Tremors films have by this point just become where do we have Burt (Michael Gross) and his monsters pop up next. On the South Pacific Shrieker Island, it’s the jungle. A bunch of yeehaw hunters are there, looking to bag some trophies. They of course are the ones destined to be bagged. They’re lead by Bill (Richard Brake) who’s all southern hick charm. Whilst his more skeptical sidekick Anna (Cassie Clare) has a bad feeling. So do I. They’re not alone in the area. On a neighbouring island there’s also a team of scientists including Jimmy (Jon Heder) and Jasmin (Caroline Langrishe) doing nature stuff. They’re the ones that call for help. They call Burt Gummer. Jasmine and Burt have history you see. Why these films try to tie all these despondent characters together is beyond me, but it’s become a thing. I will say, shot in Thailand, it looks rather wonderful. The CGI is pretty good, essentially ripping off Predator. In fact the whole thing borrows liberally from Predator… with a touch of Jurassic Park. Less so when Burt arrives. He really is getting a bit old for this caper, Gross was 73 when filming. Between this film and the last, we had the promise of a reboot with Kevin Bacon that sadly never materialised. Why I’m not sure, but maybe it was thought there’s not enough gas left in the tank. It’s hard not to watch this and feel like it’s one last hurrah. So, set up done, everyone introduced. We’ve got two teams. Bad guys hunting Graboids for sport. Good scientists hunting Graboids for survival. This dynamic does actually provide a bit of grit and tension. It’s still daft, with the usual implausible A-Team shenanigans, but it’s pretty good fun. Probably the best since the original, albeit still well short. It’s another monster movie, people get eaten, monsters get killed, lots of things explode. Standard Tremors stuff. Nothing has ever reached the bar set by the original, but watching all seven films back to back has been largely enjoyable. No more though now right? I think we’re done.
6/10
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