On October 2, 2001, the second direct-to-video sequel to Tremors was released and began the slow process to the demise of a once great franchise. Tremors was an all-right movie, while Tremors II was a fantastic movie. Tremors 3 (yes, they switched from Roman numerals in the second sequel) is one of the most boring films ever made.
Where to begin? Let's start with the trailer as always. What a crap trailer! Why make a big deal about your characters? Why take 30 seconds out of your trailer to name your characters? It felt like a Disney Channel TV promo introducing the characters. Also, an interesting point about the trailer is that it promotes the movie to be PG-13. The actual film is simply PG. It's a harsh PG if you ask me, but it amazes me that the movie started out with a PG-13 rating yet ended up with a PG rating on the shelves. Maybe the ratings board realized how bad the film was and gave them a gift of a PG rating in hopes of more sales for them. The poster once again looks nothing like the creature, but at least it looks like the creature in the first film's poster.
On a side note, saying that a single grabboid produces 6 shriekers in the first scene in the film is in direct contradiction with the previous film when only 3 shriekers were produced by a single grabboid. This starts off the film on a bad foot considering the original writers didn't respect the series enough to go back and watch the first two before they started writing the third film. The original writers only wrote the story this time around. It is an all new screenwriter, an issue that might explain all my complaints about this film.
The biggest problem with this film is Michael Gross returning. Making Burt Gummer the star of the movie killed his character. Gross is overacting like crazy. Gross can play a leading man. He can carry that weight like he did on Family Ties, but Burt Gummer should never have been the star. What was interesting about Burt in the first two films was he was a quirky character, not the leading man. The new character additions didn't help the film much either: both Jodi and Jack are bland and dull. They're not necessarily bad at playing their roles, or lack there of, but it's just so bland. The flavor that Burt gave to the first two films is completely gone by making him the star.
Another major problem this time around and I hate to say it is the creature. The creature was definitely a selling point in the first two films, but is rather lackluster the third time around. Yes, there is another scene where they name the creature. I'm sorry, but calling your terrifying creature an 'ass-blaster' destroys any tension you may have created in the first place. It makes the creature a joke. Yes, the way the creature is is jokey to begin with this time around, but with a name like that all credibility is completely shot.
That leads us to the problem the invades the entire film...it's too jokey. The first film almost crossed that line, but it never let the humor get in the way of the creature. This time the humor stops tension in the tracks. Also, trying to make grabboids scary again after they were so easily disposed of in the second film doesn't help the film at all.
There are two things that are good about this film: the returning town's characters and Burt's 'death' scene. The returning town's characters after 11 years is awesome. The place the writer took the characters was very smart and quite believable. It's a shame that we spend so much time with Burt and the new characters as opposed to these others. I would have loved to see more of them.
Burt's death scene is staggering and is the only moment of tension the film gives. Having Burt get eaten by a grabboid within the first 40 minutes was a bold move. I remember watching this film for the first time and being speechless after I watched that. What makes the scene even better is having him come out of the creature alive after putting a chainsaw to it's gut. It's such striking imagery that made the first two so enjoyable. If only they had taken more serious and less jokey risks...this might have been a solid flick, but we shall never know what might have been all we have now is the film itself.
Unless you feel attached to the series as I unfortunately do, avoid this film at all costs. It is not enjoyable, it is not scary, it is just a boring, contrite mess. Messing up Burt's character is a big offense in this franchise. Something that they never got over. There is no known amount of money this entry received. I have a feeling the worst is yet to come.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Tremors II: Aftershocks Review
On April 6, 1996 the first direct-to-video sequel to Tremors was released. All of America groaned. While a good number of people wanted a sequel, the idea of a direct-to-video sequel being any good was very slim. However, Tremors II shocked home viewers around the globe by providing a film that was not only as good as the original film, but dare I say it, an even better film.
Let's start with the trailer. Unlike the bizarre contrast between the two trailers for the first film, the second film's trailer is straight forward. It shows you what you're going to get. It easily teases the audience without revealing too much. Again, the creatures look nothing like they do on the poster, and the poster doesn't look anything like the creature on the first poster...how bizarre is that?
Sequels are really tricky. What works about this film is two-fold: first returning characters are a must, and second it adds to the creature without repeating unashamedly. Fred Ward and Michael Gross return for this sequel and once again Burt Gummer, Michael Gross's character is not overexposed. He is in the film long enough and adds to his quirkiness that so defined his character in the first film. Fred Ward has a much stronger character in this film and is much more enjoyable than he is in the previous film.
