Movie Review: Tremors 3 - Back to Perfection

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Low budget B monster movie

Cons: Low budget B monster movie

The Bottom Line:

Graboids return home

Low budget monster movie

Still, a bit of fun

“This Time, We’re Ready for You.”

My friends and I are continuing on with the Tremors franchise.  The quality has definitely gone down with the third in the series.  Yet, Tremors 3: Return to Perfection still has some elements I enjoyed.

It’s been eleven years since the first attack on Perfection, Nevada, took place, and in that time, the town has recovered.  Well, as much as a small town in the middle of nowhere ever will.  The survivors of the original attack are mostly still there, and Jack Sawyer (Shawn Christian) has come to town to run a tourist attraction showing everyone where the original Graboid attack took place.

Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) is out traveling the world killing Graboids as they appear.  But he’s returned home for a visit, and just in time as a new batch of Graboids have appeared.  When the government steps in, will it spell disaster for the town?

In the first two movies, Burt was the comic relief, so the fact that he is now the main character creates a bit of a problem.  He’s a bit more serious here, and I appreciate that they toned him down since the original Burt would have been annoyingly over the top as the lead.  On the other hand, he always had the best scenes and lines in the first two, and I miss that here.

If you’ve been following the franchise, you would expect to get a third evolution in the life cycle of the Graboid, and you’d be correct.  After all, we’ve got to have something new to fight against.  I won’t tell you what it is, but it didn’t surprise me too much.

Even with that twist, the movie follows pretty predictable lines.  If you are a fan of the first two, you’ll enjoy seeing familiar characters facing the same issues again.  Don’t get me wrong, the writers try to make things new, but it feels familiar.

By this point, the suspense factor has dropped significantly.  You know when an attack is going to happen, and there is little buildup to it.  It happens.  Honestly, I was surprised at how many of them happened off screen.  That’s definitely a factor of the low budget.

Also a casualty of the low budget is the special effects.  They tried to use some CGI here, but it is painfully obvious when they do.  Not that the first two films had the best special effects, but you notice them here more, and not in a good way.

While they’ve toned down Burt, there is still some humor in the film.  I think that’s what I enjoyed the most.

And I really liked the characters this time around.  I was impressed with how many cast members from the original they brought back.  Granted, most of them don’t have strong careers going, so I’m sure they were happy to return.  Not that this is a knock on the acting, which is all fine.

I’m not sure I would watch the movies by myself, but since I’ve been watching them with my friends, we are enjoying offering our thoughts and advice to the characters.  These are B grade monster movies, and are fun to mock as such.

While I did enjoy Tremors 3, I recognize the flaws.  And I am rating the movie accordingly.  If you know what you are getting into and in the mood for it, you’ll enjoy it despite the flaws.  Otherwise, skip it.