Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004) (V)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

S.S. Wilson

Writers (WGA):

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

Release Date:

2 January 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller | Western

Tagline:

A Revolution Has Begun...

Plot:

A prequel to Tremors (1990), this movie tells us about the founders of Rejection Valley and how they defended it against the dirt dragons AKA graboids.

Plot Keywords:

Graboids | Monster | Prequel | Desert | Bicycle

Cast

Michael Gross	...	Hiram Gummer
Sara Botsford	...	Christine Lord
Billy Drago	...	Black Hand Kelly
Brent Roam	...	Juan Pedilla
August Schellenberg	...	Tecopa
J.E. Freeman	...	Old Fred
Ming Lo	...	Pyong Lien Chang
Lydia Look	...	Lu Wan Chang
Sam Ly	...	Fu Yien Chang
Neil Kopit	...	Victor (as Neal Kopit)
Sean Moran	...	Western Union Clerk
Matthew Seth Wilson	...	Brick Walters
John Dixon	...	Big Horse Johnson
Dan Lemieux	...	Stony Walters
Don Ruffin	...	Soggy

Also Known As:

Tremors 4 (USA) (working title)
Tremors: Original Showdown (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for creature violence and gore.

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | South Korea:All | Netherlands:12 | Finland:K-15 | Australia:M | USA:PG-13 | Germany:16 | UK:12 | Canada:PG (Ontario/Canadian video rating) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Singapore:PG

Company:

Stampede Entertainment

Trivia:

Michael Gross was the only person to appear in all four Tremors movies. In Tremors (1990), Tremors II: Aftershocks (1996) (V) and Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001) (V), he played Burt Gummer. In Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004) (V), he played Hiram Gummer, an ancestor of Burt Gummer.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: When Hirum is leaving Rejection, there are clear truck or car tracks on the road. The Steam Tractor's wheels are too wide to have made them.

Quotes:

Juan Padilla: You always had everything, didn't you?
Hiram Gummer: Several of everything.
Juan Padilla: I just like to get one of something.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Dirt Dragons: 'Tremors 4: The Legend Begins' (2004) (V)

I've seen worse $200+ million epics!

If you're looking for entertainment..no more, no less - this little gem delivers! By far the best sequel (arguable order of merit for the series would be 1,4, 2 and 3) this is Michael Gross's film in totality. He has made the franchise his own and comes full circle playing his own Great Grandfather. It is a measured and emotional performance. As mine-owner Hiram Gummer he comes to Rejection" (as the backwoods township was known) to find out what has been killing the miners. What he discovers is completely outside his somewhat wimpy comfort-zone.

Very much a return to the original in terms of characters...and even special effects which rely thankfully here, far less on laughable CGI. What might be seen as scaled-down excitement is more than compensated for with absolutely knock-out performances - Drago and Gross especially.

All four films have an easy-on-the-eye laid back feel, principally because the production teams has remained intact throughout. Four excellent movies without sex, gratuitous violence and a solitary screen cussing in fifteen years. Not that Gross looks any older now than he did in 1989/1990.

Very faithful to the earlier films and fully explanatory of how it all came about. Mention should also be made of Jay Ferguson's great musical score - the best of the four films.

Best scripted, photographed and acted straight-to-video film I have yet seen and certainly was deserving of a theatrical release.