For once the sequel is better
There is a stigma in the movie industry that sequels are typically downgrades of the movies they follow. The Tremors franchise however is much more different. Much rather then getting worse with each sequel, this Hextalogy (6 movies), soon to be Heptalogy (7 movies) later this year seems to just get better with every new entry in the series. As I said in my first Tremors review, I would take a look at the many sequels in the near future, and that near future is now. Anyway Tremors 2 takes place six years after the events of the first movie, and rather then following Earl, and Val, it is just Earl this time around as Val, and Rhonda gotten married, and moved to a big city together. Earl meanwhile is down on his luck when he is called to action by a Mexican Oil Baron whose oil refinery is infested with Graboids. With the reward of $50,000 per Graboid killed, he sets out to the oil refinery. While there however he, and his new partners will find that "The Worms Have Turned".
The movie begins at the aforementioned oil refinery where a worker is attempting to escape a Graboid. He almost makes it to safety, but is caught, and killed by the beast. We then skip back over to Perfection, Nevada, the setting of the first movie. It is here we find out that Val, and Rhonda had gotten married, and since moved away from Perfection while Earl is left behind running a failing Ostrich Ranch. He is then approached by Carlos who owns the refinery. He tells Earl that Graboids have been killing his workers, and that Earl is the only person he can think of to deal with the monsters. Earl at first refuses as he had barely survived the Graboid attack from six years ago. Grady, a Graboid fanboy who accompanied Carlos to find Earl then convinces Earl to come down to Mexico to fix the problem. Grady tells him that Carlos is offering $50,000 per Graboid he kills, and that the Mexican Army is willing to provide him with whatever he needs. With a monetary motivation, Earl, joined by Grady drive down to rural Mexico to hunt some Graboids. Arriving at the main office, Earl meets the rest of the cast, Handyman Pedro, and Geologists Katie, and Julio. Earl also learns that Carlos is willing to pay double if they manage to catch a live Graboid, though Earl says it's impossible to catch one. With the help of a computer that shows where the worms are in the area, we get a fun montage of Earl, and Grady using a new technique to kill Graboids based on Earl's idea from the first movie. The idea being "fishing". Though this time instead of lit dynamite on a rope, they now use remote controlled cars equipped with explosives. Soon enough the pair find out that there are much more Graboids in the area then anticipated, and because of this they need some backup from an old friend. A now divorced Burt Gummer, also from the first movie gladly comes to their aid bringing along a massive amount of heavy fire power, and 120-pounds of MREs (Ready-to-eat meals intended mostly for military use). We also learn that the Graboids are actually Pre-Cambrian, making them older then dinosaurs. All is going fine now, until later that day something unexpected happens.
Earl, and Grady come across a Graboid who much rather then charging after them, instead is running away. Earl suspects that it's trying to lure them into a trap as the Graboids have been known to learn over time. The two go after it anyway, though while chasing it, the chains on their truck gets caught up with the worm causing it to drag the truck towards a rock. With the car crashed, the two panic as they expect the Graboid to attack at any moment, but surprisingly enough, it doesn't. The two investigate, and find the Graboid completely above ground, and immobile. Earl, and Grady celebrate as they realize they can cash in this live in. With the truck destroyed they radio Pedro to come, and pick them up. Later that night while still waiting for Pedro, more unexpected things happen. With the Graboid now crying out in pain before suddenly stopping, the two investigate, and find their Graboid dead, and completely gutted. Earl seeing that something must've come out of it suggests that it metamorphosed into something new. In the distance they see Pedro's car finally arriving, only to suddenly stop. Reluctantly, they investigate, and find the car ripped apart, and Pedro dead. They also find that the radios are not working, and head to the radio tower to try, and fix it. When they get to the radio tower though, once again, it is completely destroyed. They soon come across their new enemy, a small Graboid like creature, that instead of crawling, walks on two legs. They manage to kill it, but soon more arrive. Luckily the are able to escape before the creatures got to them. Burt also has a run-in with the new creatures. Early the next day, Katie is just doing her science stuff when suddenly her assistant Julio is attacked, and killed by a group of them. Katie is soon enough saved by Earl, and Grady; and Burt returns understandably pissed off about the situation. Despite using up all of his ammo, turns out that he had managed to capture one live. Now with it locked up in a cage, the group can do some tests.
They are quickly able to find out that the now named Shriekers are both blind, and deaf; they instead hunt by heat signatures. This means that the attacks on the radio tower, and cars were mostly accidental, Another thing we find out is that they reproduce asexually when fed enough food. This discover only helps foreshadow what is to happen now. Turns out, a lone Shrieker had sneaked into the building from being stuck under Burt's truck. To make matters worse, it gets into Burt's MRE supply. You can probably guess what happens next, absolute chaos. The Shriekers attack the group, and they are barely able to escape using their sense to detect body heat against them. We also get probably one of the best scenes in the series, Burt does what he does best, overkill. Using a handheld cannon, Burt blows a Shrieker into small chunks. Though doing that, he also accidentally destroyed the last working car in the area. With the Shriekers spotting the group, they mange to escape up a roof in classic Tremors style. Burt however, is now cornered in the scooping part of a bulldozer. Before they can devise a plan, the Shriekers begin to stack on top of each other to reach the roof. Burt then gets a idea, and runs out into the open causing the Shriekers to chase after him. He leads them all into a warehouse, and quickly shuts the door on them. At first this does the trick, until they realize that there are pounds of food in there, making the Shriekers rapidly multiply. Earl decides to have a fire extinguisher used on him to reduce his body temperature, and heads into the warehouse to grab one of Burt's bombs. Earl is barely able to escape as he sets off a detonation timer. Burt realizing what he's done warns everyone to run away as the blast will be huge. Indeed it is, almost a nuclear sized blast that left nothing, but a crater of what was once an oil refinery. I mean hey, it was either the refinery, or the world, so it's okay. With every single Shrieker, and Graboid in the area dead, our trio celebrate. Earl also gets with Katie, and as for Burt. Well let's just say that Burt becomes the main character of the franchise now, no more Kevin Bacon, or Fred Ward.
Tremors 2 proves that good sequels can exist, and in this case, I would say that Tremors 2 is better then the first movie.For one thing, it nailed that Comedy part that was lacking from their last Horror/Comedy flick. The series in my personal opinion only gets better from here, so stay tuned for future Tremors reviews. For now though, Aftershocks gets a 5 out of 5 Paws up.
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