I had forgotten how fun B movies can be...
After Watching Hot Rod (2007), as discussed in changing seasons, I found out that the guy who plays Napoleon Dynamite in the similarly named movie, acted in a Tremors flick!
If you've never heard of 'Tremors', it's basically a story about giant killer worms - somewhat similar to the sand worms in the 'Dune' books/ movies/ games and if I'm correct all of these films ( and there's quite a lot of them ) are about people having to stick together to hunt the ( mutated ) giants down.
Kill or be killed!
Now I used to be a fan of Dune, as well as of Tremors ( the latter is easily one of my favorite so called B movies ) and I think I had watched part 1, 2 and 3, as well as the mini series that came out at the start of this Century.
So, when I found out about the 2020 Tremors: Shrieker Island, I also discovered that there were three or four Tremors flicks that I didn't even know existed.
This put a smile on my face :<)
In fact, according to the Internet Movie Database, this movie follows:
Tremors (1990)
Tremors II: Aftershocks (Video 1996)
Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (Video 2001)
Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (Video 2004)
Tremors 5: Bloodlines (Video 2015)
Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell (Video 2018)
As you can see, they are all straight to video movies, which means that they weren't released in cinema, which does not necessarily make them less fun and - definitely - makes them less pretentious than a lot of films that go for a cinema release.
It also really helps, as a viewer, to not have high expectations.
It seems like I lost track of this movie series around the mid 2000s ( FYI: I studied film from 2000 to 2007 but the last two to three years I struggled with writing and often not writing my University thesis - I felt depressed ).
The aforementioned might explain how I missed the 2004 'The Legend Begins', but then again there's so many movies to watch and keep track of and only so little time
and, in all honesty, I might have stopped having fun watching movies, for a while ( I know for sure that this happened ) and not for the first time.
Also, since I started writing this post ( 3 days ago ), I am 'proud' to say that I watched Part 4 too - The Legend Begins.
It's a prequel to the series, taking place a 100 years before the first Tremors movie, around 1890, and has a strong Wild West vibe to it.
It's like a cowboy movie with giant worms.
I watched that one spread out over 2 nights, yesterday night and the night before yesterday, and it was quite fun, in a B movie kind of way,
But, in all honesty, I don't find it worth a ( separate ) review. If you enjoy Tremors and you have some time to spare, you might want to give that one a watch too.
And now on to the movie in the title of this write up:
Tremors: Shrieker Island
I enjoyed it quite a lot and was positively surprised by the overall quality ( especially the look and feel and even its score that had a John Williams vibe to it ).
Think: Tremors meets Jurassic Park, starring Napoleon Dynamite, as well as the actor who played the ( main ) monster hunter in the earlier films.
Now add a little bit of Predator into the mix.
As someone who likes all three of the aforementioned movies, I couldn't help but really enjoy it.
I am not the kind of movie reviewer who talks about the movie's plot ( you can watch it yourself to find out ) and it's a B movie anyway, so don't expect a great story, but if you like the overall vibe and the trailer makes you smile, you might very well give it a watch.
I for sure felt it was a breath of fresh air to watch a movie like this, for a change, instead of heavy arthouse films or - often disappointing - big budget Hollywood/ studio stuff.
I plan to watch a lot more B movies, again, from now on and won't promise I will (not) share them with you, on here ;<)
P.S. I also found out that Vincenzo Natali, famous for directing the low budget horror classic Cube (1997) as well as newer ( and in my opinion lesser ) films like In the Tall Grass (2018) and some episodes of TV series like Hannibal and Westworld, directed a Tremors movie too, for SyFy channel, that was released in 2018, namely:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5226220/?ref_=nm_flmg_t_6_dr
It stars Kevin Bacon, who acted in the very first Tremors flick, back in 1990. And if I need to believe the IMDb ratings, it's the best ( or most enjoyable ) Tremors film of them all.
I am already looking forward to watching it, if I can find it somewhere
and if I do, I'll ( probably ) keep you posted on how I liked it :<)
THE END ( for now )
More info on Tremors: Shrieker Island
And here's its trailer:
