Tremors 5: Bloodlines (Blu-ray / DVD)
Starring Jamie Kennedy, Michael Gross, Natalie Becker
Directed by Don Michael Paul
Distributed by Universal
You know, for the life of me I’ll never fully understand the allure of these damn Tremors movies, but when the first film hit way back in 1990, I was (as I’ve always been) a little skeptical, and pleasantly surprising to little ol’ me, the movie was fun as hell and reminded me of the creature features from the days of long ago. Now, after three less than memorable sequels, those stinky graboids are digging through the soil yet again and are sprouting up in Tremors 5: Bloodlines.
Through all of the utter lunacy and projectile goo splatters over these handful of movies, one staple has remained: His name is Burt Gummer (Gross), the gun-toting, paranoid survivalist. He’s back in the fifth installment, and this time he’s heading to South Africa at the request of a wildife reserve worker to investigate a report of a fatal attack by an ass-blaster (sounds like a hemorrhoid commercial). Joining the team is tech-know-it-all Travis Welker (Kennedy) and an all-too-happy triggerman (Brandon Auret), ready to shoot first and ask no questions whatsoever. The trip looks to be fairly fruitless until a couple of hideous attacks occur at the hands of the wormlike monsters, and Burt is only happy to ammo-up and try to take these things down; however, the request from the head of the wildlife ministry is merely to capture, not kill – uh-oh… sounds like someone isn’t on the pathway of the straight and narrow. Aided by a pretty savvy (and fairly bad-ass) veterinarian (Becker), this little posse is ready to go huntin’ some hungry slugs!
Look, you can watch the other four films and essentially get all of the nonsensical action you want, but I truly feel that this installment is the best since the first movie (not really saying much). Michael Gross once again steals the show as the gun-crazy Gummer, this time taking on a bit more slightly serious tone. (Maybe he’s really sick and tired of these things?) Kennedy acts as a passable sidekick but just seems to run a distant second place to the elder marksman. In any event, there’s plenty of gunplay, lots of goofy humor, and plenty of ass-blasting (jeez, that sounds bad) – there even are some nice tributes to sci-fi heavyweights Predator and Jurassic Park.
Will there be yet another addition to this already stretched out franchise? Only time will tell, but this I must request – if Mr. Gummer is to be excluded in any shape or fashion, count me out. This comes recommended to true fans of the series… especially if you’re willing to forget all other films besides the first.
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