Confession: I am a huge Tremors fan. This does not mean I think the Tremors movies are "good." Admittedly some are kind of painful while the rest (other the the first film) are B-movies at best. But I'll die on the hill that the first is a classic. I adore it and I will defend it as quality entertainment. However after that... well... after the first couple sequels really sunk to lows, I find the franchise found a groove that I can dig (no pun intended) and I look forward to more graboid action each time there is a new film.
With effects getting cheaper and other factors leading to the quality of low budget films going up the last few movies in this series have actually managed to be fun and entertaining if still ridiculous spectacles. Shrieker Island is one of the better of the bunch. Yes it's silly. Yes it's camp. Yes it is B-movie, no D-movie, glorious! You know exactly what you're going to get and you get it and it's fun. This, for me is as close as I get to a guilty pleasure.
Michael Gross takes his Gummer character to the next level and is, as always, a delight to watch. I liked them pairing him with Jon Heder, the comic timing was a better fit than with Jamie Kennedy. One way they save on costs is to cast unknowns throughout with just one or two "headliners" if you can call these guys that. But it works, with Richard Brake (Joe Chill from Batman '89 no less) being especially creepy as the corporate villain.
The premise is a fun one; this time they are stuck on an island with the monsters. Sure the premise isn't original or anything but that's not why we enjoy these movies. No this film doesn't come close to raising the franchise to anywhere near the level of the first film, but for creature feature delight this is a hard one to beat. Despite the plot points here I just hope they keep this going cause I'm still down for more.
Tremors Shrieker Island
Starring: Michael Gross, Jon Heder
Director: Don Michael Paul
Writers: Brian Brightly, Don Michael Paul
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