Tremors. A flick about big monster worms that come out from under the ground and eat people.
That’s what most people think of when you mention a Tremors movie. What most people don’t know is that it isn’t just the one movie – there have been 4 sequels, a prequel and even a season-long TV series!
Tremors is actually one of the few Sci-Fi series that never seems to contradict itself. There is a coherency throughout all its iterations, ranging from the evolution of the Graboids (the big underground man-eating worms) to the the individual human story arcs, even the very minor characters. Plus the movies are just damn fun!
For my money Tremors 1 & 2 were by far the best of the flicks, and incidentally the only movies to get cinema release. The next three were all straight-to-DVD releases and whilst good (especially Number 4 which was the prequel) none quite captured the fun of the first two. Today we will be looking at the latest instalment in the Tremors franchise Tremors 6: A Cold Day in Hell.
The story starts off, as you can imagine, with a Graboid attack! What makes this attack unique among all those featured in previous films is that it takes place in the snow, specifically a glacial area in Canada. And when Graboids attack, who do you call for? Burt Gummer – that’s who!
Burt Gummer (played by Michael Gross) is by far the star of the Tremors series, the only character to have appeared in all six films (though it was his ancestor in the prequel) as well as the TV series. Burt is a jaded survivalist gun nut who likes living in Perfection Nevada because of its very low human population (and those that do live there often get eaten anyway) and its remoteness making it hard for the Government to interfere with him.
By the 6th movie, Burt is the only resident left in Perfection and is living in the run down remains of the town store. However a visit from firstly a taxman saying Burt is about to lose what little he has, then one of the Canadian researchers along with Burt’s illegitimate son Travis (introduced in Tremors 5) prompts Mr Gummer back into action.
And from here the plot is really like all other Tremors films. There are Graboids to deal with along with the occasional Ass-Blaster (another stage of the Graboid life-cycle first introduced in Tremors 3). The Ass-Blasters retain their upgraded CGI look from T5 as do the Graboids – personally I thought both looked better before the reimagining, especially the Ass-Blasters which had previously resembled avian versions of Shriekers (another Graboid life-phase). I would have liked to see some Shriekers included since its been a while since they were trotted out. Gone is the concept of the Graboids three serpent-like tongues being detachable (T5) which personally I found to be out of line with established Graboid evolution (yes, I AM that much of a fan), however the tongues have retained their new power of sight (also introduced in T5) – you see one sneaking through a window to grab a lady and others dodging machete blows from Travis.
There are minor plot lines contained within. For instance Burt is slowly dying of a parasite he got from being eaten alive by a Graboid (T3) and needs liquid from a live Graboid in order to be healed. There are DARPA agents that intend to bio-engineer Graboids into weapons and so on. One of the key researchers, Valerie McKee, turns out to be the daughter of the two main characters from the very first movie. But all of this is background noise to what is essentially another movie along the lines of a ‘Don’t move! They sense vibration through the ground!’ mentality of your standard human versus Graboid movie we all expect.
Is this movie worth a watch? Well if you are a fan of the series then of course! Michael Gross does a stellar job as Burt Gummer yet again and there are monsters galore to shoot or be devoured by. However if you are looking for something new here that you haven’t seen before from the franchise you will be disappointed. Besides at the beginning of the film there are not even any action sequences in the snow, the remainder of the storyline takes place in a dry ‘hot spot’ which exists within the otherwise snowy landscape.
In short this film adds to the storyline of the human characters involved in Perfection but there is nothing new monster-wise and it lacks the fun and character of the first two movies. However for those loyal followers of the series, it is at least another 90-minutes of Gummer fun.
Now take two teaspoons of cement and harden the hell up!
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