Tremors (1990) and Tremors II: Aftershocks (1996)

Natives of a small isolated town defend themselves against strange underground creatures that are killing them one by one.

REVIEW: My reviews for Tremors and Tremors 2 are being posted together into one post because, well, what’s there to say about Tremors that hasn’t already been said at this point? It’s pretty much the go-to perfect creature feature B-Movie and it's been covered by thousands of people in thousands of other reviews.

Awesome unique creature? Check. Great creature effects? Check. Really fun and well-acted characters? Helll yes, double check. Add to that the perfect mix of serious horror/suspense and light-hearted comedy, and throw in some fun as hell chase and attack scenes.

Sure, it might be a bit slow at times in the middle, but the mystery of what’s going on (for a first viewing anyway), mixed with the really fun characters, keeps your attention quite well, despite the slower pace.

This entire series is pretty much my all-time favorite movie franchise behind Jurassic Park and Star Wars, and is easily my favorite B-Movie franchise of all time, and this is the movie that started it all.

10/10 rooms in the Psych Ward 

Earl Bassett, now a washed-up ex-celebrity, is hired by a Mexican oil company to eradicate a Graboid epidemic that's killing more people each day. However, the humans aren't the only one with a new battle plan. 

REVIEW: The first Tremors may be the better-made film overall, but Tremors 2: Aftershocks has always been my personal favorite in the series. As a kid, the first movie never really scared me much. I always loved it, but I never really found it all that scary, but Tremors 2 frightened the hell out of me on several occasions throughout. Even as an adult, there's a few moments that do great at delivering that genuine suspense.

The giant worms, dubbed Graboids, have a new form in this one, the smaller-but-more-deadly Shriekers, and that was a great addition to the series. Not only do they now hunt above-ground and can move quite quickly, but they also hunt via heat signatures (which makes hiding much more difficult) and they reproduce rather quickly when they eat. It was a way to carry on with another movie, without it feeling quite 100% like a carbon copy, introducing a new twist on something that the characters had thought they had figured out. The design itself was also even more interesting and unique than the initial Graboid form, and this movie does a great job of giving us plenty of screentime with both forms of the creature.

Fred Ward and Michael Gross both return from the first movie, and even though Kevin Bacon does not, there is a new carbon copy character in his place that, while he takes some getting used to, it isn't long before he fits right in with these characters, as does all the new characters in this movie, feeling right at home with the returning ones.

Tremors 2: Aftershocks is genuinely funny as well, every bit as funny as the first movie, scarier than the first movie, gorier than the first movie, and all around even more interesting and fun than the first movie, at least to me.

When it comes to creature feature B-Movies, Tremors 2: Aftershocks reigns supreme at the very top of my list.

10/10 rooms in the Psych Ward