The worms have turned. A simple tagline that could have been a total lie. Thankfully it wasn't a lie. What's great about the film is that it never attempts to make the grabboids scary again. The writer's know that the audience knows how to defeat the creatures. They even make killing the grabboids within the first 40 minutes very easy. This was a bold move on their part. There is very little tension if any at all in the first half of the picture. Once they change into their second life form is where the film gets interesting. They throw the rug out from under the audience. The whole time from when the character's realize that the grabboid is hollow to when they first see the new creature is the most tense sequence in the entire series. The audience really has no idea what is happening. This however was a great risk. Nothing truly horrific happens after the first scene until halfway through the film. It makes one wonder if multiple people stopped watching the film because it wasn't scary. But once again, the creatures look fantastic. I was afraid that the heat seeking mechanism was going to be too closely resembling Predator, but it didn't, it held it's own. Although they are smaller, they resemble the big creature enough and have enough menace to keep you tense during that part of the film.
This film is much more serious as well. The tone is darker, the characters are much smarter which makes the creatures all the more terrifying. They establish in this film that the creatures date as old as one-celled organisms. If this were true, how come any species survived from these creatures? Why aren't they all around the world? Although, considering that they first appear in Nevada and are now in Mexico, I guess the film hints that they are all around, but we just don't notice them...? I think that's a bit of a stretch. Due to the more serious tone and smarter writing, feel free to ask questions during this film. It's a lot smarter than it's predecessor.
I'll be honest, I had very low expectations walking into this film. I loved it when I was 14, but that was a long time ago. My tastes are much more refined and I'm much more critical of films. Surprisingly, Tremors wasn't as great as I remembered it being, but Tremors II was.
Tremors II made an estimated $4 million when it was released to video. That seems pretty good for a direct-to-video release if you ask me. Although Tremors II surprised me by how good the film was, I still have really low expectations for III, the TV series, and IV. I'm afraid the series is only going to go downhill from here.
Let's start with the trailer. Unlike the bizarre contrast between the two trailers for the first film, the second film's trailer is straight forward. It shows you what you're going to get. It easily teases the audience without revealing too much. Again, the creatures look nothing like they do on the poster, and the poster doesn't look anything like the creature on the first poster...how bizarre is that?
Sequels are really tricky. What works about this film is two-fold: first returning characters are a must, and second it adds to the creature without repeating unashamedly. Fred Ward and Michael Gross return for this sequel and once again Burt Gummer, Michael Gross's character is not overexposed. He is in the film long enough and adds to his quirkiness that so defined his character in the first film. Fred Ward has a much stronger character in this film and is much more enjoyable than he is in the previous film.
The worms have turned. A simple tagline that could have been a total lie. Thankfully it wasn't a lie. What's great about the film is that it never attempts to make the grabboids scary again. The writer's know that the audience knows how to defeat the creatures. They even make killing the grabboids within the first 40 minutes very easy. This was a bold move on their part. There is very little tension if any at all in the first half of the picture. Once they change into their second life form is where the film gets interesting. They throw the rug out from under the audience. The whole time from when the character's realize that the grabboid is hollow to when they first see the new creature is the most tense sequence in the entire series. The audience really has no idea what is happening. This however was a great risk. Nothing truly horrific happens after the first scene until halfway through the film. It makes one wonder if multiple people stopped watching the film because it wasn't scary. But once again, the creatures look fantastic. I was afraid that the heat seeking mechanism was going to be too closely resembling Predator, but it didn't, it held it's own. Although they are smaller, they resemble the big creature enough and have enough menace to keep you tense during that part of the film.
This film is much more serious as well. The tone is darker, the characters are much smarter which makes the creatures all the more terrifying. They establish in this film that the creatures date as old as one-celled organisms. If this were true, how come any species survived from these creatures? Why aren't they all around the world? Although, considering that they first appear in Nevada and are now in Mexico, I guess the film hints that they are all around, but we just don't notice them...? I think that's a bit of a stretch. Due to the more serious tone and smarter writing, feel free to ask questions during this film. It's a lot smarter than it's predecessor.
I'll be honest, I had very low expectations walking into this film. I loved it when I was 14, but that was a long time ago. My tastes are much more refined and I'm much more critical of films. Surprisingly, Tremors wasn't as great as I remembered it being, but Tremors II was.
Tremors II made an estimated $4 million when it was released to video. That seems pretty good for a direct-to-video release if you ask me. Although Tremors II surprised me by how good the film was, I still have really low expectations for III, the TV series, and IV. I'm afraid the series is only going to go downhill from here.
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