So here we
are at the last Tremors movie in my franchise review, at least until we get the
next installment this summer! The previous entry was a prequel to the original
movie, but here we move back to the present and are again watching Burt Gummer
deal with some Graboids. Don’t worry though, as with the previous entries they
mix it up again.
Things
kick off with Burt filming his survivalist reality show. This is apparently how
he makes his money and cashes in on his battles with the Graboids. The latest
show is interrupted by a new cameraman, Travis, showing up unexpectedly. Just
as Burt is adjusting to this new person another shows up and asks for them to
travel to South Africa. It seems they have a situation of the Graboid variety.
Which also means they have a Shrieker and Ass Blaster issue! Burt and Travis
catch a plane and head off to investigate.
The pair
arrive and meet the locals. Burt is also dismayed to discover that his weapons
have been stopped by customs. That means making due with what they give him,
which isn’t enough of course. Things are also further complicated when he
discovers that the African variety of Graboid has a different lifecycle and is
a lot larger than what he is used to! Many people are killed, Burt is betrayed
and goes a bit nuts, and a big secret that Travis has been keeping is revealed.
And of course, the cast gets splattered with rubber guts. Not a Tremors movie
without that.
As much as
I enjoyed Tremors 4 I was happy to see Burt Gummer back in action. There isn’t
anything better than seeing Michael Gross chewing up the scenery as my favorite
survivalist monster hunter. He does a great job again with the character
including being given a chance to have some fun playing crazy. There is a sequence
where Burt is locked in a cage and has to deal with the heat. He has no shade
you see, and there are a couple different pee jokes in there. Really it is very
funny. Jamie Kennedy is also a nice addition as Travis. Trust me I’m as
surprised to write that line as you are to read it. Kennedy is best taken in
small doses… very small doses. Here he is funny, delivers some funny one-liners,
and has some great chemistry with Gross. I’m very excited to see that he is
back in Tremors 6, which is again something that I’m surprised to be writting.
 |
| Travis and Burt make a good team! |
Every
Tremors movie tweaks the creatures a bit to keep things fresh. Here they
completely reinvent them using the justification that the African Graboids are
different from the North American ones. I don’t need to go into the details
other than to say that as a fan I was fine with this. Sadly, they changed the
creatures enough that this is the first movie where the creatures are all CGI
without some of the recycled props. That was disappointing to see. I like my
rubber monsters in these movies and not having them hurt this entry. To be fair
the CGI was decent, and I don’t have any complaints about how they look. I just
have expectations with a Tremors movie and this one didn’t meet them.
One more
thing that I did want to mention about the creatures. While I didn’t dig the
CGI, it did have one interesting side effect. I love this series but will admit
that I haven’t found the creatures scary since the first movie. They are kind
of played more for laughs and are silly. That is until this movie. The
creatures are scary and seem dangerous for the first time in many years. The
new design is much meaner looking and I liked that. I’m recommending this one.
© Copyright 2018 John Shatzer
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