Short Takes

If the Tremors franchise weren't so grounded within Mother Earth, this would've been the requisite "In Space" sequel, but they've instead opted for the double-twist -- a WESTERN PREQUEL!!! So, diehards mount up, while casual viewers should get the heck out of Dodge -- make that Perfection, no, REJECTION as it's known in the olden days. It's a far more fitting name, especially once Graboids make combo meals of unsuspecting silver miners. In fact, this is what draws the attention of the great, great, great, great grand pappy of Burt Gummer, Tremors' notorious survivalist and one-man army, played with always-amusing conviction by Michael Gross (no kin of yours truly). Here, he's returned to his "Family Ties" roots as a COMPLETE WEENIE forced to call upon a hired gun, CineSchlocker fave Billy Drago as the gloriously grizzled Black Hand Kelly, if there's any prayer of reopening Gummer's mine. After Part 3's Ass Blasters, there's not much here to contribute to the subterranean beastie lexicon -- Graboid hatchlings!?! -- but, goldang it, the series' infectious charm still abounds. CineSchlockers will especially find themselves plum tickled by Hiram's late-blooming celebration of what'd become the Gummer family passion: apocalyptic firepower! No breasts. 22 corpses. Decapitation. Gratuitous Alamo humor. Excessive chaw spitting. Gunfighter guzzling. Pitiful horsemanship. Multiple explosions. Perhaps the best Graboid description of the franchise: "They spring from the ground like some DEMONIC TROUT!!!" (101 mins, 1.85:1 anam, DD 5.1, Director commentary [and student film], Deleted scenes, Featurettes, Bloopers, Trailers. Note: Commonly sold as a two-for-one with the original movie.)