Tremors 4 : La Légende commence

Nevada 1889,a mining village called Rejection are happening mysterious events in the mine where die seventeen miners.There live a small group people(a habitual of native roles August Schellemberg,Sara Bostford,J.E Freeman, among others Chinese actors).Then comes Hiram Gummer(Burt's ancestor)played by the usual series Michael Gross.In the desolate plateau where are roaming a beasts,he arrives in the stage line and he brings a lot of luggage and a cycle.Later is hired a famous gunfighter called Black Hand Kelly(Billy Drago)to chase the strange creatures with three tongues.Then they confront against the West's most fearsome predator that savagely stalking its prey,the human group.The large wormlike burrow around in the underground looking for the human food.This time,Gummer will use a large rifle and a steam machine for battling the dreadful giant bugs called Graboids in an epic final fighting...And ultimately the town's name is changed by ¨Perfection¨.

It's an OK and entertaining juvenile entry of the series,is remarkable for FX recreating of the carnivorous and ferocious beasts developing a bloodthirsty hunger for men eating.The giant worms delivers the goods with hair-raising chills,screams,grisly horror when they spontaneously appear.The essential characteristics from the series are the following : A remote plateau in a desert location called Perfection, a solitary misfit group fighting against the astonishment monsters called Graboids and of course the Michael Gross presence as Gummer,besides all are produced by Brent Maddock,Nancy Roberts and SS Wilson.The best is the original directed by Ron Underwood(Fred Ward ,Kevin Bacon),it's followed by inferior sequels aimed to video market :¨Aftershock¨ directed by S.S Wilson (also with Fred Ward and Helen Shaver),¨III Back to Perfection¨ directed by Brent Maddock(Charlotte Stewart,Ariana Richards) and Television series with Gladys Jimenez,Victor Browne,Marcia Strassman and as always Michael Gross.

This film stays in the vein of campy, but brilliant action flick much like Tremors 3. It's humorous, scary, and always exciting.

Building on the success of Michael Gross as Burt Gummer, we have Gross as the ancestor of Burt, Hiram Gummer. Hiram is a wealthy owner of the local mine. He is snotty, cowardly, and can't shoot a gun to save his life. The townspeople really don't care for him and his greedy ways.

He arrives just as the mine is being abandoned. 17 miners have disappeared in the caves and everyone is scared to enter. The local Indian claims it to be spirits haunting the caves. Hiram needs the silver in the mine to remain wealthy and gathers a ragtag group of desperate miners to check it out. A brief attack by "dirt dragons" and Hiram is ready to abandon the town of Rejection and his mine. The few remaining townspeople are desperate for a solution.

If you enjoy the Tremors franchise you will love this new installment. The special effects are awesome, using giant "puppets" instead of cgi adding a real quality to the attacks. The origins of the graboids are somewhat revealed and the town of Perfection is born. There are many references to the first Tremors and fans will appreciate the thought put into the film. I truly enjoyed this Graboid attack. 7/10.

If you're looking for entertainment..no more, no less - this little gem delivers! By far the best sequel (arguable order of merit for the series would be 1,4, 2 and 3) this is Michael Gross's film in totality. He has made the franchise his own and comes full circle playing his own Great Grandfather. It is a measured and emotional performance. As mine-owner Hiram Gummer he comes to Rejection" (as the backwoods township was known) to find out what has been killing the miners. What he discovers is completely outside his somewhat wimpy comfort-zone.

Very much a return to the original in terms of characters...and even special effects which rely thankfully here, far less on laughable CGI. What might be seen as scaled-down excitement is more than compensated for with absolutely knock-out performances - Drago and Gross especially.

All four films have an easy-on-the-eye laid back feel, principally because the production teams has remained intact throughout. Four excellent movies without sex, gratuitous violence and a solitary screen cussing in fifteen years. Not that Gross looks any older now than he did in 1989/1990.

Very faithful to the earlier films and fully explanatory of how it all came about. Mention should also be made of Jay Ferguson's great musical score - the best of the four films.

Best scripted, photographed and acted straight-to-video film I have yet seen and certainly was deserving of a theatrical release.

The original Tremors was a classic and a well put together big budget Sci Fi movie. The follow ups have all been more low budget and released only on video, but have actually been OK. I mean, you can't possibly take them seriously, but they're a lot of fun and the characters wind up being pretty memorable. Tremors 4 manages to continue the follow ups while maintaining originality. This alone is an accomplishment, since many sequels end up being repetitive and boorish. Tremors 4 doesn't have this problem.

Instead, Tremors 4 is a prequel set in 1889. Perfection is a new town called Rejection and is populated by miners....until they start getting eaten. Most of the remaining townsfolk leave. The only ones that stay behind are an Indian, the Chang family, a Mexican guy, and an unmarried red headed woman. Sound familiar? The townsfolk send for a man to asses the mine, which turns out to be Burt Gummer's great-great granddad: Hiram Gummer. Hiram is a proper eastern dude who has never touched a gun and is completely unprepared. He doesn't want any business with the "dirt dragons". However, he gets swept up with the situation and decides to stay and fight the worms. He enlists the help of a famous gunslinger and together the motley crew of 8 battle the monsters. A big subplot in the movie involves the revelation of how the Gummer family became obsessed with guns, bombs, and preperation. Although, like all Tremors movies, its inherently a little bit silly and hard to take seriously, the movie is laced with nostalgic humor and for a #4 continuation, it's pretty well done and should satisfy most any fan.

I enjoyed the original and felt the others (including the series, basically) were pleasant time wasters. The latest confuses the chronology a bit, but sequels often do tend not to be totally loyal to such things anyway. Still, its late 19th century setting gives it a bit of color, and is portrayed fairly well for a low budget film. The characters are pleasant with the usual diversified class of ordinary souls represented. There is not a lot of action per se, but enough is present so that it doesn't disappoint.

Sort of like an extended flashback episode of the series, and a fairly enjoyable one at that. For fans, that will be enough. I'd add that Michael Gross handles himself nicely here as the more "weenie" version of his descendant.