Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001) (V)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Brent Maddock

Writers (WGA):

S.S. Wilson (story) &
Brent Maddock (story) ...

Release Date:

2 October 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The Food Chain Just Grew Another Link.

Plot:

Third entry in series returns to the small desert town of Perfection, Nevada seen in the first and briefly in the second.

Plot Keywords:

Graboids | Shriekers | Monster | Desert | Worm

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Michael Gross	...	Burt Gummer
Shawn Christian	...	Desert Jack Sawyer
Susan Chuang	...	Jodi Chang
Charlotte Stewart	...	Nancy Sterngood
Ariana Richards	...	Mindy Sterngood
Tony Genaro	...	Miguel
Barry Livingston	...	Dr. Andrew Merliss
John Pappas	...	Agent Charlie Rusk
Robert Jayne	...	Melvin Plug
Billy Rieck	...	Buford, Jack's Assistant
Kelly Connell	...	Tourist Guy
Matthew Seth Wilson	...	Tourist Kid
Jason Hopkins	...	Tourist Kid
Lorna Scott	...	Tourist Lady
Mary Gross	...	Tourist Mom

MPAA:

Rated PG for sci-fi violence and language.

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | South Korea:15 | Netherlands:12 | Finland:K-15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Germany:12 | Sweden:11 | USA:PG | UK:12 | Singapore:PG

Company:

Universal Family and Home Entertainment

Trivia:

Mary Gross, which is the sister of Michael Gross, plays a small part in this movie. She plays the mom who has the line "Thankyou Mr Goober". She is listed in the credits as "Tourist Mom"

Goofs:

Continuity: When Burt is getting gas, he removes the rock from the top of the box that holds the cash. He puts his money in and sets the rock next to the box. In the next shot, the rock is on the box. Then, in the next shot, he is putting the rock on the box again.

Quotes:

Miguel: The BLM man gave me permission to kill anything that represented a danger to my cattle. El lobo, el coyote, and el Graboid.

Movie Connections:

References Star Wars (1977)

Lighthearted, silly fun

I really wasn't expecting much from a third in the series even tho Tremors 2 added so much more imagination. So I was pleasantly surprised when this turned out to be so much fun.

It begins with a rather cool opening scene in which Burt Gummer (still in Mexico) takes out zillions of Shriekers with a massive machine-gun tank thing. After returning home to Perfection Burt must deal with new graboids, new shriekers and another metamorphosis...The shriekers turn into Ass-Blasters, flying creatures with rocket propelled farts. As the town (and the returning, surviving cast from the first film) is besieged by all forms of these animals, Burt and his pals must figure out increasing desperate ways to destroy them.

There's loads of energy and self-referential humor and the locations have a more dark/sophisticated look to them than in the previous 2 films. A light-hearted tone is still in check tho. There's even one teriffic scene in which Burt is swallowed by a Graboid and taken halfway across the desert. I paniced, I honestly thot we'd lost him. Turns out he's okay in the end.

Fred Ward is definitely missed tho his abscence is explained (Earl and Grady went to make a Graboid amusement park) but Michael Gross is simply irreplaceable as the eccentric and paranoid Burt Gummer. And Ariana Richards is so much more cuter now that she's grown up.

Tremors 3 is the best presented Tremors movie on DVD. The 1.85:1 anamorphic picture looks great and the Dolby 5.1 is reasonably lively with lots of bass during the tunnelling scenes. A fair amount of extras come along too.