.

Hiram immediately gets acquainted to the townsfolk, to whom he is incredibly standoffish, before getting a look at the "dirt dragons" themselves. Before transforming into the typical subterranean beast we know them as, the worms are smaller, more land-oriented creatures, about the length of a skateboard, with spikes along their sides and a smaller head that resembles their Graboid successor. Hiram, Juan (Brent Roam), a mineworker, and Pyong Lien Chang (Ming Lo), current owner and operator of Chang's General Store, realize they're ill-equipped to combat the violent beasts, they enlist in the help of a skilled sharpshooter. The sharpshooter presents himself to Rejection as "Black Hand Kelly" (Billy Drago), an ominous figure cloaked in black and blessed with a quick trigger finger.

Tremors 3: Back to Perfection was the point in the franchise when one could really see that the budgets for the films had become increasingly minimized and the fate of the series headed in the direction of Sci-Fi Network TV movies. Tremors 4 further reduces the budget to a real pitiful muddle of poorly conceived CGI and limited human interaction with the creatures. The combat and suspense elements included in the preceding films are notably missing from this one, sacrificed in favor of listless conversation between the characters that doesn't eloquently build character nor create any additional interest in the situation.

Finally, there's the overall lack of spirit from the original three films. Those were movies that built off of one another, adding characters related to one another, providing epilogues to those who weren't in future installments, and linked together like an elaborate food chain. Tremors 4, aside from the connection to Burt Gummer and Walter Chang's market, largely feels divorced from the series all together, and although S.S. Wilson, Brent Maddock, and Nancy Roberts are all still a part of this film, a lot of the zest and the attributes that made the preceding films so watchable and easily lovable feels so subtracted that this might as well be a prequel made by total strangers of the series.

Starring: Michael Gross, Brent Roam, Billy Drago, Sarah Botsford, and Ming Lo. Directed by: S.S. Wilson.

[StevePulaski]

Tremors 5: Bloodlines (2015)
Directed by: Don Michael Paul

Travis (Jamie Kennedy) and Burt (Michael Gross) combat an entirely new, mutated spawn of Graboids in Tremors 5: Bloodlines.

Rating: ★★★

I've waited eleven long years and suffered through a lot of misinformation, false theories, and reneged promises in hopes that a fifth installment of the long-running Tremors franchise would come to fruition. I remember watching the first two films back-to-back on my off days from elementary school, brainstorming the possibilities for what a fifth film would entail. I remember scouring the internet upon being acquainted with it around the same time in hopes that some tidbits of information about a potential fifth film would circulate. I even remember trying to find answers as to why Tremors: The Series, the short-lived Sci-Fi Network program, was taken off of Hulu before being subsequently released on DVD, a date I faithfully marked on every calendar I owned. I even remember when Tremors 5 was reportedly going to be called "Tremors V: The Thunder from Down Under," potentially starring Kevin Bacon alongside Michael Gross to make the fifth installment an essential, circumventing chapter.

With all that, you can infer I was etched into this series and its world probably as much as the creators were, and eleven years later, well into college and almost past my insatiable craze for Tremors, I finally have gotten my wish. The fifth installment of the series, boasting the subtitle "Bloodlines," concerns an aged, but still spirited, Burt Gummer (Michael Gross), who is now hosting a survivalist TV show on network Television, which has him venturing out into the deep desert of his hometown of Perfection, Nevada to hunt dangerous creatures of all sizes. Filming for one episode is interrupted when Travis (Jamie Kennedy), a young hot-rod on a dirtbike, speeds through and offers to be his cameraman and marketer, promising to turn the Gummer name into a globally recognized brand. This comes at the same time a man claiming to be from a South African Wildlife organization offers Burt a hefty sum of money to hunt and capture the subterranean beasts known as Graboids, specifically Ass Blasters, that have invaded the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa. Burt jumps at the opportunity, with Travis tagging along for good measure, but upon arriving in South Africa, the two realize the worms have surprisingly, yet unsurprisingly, taken a bold new turn in their biology.

