Tremors 3: Back to Perfection Review (2001) Worth Watching?

It's about an all new spawn of Graboids, high flying"Ass Blasters", that Burt and his Perfection posse have to purge.

Tremors 3: Back to Perfection was directed by Brent Maddock and stars Michael Gross (from Tremors 4: The Legend Begins and Tremors 5: Bloodlines), Charlotte Stewart (from Dark Angel: The Ascent and Tremors) and Ariana Richards (from Battledogs).

The Food Chain Just Grew Another Link.

First things first. This movie is an obnoxiously family-friendly one. I'm pretty sure it's the only PG genre movie I've ever seen. Prior to Tremors 3 the goofiest horror comedy I watched was Eight Legged Freaks, and that was PG-13. Arachnophobia was another, also PG-13. Goosebumps is PG, I hear the kids love it.

Tremors 3 starts off in El Chaco, Argentina where Burt, the new face of the Tremors franchise, has been contracted to kill some pesky Shriekers. He makes a big show of it and probably kills around 300 of them in the very first scene. Then it's back to Perfection, Nevada where he finds his hometown turned into a full-blown Graboid tourist trap. There's a new guy who moved in named Desert Jack who takes people out on Graboid safaris. Burt's beloved Perfection is now the Roswell, NM (alien themed sideshow of a city) of sand creatures. Desert Jack has a pretty good thing going, scaring tourists and peddling over-priced beer, until a new batch of super-sized Graboids show up after an 11 year hiatus and Burt is called on to battle them once again.

Tremors 3 is about as silly as it gets. And yes, I'm using words like "silly", "goofy" and "pesky" for the first time ever because they're tame words for a very tame movie. The franchise really doubles down on Burt's whole one man militia thing too. He has an arsenal of weaponry and practically drives a tank around town. And his house is basically a fully fortified military base. There's also a big military presence in general. Some government agency swoops in and puts the Graboids on an endangered species list making it illegal to kill them. Capturing them isn't exactly possible so Burt has to go head-to-head with the government to save his town.

I liked the characters in Tremors 3, but that's about it. I actually like the characters in every Tremors movie. Unlike a lot of horrors where people tend to make dumb decisions, or there's always one wildcard who puts everyone else in jeopardy, everyone in the Tremors movies are creative, brave, resourceful and all contribute their own unique skills. Fighting off Graboids, Shriekers and Ass Blasters is always a coordinated team effort.

But that's about it. After sitting through this I just feel this movie lost the heart and soul of Tremors. The practical effects are by far the worst in the entire series. Everything looks and feels like a fake movie set. The animatronics look like they were pulled straight out of a budget theme park.

Worth Watching?

Hard pass on this one. Maybe it could be good for somebody looking for a super duper casual horror (more annoying tame words for an annoyingly tame movie). Or, of course, for somebody looking for a movie you can watch with young kids who can't handle PG-13's.

Tremors 3: Back to Perfection Review (2001) Worth Watching? - ALL HORROR Tweet it