Tremors 3 - Die neue Brut

Tremors 2 found itself coming up rather short in the character development phase, and setting the action in a deserted rural area of South America (or was it Central America? the film doesn't exactly make you care either way) didn't help. So the production team for Tremors 3 took things back to the small, quirky town of Perfection, Nevada, in the hopes of getting back the interaction that made the original such a classic.

In all honesty, this was a smart move, although it is not a hundred percent successful. The size of the cast appears to be somewhat reduced in this effort, possibly because of the absence of the two men that made the original so hilarious, namely Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward. Michael Gross does a very good job of assuming the lead, but in terms of serious acting (yes, this is partly necessary even for a film like this one), he is seriously outclassed by those two. However, it is absolutely wonderful to see the remains of the original cast again after such a lengthy absence. Melvin is a particular delight to see again, and his involvement will leave those of us with memories of deserted hellholes in the middle of nowhere chuckling.

The new genus of the monsters is also quite hilarious, all the more so because it is based on the behaviour of real insects. Unfortunately, the CGI for the Graboids is a lot less convincing than the practical effects that were used in the original film. That's not entirely surprising, but still disappointing. But like I've said in my comments about the previous two films, the human factor is the most important one here, and Tremors 3 gets that element right unlike its most immediate predecessor.

All in all, I'd give Tremors 3 a nine out of ten for concept and execution, but a minus two for the acting. So that works out to be about a seven... whether or not you think that's fair, I couldn't care less, which is the sort of attitude that makes films such as this one great.

Tremors came out when I was ten. It is one of my all time favorite horror/comedies with it's sharp, script, funny (intentionally) dialogue, and likeable characters that you can identify with. It seems like, whether people are horror fans are not, they enjoyed Tremors.

In 1995, a Kevin Bacon-less sequel went straight to video and found it's audience very easily. The effects were just as good, it had two major characters returning, and the script was a lot of fun and had a few suprises.

When I heard that there was going to be a Tremors 3, I was kind of excited but a little concerned too. Most franchises tend to tank out by part three. Well, not the case here. In Tremors 3: Back to Perfection, you get Michael Gross as Bert Gummer returning to his hometown of Perfection. Anyone who saw the first two remembers Bert as the gun-wielding, overly paranoid, survivalist who always seems to have the right gear for the job. Bert has made a career of hunting these things over the last decade and now he feels that it is time to head home for a while. Little does he know it, things aren't going to be just that easy.

I won't give away much for the plot, but I will say that this is every bit as enjoyable as the first one. If you enjoyed the first and second, then stick this in your DVD player and kick-back with a beer. Also, it's PG rated. A lot of people are scared off by this, but let me tell ya, there's nothing here to worry about. Just a good clean (is sometimes slimy) time. Check this one out and hope for a Part 4.

I really wasn't expecting much from a third in the series even tho Tremors 2 added so much more imagination. So I was pleasantly surprised when this turned out to be so much fun.

It begins with a rather cool opening scene in which Burt Gummer (still in Mexico) takes out zillions of Shriekers with a massive machine-gun tank thing. After returning home to Perfection Burt must deal with new graboids, new shriekers and another metamorphosis...The shriekers turn into Ass-Blasters, flying creatures with rocket propelled farts. As the town (and the returning, surviving cast from the first film) is besieged by all forms of these animals, Burt and his pals must figure out increasing desperate ways to destroy them.

There's loads of energy and self-referential humor and the locations have a more dark/sophisticated look to them than in the previous 2 films. A light-hearted tone is still in check tho. There's even one teriffic scene in which Burt is swallowed by a Graboid and taken halfway across the desert. I paniced, I honestly thot we'd lost him. Turns out he's okay in the end.

Fred Ward is definitely missed tho his abscence is explained (Earl and Grady went to make a Graboid amusement park) but Michael Gross is simply irreplaceable as the eccentric and paranoid Burt Gummer. And Ariana Richards is so much more cuter now that she's grown up.

Tremors 3 is the best presented Tremors movie on DVD. The 1.85:1 anamorphic picture looks great and the Dolby 5.1 is reasonably lively with lots of bass during the tunnelling scenes. A fair amount of extras come along too.

Third movie in the Tremors series returns back to the town that started it all: Perfection, Nevada. Returning from the previous two movies is Michael Gross as Burt Gummer. Gross got as much mileage as he could out of the role of Burt but it's admittedly wearing a little thin by this point. Also returning is Ariana Richards, who was a little girl in the first Tremors movie. She's all grown up here and it's cool to see her back. She was probably my favorite part of the movie. This is a mostly enjoyable monster flick but not as good as the second movie and not even on the same planet as the highly entertaining first Tremors. This one relies heavily on comedy and likability of its cast, which is probably smart considering the obvious effects limitations. This was made for video, after all. This is also the movie that introduces the poorly-conceived "Ass Blaster" Graboid. I guess they didn't use that in the title for fear it would be confused with a porno.

I knew this movie couldn't be nearly as good as "Tremors", and probably on the same level as "Tremors 2: Aftershocks", so I wasn't expecting anything great. I saw this film more out of curiosity than anything... and I got pretty much exactly what I expected. The movie isn't anything great, but it's got some cool stuff in it.

I thought it was funny that they managed to work in a mention of just about every character from the first film as they could, and if they didn't mention them, they actually showed them in the film. I thought it was also funny that they had more people returning to the 3rd installment than they did in the 2nd installment. The only returning characters in part 2 was Michael Gross and Fred Ward. The 3rd installment had Michael Gross, Ariana Richards, Tony Genaro, Charolette Stewart, and Bobby Jacoby. They even had one returning actor (John Papas) who was in part 1 as one of the construction workers that got killed, and played one of the Feds that got killed in this film. I guess that only makes sense though, since part 2 takes place in Mexico where as this film takes place back in Perfection, Nevada, where it all started. But, in any case, it still struck me as interesting.

One thing that I really liked about this film was Ariana Richards. Wow, has she grown up! She looks absolutely incredible, I'll definitely need to keep an eye out for future work.

I have to say I liked the new design of the next phase of the "Tremors" (or if you must, "Graboids"). I liked the idea of having the "Tremors" fly, but they way they (they being the film-makers) did it, was pretty stupid.

I was also less than stoked about the computer animated worm-tremors. What was that? They looked way too cartoon-ish and just plain weird. Anyhow, I didn't like that, but I didn't really care a great deal, cause the movie is full of problems.

All in all, this is an OK movie, but nothing too get excited about. I would DEFINITELY recommend watching "Tremors" first, then watch "Tremors 2: Aftershocks", and if you're still interested, go ahead and watch this one. Thanks for reading,

-Chris