Tremors 5: Bloodlines is the first installment not to have any involvement on behalf of S.S. Wilson, Brent Maddock, or Nancy Roberts, all of whom once writers, producers, and, with the exception of Roberts, directors of the preceding films in the franchise. This lack of involvement had me initially nervous, but it's refreshing to see a series picked up, dusted off, and respected by a new breed of talent, including Don Michael Paul (The Road to El Dorado) in the director's chair, in addition to a trio of new writers. The new writing team - comprised of Woodrow Truesmith, M.A. Deuce, and C.J. Strebor - work to breed the kind of respect the first two sequels had, as well as try to alter the series enough to build off of each sequel's desire to take the biological attributes and repercussions of Graboid behavior to a new level.

This is what has kept the Tremors franchise alive and well for three decades now and the result shows with the sequel. At the heart is Michael Gross, who gives it everything he has to give this franchise another winning installment, after a rather lackluster prequel. Gross, who is nearing seventy, packs as much energy and gumption as he did in the original Tremors film, and alongside Kennedy, who is more reserved than he is rowdy here, the two make a delightfully mismatched pair that echoes the sentiments of Earl and Grady in Tremors II.

The special effects here are probably the best they've been since Tremors II; the latter two sequels saw the budget of the series quickly deteriorate into visually mediocre fodder that belonged on dimestore horror networks. Tremors 5 helps reinvigorate the look of the film by adding visual credibility to the monsters. While I'm almost positive nobody will mistake this for an eight-figure, studio product, the effects work here is the most believable it has been in well over ten years and it's about time the franchise gets much-needed zest restored into its visuals.

I can sit here and express my minor quibbles about Tremors 5, addressing the lack of the original castmates, the lack of variety in the monsters, the more modern display of technology, the tad too-heavy reliance on goofy quips, and so-forth, all of which would mostly be coming from my nostalgic side rather than my rational side. Not to mention, waiting over a decade for a film and being entirely satisfied is an unheard of thing. What I can say, however, is that I'm glad Tremors 5 has finally seen the light of day and it returns to the mix of slowburn suspense and goofy jabs at characters' egos, as well as reemphasizing the great deal of respect that Wilson, Maddock, and Roberts have etched into the films and their characters since day one. Finally, much like Graboids themselves, even when the chips were down and multiple release plans fell through, Tremors 5 persevered through it all and it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest to see another installment down the road.

Starring: Michael Gross and Jamie Kennedy. Directed by: Don Michael Paul.

[StevePulaski]

Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell (2018)
Directed by: Don Michael Paul

Michael Gross in Tremors A Cold Day in Hell.

Rating: ★½

There are desperately few franchises that make it to six films and finally commit a mortal sin or a fatal misstep, so with that in mind, I shouldn't be so hard on Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell. Coming three years after the last installment in the series and 28 years after the original film hit theaters, Tremors should've went downhill a long time ago. Instead, it inspired a great many fans to, in part, demand Universal make more sequels involving Graboids and their many forms. In my early days of navigating the internet, I remember allowing my imagination to run wild while scrambling for information on the then-rumored "Tremors V" film that was said to be called "The Thunder from Down Under." I could hardly fathom that coming to fruition let alone another film following so closely after. I wonder how ten-year-old-me would've responded to this film: would I have even been able to call it a flop?

Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell shows what happens when the heart outpaces the head, and a series comes to terms, perhaps unconsciously, with the fact that it was never conceptualized to have gone this far. That's the flaw in nearly all sequels and breakout successes, especially one like Tremors, for had it not been for the original outselling every other VHS on the Blockbuster shelf, a host of followups would've never materialized. Regarding this sixth installment, it's practically a disaster on all fronts. With an incompetent script turning the cherished Burt Gummer into a sociopath spewing one-liners, D-grade special effects that do not come close to matching the look of the first two sequels, a pitiful crop of supporting characters, and a misrepresented setting, even the most optimistic fan will be hardpressed to defend the mess that transpires on-screen.

