Tremors 4: The Legend Begins

The town of Rejection, Nevada comes dangerously close to becoming a ghost town after 17 miners mysteriously die in a nearby silver mine. With no one left to work, the mine's owner, Hiram Gummer, comes to Rejection to investigate. What he and the last remaining residents of Rejection soon discover is that strange creatures have infested the area. Tremors 4: The Legend Begins takes the graboid action back to 1889, roughly 100 years before the events of the original Tremors film. Like most of the other sequels in the franchise, Tremors 4 adds a new graboid variation into the mix. In this instance, we see the graboids in an almost larval state. The characters call them Dirt Dragons. This new incarnation eventually evolves into the larger form of graboid we're more familiar with. Also, in case you hadn't already guessed, Michael Gross plays Hiram Gummer, the great grandfather of Burt Gummer, the character he plays in all of the other Tremors films.

Rating: 59%

(Image from Wikipedia)

Tremors 2: Aftershocks

A few years have passed since the graboid incident in Perfection, Nevada. Earl Bassett's fifteen minutes of fame have come and gone and he finds himself back where he started, no better off. Earl's second chance comes in the form of an ambitious cab driver named Grady and an executive from an oil field in Mexico. Graboids have killed several workers and forced the oil field to close. The executive offers Earl and Grady a lot of money to hunt down and kill the graboids. The job proves to be more than two people can handle, so they eventually enlist the services of gun enthusiast and fellow graboid survivor, Burt Gummer. To their horror, the trio soon discover that the graboids have evolved into smaller, bipedal creatures that hunt using infrared. These new creatures, dubbed shriekers, replicate quickly and before long the oil field is overrun. As far as direct to video sequels go, Tremors 2 is actually pretty good. There's some dodgy CGI in places, but they still use plenty of practical special effects in the movie. It's a bit of a retread of the original but it's entertaining enough on its own merits.

Rating: 65%

(Image from Wikipedia)