Tremors: Shrieker Island is the seventh, yes seventh movie in the Tremors pantheon. Long gone are the heady days of Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward having trouble with the Graboids in their local town, while dreaming of a bigger life. Now Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) the survivalist from the first movie and now the actually rather decent sequels, returns for maybe one last run against those dangerous underground predators.
When a group of wealthy trophy hunters genetically modify Graboid eggs to create the ultimate hunting experience, it isn’t long before their prey escapes the confines of their small island and begin terrorizing the inhabitants of a nearby island research facility. The head of the research facility and her second-in-command Jimmy (Jon Heder) locate the one man who is an expert in killing Graboids: the one and only, and now reluctant, Burt Gummer. Once on board, Burt leads the group in an all-out war against the larger, faster, and terrifyingly intelligent Graboids and the swiftly multiplying Shriekers!
So if you’ve enjoyed the other sequels, which are definitely worth looking up, you’ll likely enjoy this one, or just about. Clearly the Tremors story is running out of steam something that is duly noted when the characters start openly talking about Predator, which the film has more than one or two nods too.
Michael Gross seems to be still seriously enjoying what he is doing despite his advancing years, is great and Jon Heder who is partnered up with him this time is similarly great fun. The cast are pretty much glorified Grabbed fodder although one or two them rise above the usual trappings if only for a brief moment or two. The plot is basically a thing veiled Jurassic Park/Predator miss mash wrapped up in Tremors packaging.
It has it’s far share of action and scares, with a few grisily moments thrown in for good measure and as previously mentioned if your a fan of the series you will more than likely enjoy this and the finale may even bring a tear to your eye. But for everyone else? It’s a decent waste of 90 minutes.
Tremors: Shrieker Island is available on Blu-ray and DVD 16 November from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.
