Editorials
After 15 Years, ‘Tremors 3’ Deserves Some Damn Respect
The Tremors franchise has shown remarkable staying power. Since the first film’s release in 1990, the franchise has seen four sequels and a 13-episode TV series see the light of day. Supposedly, Amazon has another TV series on the way, this time featuring original star Kevin Bacon. Tremors and Tremors 2: Aftershocks get most of the praise from fans but Tremors 3: Back to Perfection, which celebrated its 15th anniversary earlier this week, deserves some respect as well. It may embrace the comedic elements of the franchise more so than its predecessors, but its heart is in the right place and provides some solid entertainment for a direct-to-video creature feature.
The Tremors franchise actually has a special place in my heart. Since I wasn’t old enough to watch R-rated movies, I would roam Blockbuster and look for as many PG-13 horror movies that I could. I eventually stumbled across the first Tremors film and it quickly became one of those movies that I rented at least once a month. Tremors 2 eventually joined it and I double-featured them constantly (Critters was the other big PG-13 horror franchise to get frequent air time in my house). Nostalgia plays a big part in my liking for Tremors 3.
Tremors 3 follows fan favorite Michael Gross’s Burt Gummer back to Perfection, Nevada, the setting of the first film. Since the events of the first film, the town has now become a tourist attraction thanks to “Desert” Jack Sawyer (Shawn Christian), who has created mock-Graboid attack tours for gullible visitors. Though Graboids have been absent from Perfection for over a decade, Burt’s return brings them back. It isn’t long before they begin to evolve again, this time into something even deadlier than Graboids or Shriekers (Except not really; the Ass Blasters are just plain goofy).
Something that has always been admirable about the Tremors franchise has been its regard for continuity. Tremors 3 is even better about that then Tremors 2, seeing several cast members from the first film return. On top of franchise staple Burt Gummer, you’ve got the return of Mindy Sterngood (Ariana Richards, aka Lex from Jurassic Park), Nancy Sterngood (Charlotte Stewart), Miguel (the late Tony Genaro) and even Melvin Plug (Robert Jayne). Screenwriter John Whelpley even introduces Jodi Chang (Susan Chuang), the niece of the first film’s Walter Chang (Victor Wong, who passed away shortly before the film’s release). The actors are game for all of the ridiculousness that is thrown their way, which helps elevate the film above its mediocre script and somewhat limited budget.
Your affinity for Tremors 3 hinges on how much humor you like in your Tremors and how amusing you find the newest Graboid evolution, the Ass Blaster, to be. After all, this creature’s defining characteristic is that it flies after shooting a flame-filled fart out of its butt. Yes, you read that right. Tremors has a comedic element to it, but it mixes in a significant dose of horror to keep it from getting too silly. Even Tremors 2 has some truly frightening moments (the severed arms holding the car window always gave me the willies). Tremors 3 completely eschews the horror elements of the first two films and goes straight for camp. It’s a pure comedy, with the movie emphasizing meta humor even more than the first two (“It’s called a Graboid,” Jack corrects a tourist when he asks to have his picture taken with a “tremor”).
There are some pretty decent set pieces in Tremors 3, the best of which sees Burt hide inside a metal barrel only to be swallowed by a Graboid. Jack proceeds to use a chainsaw to cut Burt out of the Graboid’s stomach. It’s a great bit of gross-out humor, especially for a PG-rated film (and yes, Tremors 3 is rated PG). The climactic battle in the junkyard goes on for a little too long but still contains plenty of amusing moments. Another thing Tremors 3 has going for it is its one-liners. We’re not talking Shakesperean dialogue here, but there’s something inherently funny about Jodi yelling “Ha! Ass Blaster! Blast your own damn ass!” when she kills an Ass Blaster.
It’s not all great in Tremors 3 though. There is some horrendous CGI (close-up shots of the creatures feature practical effects but wide shots and action shots see the aforementioned computer-generated effects) and stilted dialogue mixed in with some questionable acting, but it could be said that that’s part of the movie’s charm. Tremors 3 had a reported budget of $6 million though (pretty high for a DTV release) so it’s disappointing to see the film introduce CGI to the franchise when it probably had the money to get a bit more creative with its practical effects. The pacing of the movie isn’t as tight as that of its predecessors either. It runs about 20 minutes too long (104 minutes) and it takes over an hour for the Ass Blasters to make their first appearance (the Shriekers from Tremors 2 barely factor into the film).