Like all great Tremors sequels, it revolves around Burt Gummer (Michael Gross, the ol' reliable of the series), who now spends his days running Chang's Market and fighting with spineless taxmen who try to nab him for fraud. His son, Travis (Jamie Kennedy, reprising his role from the previous film), returns just as Burt gets a call from a group of scientists who have come across vicious Graboids while stationed in the Canadian arctic. At first in disbelief, Burt is convinced to leave Perfection, yet again, and travel north with his son to investigate. The two learn that rather than Garboids being a species solely belonging to desert locales, they also have "pre-Precambrian" roots as creatures capable of surviving in the tundra. The creatures awakening in Canada was caused by the planet's rapidly heating temperatures that awoken them from subterranean ice that was once impenetrable.

So Burt, Travis, and a slew of other faces not nearly as memorable as Helen Slater's, Shawn Christian's, or Fred Ward's, for that matter, stowaway in a research facility adjacent to DARPA, whom Burt suggests is responsible for the abrupt appearance of Graboids in an uncommon place. Compounding the expected difficultly in capturing the worms is Burt's own instability. Apparently many years after being swallowed whole by a Graboid, Burt is now feeling the wrath of the beast's venom, which prompts many seizure-like spells of paralysis and nausea, the likes of which render him bed-bound and in need of antibodies exclusive to Graboids.

The science behind the Graboids still pleasantly inserts itself as an integral part in the film's screenplay. Adding on to that, fans will embrace the jokes made about Burt's new Chicago Cubs hat (as opposed to the white Atlanta Hawks hat that was his staple) as well as the significance of the Valerie character, played by Jamie-Lee Money, which I will dare not spoil. But these assortments of puff cutely positioned in an otherwise deceptive and disingenuous screenplay only give the faintest allusion that we're watching a classic Tremors film when we're in fact watching a frustrating deviation from the successful formula.

The film's script is lackluster, predicated off of exaggerated punchlines and Duke Nukem-like quips that undermine both mood and character-integrity. This problem most adversely effects Burt's character, who is rendered an unsympathetic narcissist for much of the film, almost without a likable or believable bone in his body. "I suggest you swallow a couple spoonfuls of cement and harden the hell up," he screams at a character at one point in the film. In another scene, in efforts to give motivation to a meek soul who just had a nearly lethal run-in with an Ass Blaster, Burt grabs him by his head, coach-to-quarterback-style, and makes him exclaim, "My balls are in the 'Guinness Book of Balls.'" On top of being silly and couching any sense of suspense, these downright stupid lines turn Burt into a caricature with desperately little credibility.

The Graboids themselves look exceptionally poor, and directed by Don Michael Paul, whose filmography includes the Lake Placid: The Final Chapter and the Lifetime ripoff of Taken, they live up to the quality of what could be considered their sister-films. Ass Blasters, along with the retractable tentacles of the larger worms, appear less like past iterations of Graboids and more-like aliens from another planet. Both have more in common with the squirmy, slimy Neomorphs of Alien: Covenant than they do the classic looks of the Graboids, and leave a lot to the imagination given they look less aesthetically believable than the creatures in films that are twenty years this film's junior.

Despite the marketing relentlessly informing us of the "Graboids in the snow" gimmick this installment was allegedly supposed to capitalize on, anxious fans like myself will be disappointed at the realization that the part in Canada in which Graboids are tracked is going through a "heatwave." This doesn't make a lot of sense, for in the opening sequence, we see a plethora of scientists navigating the snowy plains of the country's most treacherous regions, as well as the first sighting of Graboids who reside in snowpack. How they moved so quickly to a place with not a flake on the ground that more-so resembles Perfection than Canada is beyond me, and frankly, it's another way this effort underwhelms.

Some franchises peak early and then have the bulk of their sequels kick sand in the face of the original; the Paranormal Activity sequels are a good example of this. The Child's Play franchise had two laudable efforts before crashlanding with an embarrassing third installment. Nightmare on Elm Street repeatedly fell down after "getting up," so to speak, Friday the 13th was a rollercoaster in both quality and timeline, and I'm still not convinced the Leprechaun series is more a collection of mildly amusing moments than a series of seven (soon-to-be eight) full-length films. The fact that Tremors went on this long is amazing. The fact that Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell could be this bad also inspires a bit of disbelief.

