Bullet Points: Tremors 2: Aftershocks

Although the 1990 film Tremors didn’t clean up at the box office, it has garnered a massive cult following over the years and led to several sequels and even a television series (with another on the way!). The saddest part of legacy of Tremors is that star Kevin Bacon decided not to return for the sequel in 1996. That would normally spell disaster for a film, and some might say that it did for Tremors 2. I, on the other hand, have found that I have warmed considerably towards the movie over the past 20+ years.

Synopsis: Earl Bassett, now a laid-back living legend, is coaxed by the Mexican government into hunting and exterminating the Graboids that are threatening an important oil-refinery. But no amount of explosives could prepare him for what the worms have in store.

• Welcome to Mexico: The graboid infestation of the Southwestern United States has now made its way into Mexico. I knew that wall wouldn’t do shit! Some guy from an oil company seeks out Earl, who now just hangs around his ostrich ranch, and offers him a bunch of money to head south of the border to take out some graboids killing his workers. Seems like nothing could go wrong, right?
• No more Valentine: The worst part about Tremors 2 is that we lose the joy of watching Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon together on screen. It was easily my favorite thing about the first movie. Tremors 2 barely mentions Val except to say that he ended up getting married to a “good woman” and settling down. We’re left to assume that Val married scientist lady Rhonda from the first film and that was always kind of depressing to me. I guess I just don’t want all my loner type heroes to settle down and not get into any more trouble.

• Your sidekicks sucks bro: How or why Chris Gartin got on set for this movie I’ll never know. Earl no longer has his old pal Val, but now he has an annoying as can be young cab driver who swindled his way into the entire operation. If anyone really deserved to die in Tremors 2, it was Grady Hoover. Grady spends most of the movie getting Earl and Co. into situations where they almost die or just walking around on the same ground that the graboids are crawling around in. Is it a bad thing that I was just hoping and praying for him to get sucked into the sand like a stringy piece of pasta?
• Somebody call Dr. Phil: Michael Gross and his amazing character Burt Gummer finally makes his appearance about a fourth of the way through the movie and it couldn’t have come at a better time. Burt and his prepper wife were one of the best things to come out of Tremors and he immediately added some much needed comedy to the movie. He also had guns….lots of guns. Burt is the type of guy who always over prepares. Which is the best kind of person to have in a graboid fight. The part that was unfortunate was that Burt and his wife Heather had split up. Yep….no more REBA.

• The man with the plan: Earl is a man who thinks on his feet. Part of the reason that he is so reactionary is because he really doesn’t plan much out in the beginning. He did have that idiot Grady with him, too. But as often as Earl and his people get into trouble, he’s always the one to come up with some kooky way of getting out of it. In my opinion, Fred Ward was better as Earl when he was able to play off of Kevin Bacon. The two shared the ideas in the first one but this time he’s all alone. Except for that moron Grady.
• De-evolution?: Killing the graboids is very easy. The guys just strap some explosives onto a remote controlled car and let it get eaten. A second later and the innards of that graboid is decorating the outside of Earl and Burt’s trucks. They kill a could dozen of the massive creatures before they finally discover that the graboids have gone into some sort of metamorphosis and come out as some two-legged dog thing. They’re far less scary than before and they’re only deadly if you let them get close. It would be like if the shark in Jaws turned into a big lizard for the sequel.

• Hey man, watch the denim!: When Earl has one of his famous “plans”, a serious amount of denim gets sprayed with fire extinguishers. Yeah, it helps for him to go unseen by the heat vision having grabois 2.0 but it is devastating for anyone who cherishes the garment. Canadians probably hated that scene.
• Earl gets the girl: In a move that probably surprised no one, Earl and Ms. October 1974 walk off into the sunset together. Killing that many graboids kind of earns you a little sheet time if you ask me.

Before you get sucked into the sand like spaghetti, read these Bonus Bullet Points:

• The human body count was only 3. And they were all Mexicans. Talk about some shit….
• Kevin Bacon was set to reprise his role but the budget got knocked down from $17 million to $4 million and they could no longer afford it.
• The reason Earl couldn’t get his ostriches to mate was because he had two males. Like I said… not a big research kind of guy.

The Verdict: I absolutely hated Tremors 2 when it came out. I was a big fan of the original from the first time I saw it and this one clearly tries to substitute the always awesome Kevin Bacon (I love Footloose!) with some douchebag guy named Grady. I could not get over it back then but watching it in my 30’s has changed my views slightly. I enjoyed watching the movie this time. Fred Ward and Michael Gross are both really good and while there aren’t many death scenes to speak of, there are quite a few good graboid deaths…

See!