Tremors 5: Bloodlines

Tremors 5 (2015)

** (out of 4)

The fifth film in the series has Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) agreeing to travel to Africa to track down the underground creatures with a new partner (Jamie Kennedy). What neither men realize is that there are new breeds of the graboids and they've evolved. When they discover an underground lair of eggs their mission is to make them disappear for good.

TREMORS, in my opinion, is one of the greatest monster movies ever made. I first saw it in the theater when I was ten and it's honestly gotten better with age. The next three sequels were extremely hit and miss and there's no question that they couldn't match the original's charm or energy. This fifth film headed straight-to-video but for the most part it's a decent monster movie as long as you don't go in expecting anything like the original.

I think a lot of people are going to be disappointed with the creature's being changed. I'm not going to ruin what those changes are but I must admit that I didn't think it added anything great to the picture where it was actually needed or helped the film. In fact, we get one sequence, which was clearly imaged after JURASSIC PARK but obviously it's not nearly as intense here. With that said, the design of the new creatures really aren't that bad and when you consider the budget and the fact that CGI was used you really got to give them credit for at least looking good.

Gross has no problem getting back into his Gummer character and it was fun seeing him return to the series. Kennedy pretty much drops his comedy routine and instead goes for action hero. I can't say it was a complete success but it's not as bad as I feared. Pearl Thusi plays the main female character and easily steals the picture when she's on the screen. There's some fun death scenes throughout the film and even though it's PG-13 rated, there's also some rather gory graboid slime when they are destroyed.

With that said, the biggest problem is that the film still has a SyFy feel to it and I'd argue that you really don't care too much about any of the characters. There's attempts at humor throughout that just don't work too well and the twist that happens to a couple of the characters towards the end is just downright silly and goes nowhere. Still, if you're a fan of the series then you'll still want to give TREMORS 5 at least one viewing.

Tremors 4 wasn't a great movie, but it had some excitement in it. The same cannot be said for Tremors 5, which has remarkably little in the way of thrills and suspense.

There's also not much in the way of story or character. This time around it's basically just the Burt Gummer show, with other characters ranging from bland to irksome. And because the story soon separates into two separate threads that connect poorly, there is no real sense of momentum. And with no character development, you don't have much reason to care if these people live or die.

There are a bunch of logic issues as well, and all sorts of clichés, but I don't need to name everything wrong with this movie. The point is, nothing is done very well.

At the same time, it is perfectly watchable and keeps moving. So there's that. But if this is the best they can do, it's probably time to shut this thing down.

Let me start this by saying I adore the "Tremors" series, one of the best monster movies out there, from first one filled with humorous parts and that little add-on kept till the very end.

This one is nothing short of that, but it simply looks like it lost its touch, like, it's not really the real deal, more of a cheap version of what we once had. For the die hard fans, sure, it will work alright, I'm quite happy I got to see yet another part, but for the rest, it will be just a movie.

Anyway, here, it is late night, raining, so I got a lovely atmosphere for some nostalgic moments, so I do enjoy the movie but it still feels like something is missing. I wait for other users to comment on it, maybe it is just me. Hope so.

Tremors 5, keeps the legend alive, but not kicking.

Cheers!

I really wanted to like it, but it was an enterprise doomed to failure. Not only the graboids have a complicated life cycle that involves a flying version that uses igneous farts to propel themselves, but the movie is now located in South Africa and filled with clichés of how Americans see the place.

The monsters were cool enough, but the tension was gone, as well as the classic Tremors feel, where an isolated community gets together to defeat unbeatable carnivore beasts. Instead we have big guns easily killing big dumb animals. It's not a totally bad film for the Tremors "series", but certainly it is a disgrace to the original film.

Bottom line: watching it for the melancholy and the fun. Had neither.

You may wonder why there would be another one of those? But then again, fans of other franchises could only dream of their favorite character coming back on screen. And Grummer seems to be just that. Impossible to kill off (no pun intended) and in all movies Tremors related (probably even in the TV spinoffs and whatnot).

This time his sidekick is someone most people will know from the Scream franchise. And/or from conventions - and if it is the latter, the character he portrays seems very close to his actual personality. Then again, maybe a fusion has taken place where you can't decipher if he's fooling around or actually that ... guy 24/7. Having said all that, some may find that intriguing and funny and others may find it very annoying. Up to you to decide, you should not be easily offended by the way.

Visually this is top notch and the effects are quite alright for mostly CGI (especially the first movie is known for its hands on effects which were awesome) ... funny or boring, depending on your threshold, but with a franchise to back it up and give it some life - just don't question the "wisdom" and the evolution ... and the coincidences and ... well you get the point(s)