Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell

Well, you know what you are getting yourself into when you sit down to watch this kind of movie. Especially since the "Tremors" franchise doesn't seem to lay down to die. The recent movies haven't been outstanding and "Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell" is no different.

This is an enjoyable enough movie for what it is, which is mediocre entertainment.

Michael Gross revisits the role of Burt Gummer, and he alone well and the worms of course are the sole instrument from the original movie that keeps this franchise afloat. And believe you me, they are boiling soup on a very weak broth by now.

The special effects and the creature effects are good, though and they definitely make the movie more watchable. As for the story, well let's just say that this movie offers nothing that haven't already been seen in the franchise, except for it being set in a colder climate.

If you enjoy the "Tremors" movie, then you will enjoy this movie. But if you are new to the franchise, I would strongly recommend that you start with the first movie. Yeah, the one with Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon.

I have to concede to be an old "Tremors" fan from the gitgo. However, I approached this iteration with some anxiety: I appreciate "Burt" fro the beginning and really appreciated the chemistry in the first two issues, yet was this one going to be worth my time?

Happily, this one measures up to a solid B film status and if you are a "Tremors" fan such as I am, then you will appreciate this one.

Part of the joy of this series is its capability of knowing exactly what it is. There is no pretense of anything beyond what you see: a romp with some cheesy effects.

I appreciate that this one also is aware of where it fits in the cycle: there are references to Reba and Kevin in this one that I enjoyed.

There are huge plot holes and obvious flaws in character development. The effects are splatters and that is about it. Got those viewers of a post CGI generation, this miststep will diseffect you.

If, however, you know this franchise and you appreciated the first ones, then you'd enjoy this pleasant way to spend an evening with old friends.

Don't get me wrong, I liked some of the earlier sequels, despite their rapidly increasing inferiority, but Tremors has officially reached a new low with this entry. Tremors 5 was already really pushing it with the addition of Jamie Kennedy. You should know your series is in trouble if you think that adding an aged, barely trying Jamie Kennedy to the mix is your idea of bringing new life to a property.

Kennedy is even worse this time around. Did they let him write his own dialogue this time or something? Everything he says is either just some completely unimportant observation, some horribly flat joke, or part of the painfully bad fan-fiction-y romance subplot with a woman that's clearly several leagues away from his own. Pretty much every word out of his mouth is senseless and irrelevant or extremely cringey (or both).

Most of the rest of the cast isn't much better. Terrible dialogue almost all around and most of them are written to be so dumb that you're surprised they were even able to tie their own shoes. When Michael Gross is heavily out-acting everyone else in a movie, you should know that something is seriously wrong.

All the effects are CG now, and it's actually not terrible CG, but neither does it do anything at all impressive. Despite the environment change this is still just more of the exact same thing we've already seen many times before, just with even less effort going into it.

Really, let's be honest here. Most of the sequels have just shamelessly recycled the exact same formula from the first one and we all know it. It was funny the first few times, but enough is enough. Look, I love a good "so bad it's good" horror as much as the next guy, but there's nothing to like here. It's not funny in either the intentional or unintentional senses, there's not one bit of memorable action or gore, so what's the point?

I see that there are some die-hard Tremors fans that are willing to swallow another spoonful of the same old stew that's been sitting out in the sun all these years because they're so nostalgically attached to this property for whatever reasons, but to anyone else this is just a plain old bad movie, the kind that no one's even going to remember existed in a year.

Tremors is dead. Let it rest in piece already.

There are sequels where it doesn't mean anything if you have or have not seen the previous entry (or entries for that matter). The Tremors franchise really is different in that sense. It also does evolve. Though some may miss the good old days of practical effects (versus the CGI we get).

We get recurring characters though and some may feel a bit too comfortable in their sense of humor for my taste. Especially the one you may know from the Scream franchise. Don't get me wrong, I loved his schtick in that other franchise, it just seems a bit redundant here. Our main hero (unlikely hero to be frank, especially considering the journey he took from the very early days of Tremors) remains as stoic and "fun" (I would consider him funny but others may not) as ever.

So while the movie overall is flawed, anyone liking the Tremors movies and has kept watching them, will not be too disappointed. Nicely done for anyone who still cares

The Tremors series started so well but began to go downhill after the first two or three movies. The good news about Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell is it's not appreciably worse than the movie before it, Tremors 5.

It's also not any better.

As in the previous movie, Tremors is focused primarily on Burt Gummer, with most of the rest of the cast made up of generic background players. The movie is very poorly written, with dull banter and cliched situations.

While the first half of the film is fairly tedious, things pick up as the human drama gives way to monster fighting. There's nothing new or original, but the movie follows the Tremors playbook with a modicum of success.

I suspect this is how it will be from here on in; just a series of watchable TV movies that get just enough viewers to justify making the next one. If you're a fan of the series with some time to kill, go ahead and check this out. Just don't expect much.