NOTE: Listen to my discussion of Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell on my radio-show "Sleepless with Steve" on WONC 89.1FM:

Starring: Michael Gross, Jamie Kennedy, Jamie-Lee Money, and Tanya van Graan. Directed by: Don Michael Paul.

[StevePulaski]

Tremors: Shrieker Island (2020)
Directed by: Don Michael Paul

Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) and Jimmy (Jon Heder) are the latest pair to hunt Graboids and their mutations in Tremors: Shrieker Island.

Rating: ★★★

Being a superfan of Tremors since I was a child, I would've never dreamt that I'd see three sequels 11 years after the fourth film in 2004. Needless to say, the latest sequels haven't been the best the franchise has had to offer (mostly far from it), but they've been Tremors nonetheless. You take the good with the bad in these situations, and maybe as a fan I've settled in some respects.

However, I'm elated to report that Tremors: Shrieker Island is far and away the best of the new sequels. Lively yet poignant, charming but commemorative, it encapsulates the wackiness the series has maintained since its inception 30 years ago while treating us to another delightful Graboid-hunting excursion. This time around, Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) is called out of retirement by a group of seismologists who are monitoring unforeseen seismic activity on a remote island near Thailand. There, a deadly hunt Graboid hunt is taking place, spearheaded by a nutcase geneticist named Bill (Richard Brake), who hosts a group of elites seeking a thrill in the form of trophy hunting. These aren't just any Graboids; they're genetically modified worms with unmatched tunneling abilities. We learn that one managed to swallow an 11-ton elephant, a feat so incredulous that it stretches even the realm of possibilities in a belated Tremors sequel.

Burt reluctantly travels to the island where he rekindles with an old flame named Jas (Caroline Langrishe), who is now working as a biologist alongside colleagues Jimmy (Jon Heder, Burt's best sidekick since Christopher Gartin) and Freddie (Jackie Cruz, who makes you wish she was incorporated in the previous films). More troubles arises when the group learns that the Graboids have molted, as they're prone to do, into their equally hideous brethren known as Shriekers — stout, bipedal creatures capable of using heat-seeking abilities to find prey. Oh, and to Burt's chagrin, there are no guns on the island whatsoever.

It's refreshing that Tremors: Shrieker Island adopts a slowburn approach to the plot that permits us time to get familiar with the characters and their interplay. Graboid biology comes heavily into play in the first act, and any longtime fan of this series will be elated that we don't rush into things. We take time to traverse the setting, witness the insanity of Bill, and buddy-up to Jimmy and Freddie, charismatic additions.

Tremors: Shrieker Island does the inevitable in the climax. Nonetheless, I still found myself unprepared for it; nearly emotional. Such a large portion of this film is focused on Burt coming to grips with his own legacy, by way of patching things up with Jas along with informing Bill he doesn't see himself as a person who has survived numerous encounters with Graboids but rather someone who has simply "gotten lucky." The closing credits replay some of the most fun moments from the previous films as if to remind you of the lasting memories this series has instilled in us die-hards. Furthermore, the climax effectively pays homage to the first film as it's orchestrated similarly where a cliff and reliable running legs are the characters' last hopes at eradicating the Graboids — at least on this patch of land.

Tremors: Shrieker Island should be the final sequel barring Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, and Reba McEntire change their tunes and are willing to return down the road. If not, this should be a wrap like a mummy. We don't need the series retconned. We don't need second-rate actors playing characters detached from the events of the previous films. And we certainly don't need a legion of spinoffs ala American Pie. Universal's move to have the series take the direction this film does suggests they too after 30 years are ready to pull the plug on the franchise. I got my wish to see the series revived. Misgivings and all, I'm elated it came to fruition. We've come a long way as fans of the series, much like the ever-changing mythology of these subterranean creatures, but now it's time to look towards the tried and true predecessors for our Graboid fix.

NOTE: Check out my review of Tremors: Shrieker Island on my web-show Sleepless with Steve. Catch the show Wednesday evenings at 8pm CST at twitch.tv/sleeplesswithsteve!

Starring: Michael Gross, Jon Heder, Richard Brake, Jackie Cruz, Caroline Langrishe, Cassie Clare, and Sahajak Boonthanakit. Directed by: Don Michael Paul.