Tremors 3 isn’t high art, but it is a lot of fun and everyone involved has their heart in the right place. You have to admire the commitment and affection everyone seems to have for the film. After 15 years, it’s about time Tremors 3 was shown some damn respect.
From child-eating witches to village-burning dragons, fairy tales have always had a foot in the horror genre. That’s why it makes sense that, for every The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia, there are also darker and more adult-oriented stories about magical worlds inhabited by ravenous monsters and cruel villains.
Funnily enough, these sinister tales were precisely the ones that I gravitated towards back when I was a kid, and I was reminded of this while watching Netflix’s recently released I Am Frankelda, Mexico’s first ever feature-length stop-motion animation and one hell of an entertaining parable about the intersection between fiction and reality.
In honor of this special kind of horror-adjacent fairy tale, today I’d like to share this list recommending six Dark Fantasy films that horror fans might enjoy.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining Dark Fantasy as fantastical stories that don’t shy away from the more macabre elements that fuel classic fairy tales. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own grim favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
I’m fascinated by bizarre attempts at blockbuster filmmaking – especially when the resulting movies are somehow still fun despite their corporate-mandated origins. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is precisely one of these strangely compelling studio projects, as this surprisingly successful action-thriller boasts a lot of heart (and tongue-in-cheek humor) for a CGI-heavy creature feature.
Directed by Dead Snow’s Tommy Wirkola, Witch Hunters re-frames the classic fairy tale as an origin story for a duo of badass monster-slayers. Of course, it’s the flick’s anachronistic aesthetic and overall visual flair that make it stand out from other action-horror endeavors from around the same time.
5. The Wolf House (2018)
Made in the tradition of faux cursed films in the same vein as Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made, the eerie backstory to 2018’s Chilean animated flick The Wolf House (La Casa Lobo in the original Spanish) already makes it a nightmarish experience before the flick even really begins.
After all, the movie is presented to us as a faux propaganda film produced by the leader of a death cult (heavily inspired by the real life Colonia Dignidad), with this hybrid animated feature using complex movie magic to simulate a single uninterrupted shot as it tells the story of a lazy young girl who runs away from an isolated colony and encounters a creepy old house in the woods.
4. The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Out of all the Monty Python alumni, Terry Gilliam has had the most interesting career outside of the original comedy group. From fascinating canceled projects (such as his scrapped adaptation of Watchmen) to dystopian parodies that feel more relevant by the minute (1985’s Brazil), even his “lesser” films are still intriguing in their own way.
2005’s The Brothers Grimm is one such project, with this peculiar movie attempting to combine the comedian-turned-filmmaker’s unique visual style with a more blockbuster-oriented plot reimagining the titular brothers as con-artists rather than mere writers. The end result isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it’s still a legitimately fun ride with plenty of memorable monsters and wonderful performances by both the late, great Heath Ledger and Matt Damon.
3. Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
2010’s Dante’s Inferno game may have a reputation as something of an unapologetic God of War clone, but I’d argue that the now-obscure game was aesthetically unique enough to deserve a bigger fanbase. However, while the title remains trapped on the seventh console generation, its highly underrated anime adaptation is a lot easier to get a hold of!
Animated by 6 different studios in order to make the 9 circles of hell feel unique from each other, this may not be a completely faithful adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s poem, but it’s still one heck of a great (not to mention gory) time that I’d highly recommend to fans of Netflix’s take on Castlevania.
2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
My personal favorite entry in the Underworld franchise, Rise of the Lycans, is a highly ambitious prequel that actually works better if you haven’t had the story spoiled to you by the previous Underworld films.
While the rest of the series features plenty of urban fantasy elements as the movies combine machine guns and modern environments with gothic storytelling, Patrick Tatopoulos’ prequel fully embraces its fantastical origins and tells a classic tale about a doomed romance between a werewolf and a vampire amid a medieval uprising.
And the best part is that we get a lot more Michael Sheen as the fan-favorite Lucian.
1. Solomon Kane (2011)
One of my personal favorite movies on this list, MJ Basset’s criminally underseen adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s other iconic warrior is thoroughly steeped in horror ambience and features plenty of memorable monsters. However, it’s also a classic origin story for a swashbuckling hero that wouldn’t feel out of place in a tabletop RPG.
While I’ve already written about how the film deftly combines both horror and fantasy elements without breaking the bank, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to recommend the bizarre movie where James Purefoy expertly plays a puritan John Wick.
It’s just too bad that we never got the other films in this intended trilogy.
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