Tremors 6 - Ein kalter Tag in der Hölle

There are two types of people in this world; namely the ones agreeing with the statement that "Tremors" is the most entertaining monster-movie ever accomplished, and the ones who are just plain wrong for disagreeing! Say what you want about all the sequels, but the 1990-original is a bona-fide classic. How deeply you worship the original also determines how much you can tolerate the long list of sequels, or at least that is what yours truly firmly believes. In case you consider the original film to be a fun but largely insignificant flick, you will not care at all for any or the sequels, or probably not even know they are at number 6 already. If, however, you love the original and know all the dialogues between Val and Earl by heart, you'll also be appreciative of the sequels.

"A Cold Day in Hell" isn't a particularly good film. None of the sequels are, in fact, but they surely always deliver in the entertainment departure, and this sixth film in the series isn't an exception. What I respect is that every new entry in the series tries to add one or two new and innovative aspects to "Tremors"-universe, but also inserts at least one throwback-aspect to the original. The additions to "A Cold Day in Hell" are the Arctic setting, and the plot-twist of good old Burt Gummer needs a transfusion with blood from a living Graboid. The throwback is that one of the supportive characters, Valerie, supposedly is the daughter of Valentine McKee and Rhonda LeBeck of the original adventure. I noticed a 7th instalment - entitled "Shrieker Island" - is out already as well, which I'll surely watch sooner or later.

I have to concede to be an old "Tremors" fan from the gitgo. However, I approached this iteration with some anxiety: I appreciate "Burt" fro the beginning and really appreciated the chemistry in the first two issues, yet was this one going to be worth my time?

Happily, this one measures up to a solid B film status and if you are a "Tremors" fan such as I am, then you will appreciate this one.

Part of the joy of this series is its capability of knowing exactly what it is. There is no pretense of anything beyond what you see: a romp with some cheesy effects.

I appreciate that this one also is aware of where it fits in the cycle: there are references to Reba and Kevin in this one that I enjoyed.

There are huge plot holes and obvious flaws in character development. The effects are splatters and that is about it. Got those viewers of a post CGI generation, this miststep will diseffect you.

If, however, you know this franchise and you appreciated the first ones, then you'd enjoy this pleasant way to spend an evening with old friends.

Don't get me wrong, I liked some of the earlier sequels, despite their rapidly increasing inferiority, but Tremors has officially reached a new low with this entry. Tremors 5 was already really pushing it with the addition of Jamie Kennedy. You should know your series is in trouble if you think that adding an aged, barely trying Jamie Kennedy to the mix is your idea of bringing new life to a property.

Kennedy is even worse this time around. Did they let him write his own dialogue this time or something? Everything he says is either just some completely unimportant observation, some horribly flat joke, or part of the painfully bad fan-fiction-y romance subplot with a woman that's clearly several leagues away from his own. Pretty much every word out of his mouth is senseless and irrelevant or extremely cringey (or both).

Most of the rest of the cast isn't much better. Terrible dialogue almost all around and most of them are written to be so dumb that you're surprised they were even able to tie their own shoes. When Michael Gross is heavily out-acting everyone else in a movie, you should know that something is seriously wrong.

All the effects are CG now, and it's actually not terrible CG, but neither does it do anything at all impressive. Despite the environment change this is still just more of the exact same thing we've already seen many times before, just with even less effort going into it.

Really, let's be honest here. Most of the sequels have just shamelessly recycled the exact same formula from the first one and we all know it. It was funny the first few times, but enough is enough. Look, I love a good "so bad it's good" horror as much as the next guy, but there's nothing to like here. It's not funny in either the intentional or unintentional senses, there's not one bit of memorable action or gore, so what's the point?

I see that there are some die-hard Tremors fans that are willing to swallow another spoonful of the same old stew that's been sitting out in the sun all these years because they're so nostalgically attached to this property for whatever reasons, but to anyone else this is just a plain old bad movie, the kind that no one's even going to remember existed in a year.

Tremors is dead. Let it rest in piece already.

If nothing else, Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell is a vast improvement over Tremors 5 in every single way. Unlike the previous entry, this sequel feels more tonally similar to the first four Tremors films. The humor is more tongue-in-cheek (and yes, way more juvenile), the special effects are improved, and the whole affair is about as entertaining as one could reasonably expect from a direct-to-DVD sequel that's the sixth in a series.

Michael Gross continues to appear to be having a great time playing Burt Gummer, who is just as over-the-top and nutty as ever. Most actors simply would be phoning it in at this point, but Gross makes the best of the so-so script and meager budget to elevate the material to something actually worth watching. Jamie Kennedy, returning as Gummer's son, is thankfully given way better dialogue than he had in Tremors 5, and delivers one of the most enjoyable performances of his career. The supporting cast is fine, although leaves much of a lasting impression. The real stars of the movie, of course, are the graboids. They still look don't quite as cool as they did in the original Tremors, though given that the first one was a theatrical release while the sequels have all been direct-to-DVD, that's hardly a big surprise. While the monsters would benefit from having more money put behind them, they at least aren't Syfy original movie quality. Like Tremors 5, Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell is gorier than the other sequels, and there's a fair amount of blood to go along with the monster attacks. It would be great to one day get an R-rated Tremors film, but this one works well enough as a PG-13. If I had to guess, a Tremors 7 isn't more than a few years away. As long as Gross comes back and the filmmakers can come up with a fresh take, I'll gladly check it out. 6/10

There are sequels where it doesn't mean anything if you have or have not seen the previous entry (or entries for that matter). The Tremors franchise really is different in that sense. It also does evolve. Though some may miss the good old days of practical effects (versus the CGI we get).

We get recurring characters though and some may feel a bit too comfortable in their sense of humor for my taste. Especially the one you may know from the Scream franchise. Don't get me wrong, I loved his schtick in that other franchise, it just seems a bit redundant here. Our main hero (unlikely hero to be frank, especially considering the journey he took from the very early days of Tremors) remains as stoic and "fun" (I would consider him funny but others may not) as ever.

So while the movie overall is flawed, anyone liking the Tremors movies and has kept watching them, will not be too disappointed. Nicely done for anyone who still cares