Well, apparently quite long, as there has already been a seventh entry in the series to hit the small screen. This post first ran in 2018.
The 2018 monster movie, Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell, is the sixth in a film series that began with the 1990 release, Tremors, which starred Kevin Bacon as Valentine McKee. Indeed, this series has run for over three decades—with an eleven-year hiatus between the 2004 prequel, Tremors: The Legend Begins, and Tremors 5: Bloodlines in 2015. The question is, how much longer can we expect to see the giant, worm-like Graboids or the smelly Ass-Blasters decrease the surface population? (See my post, “Graboids Never Say Die”—about the seventh entry in the series, Tremors: Shrieker Island.)
BURT GUMMER RETURNS
Tremors 6 stars Michael Gross in the recurring role of right-wingnut/survivalist Burt Gummer, the only actor to appear in all of the films—though in the prequel he played his ancestor, Hiram Gummer. Jamie Kennedy returns as Travis Welker, Burt’s long-lost son, who sprang that little bit of news to his disbelieving dad in Bloodlines. Burt is now the only resident of Perfection, Nevada, where the curmudgeon fights his ongoing war with the IRS over a potload of back taxes owed. He is not thrilled when Travis shows up again.
A Graboid attacks the research team.
When Graboids appear in northern Canada and chow down on members of a research team, Burt receives a call from one of the survivors, Valerie McKee—yes, the daughter of Kevin Bacon’s character. I mean, who ya gonna call when you have Graboids and Ass-Blasters in your backyard? The team needs help, so off Travis and Burt go, the latter bitching and moaning about everything and everyone practically from start to finish.
So once again the battle rages against the giant worms and the flying things into which they evolve. Standard Tremors fare, with a couple of subplots: the “people villains” are, of course, government agents who may want to utilize Graboids as bio-weapons (shades of Jurassic World). And Burt, who has fought the monsters far and wide (he was even ingested by one in Tremors 3), is now infected by their venom and can only be saved by extracting antibodies from a live Graboid.
Okay, the Tremors films never claimed to be Oscar-worthy material, and Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell, is hardly the benchmark of the franchise. But if you’re into monster movies in general, an
d Tremors films in particular, you’ll get a few laughs and chills out of this one—which may be the last of its kind. Of course, I thought the same thing back in 2004, so who knows?
Burt is ready to kick some butt.
Yeah, Graboids are large…
Travis and Burt have turned the researchers into hunters.
Who ya gonna call?