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  • Widescreen 1.85:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
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  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
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  • 3 Theatrical trailer
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Tremors 3: Back to Perfection
Universal/Universal . R4 . COLOR . 100 mins . M15+ . PAL

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Those pesky dirt cruising Graboids return in this second sequel to original cult fave, Tremors. The town of Perfection has embraced the notoriety of the Graboids for their tourist dollars, even though there hasn’t been a sighting in yonks. Coincidently, when Burt Gummer makes his way back into town, so do the nasties.

But they’ve evolved again (the Graboids, not the townsfolk) moving up from Graboid, to Shreikers and now to, are you ready for this?... AssBlasters! Yep, you heard me, AssBlasters. Sounding like a product you buy from those late night infomercials presented by desperate for publicity celebrities ("The Burt Reynold’s AssBlaster will have you losing pounds through your ass in only 30 minutes a day! And best of all, the compact design means it can fold away for convenient storage in your rectum for those long trips!") these new and improved flatulent beasts can fly by firing, er, something, out of their butts. So, once again the locals have to arm themselves, look to the skies and be ready to fight for their survival. And just as they're about to go and kick butt-blowing butt, the government steps in and makes things even more complicated...

With really crap CGI, bad puppets that sometimes looks like a hand in a sock, hambone acting to do a 6th grade Easter pageant proud and a ridiculous central concept, all signs point to Tremors 3 being a stupid waste of time, not suprisingly released onto rental only DVD. But lo and behold – it’s actually quiet good in a cheesy, cheap B-movie sci-fi kind of way. It's quite funny at times, the bad effects suit the film perfectly, you just don't care that they look shoddy. Best of all is Michael Gross, who plays character Burt Gummer to perfection (yeah, okay, the pun was intended). He has a heap of fun with his survivalist gun nut character and is easily the best thing about the film. It's hard to believe this is the same guy who other than the Tremors films is most famous for being Michael J. Fox’s dad on television series Family Ties. I think he knows that this is about as good as it will ever get for him and has a lot of fun with some great lines and cool hardware.

  Video
  Audio
  Extras
Contract

Tremors 3 has a surprisingly good looking picture with plenty of clear detail and punchy colours. The picture is framed in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, which I can only assume is correct, considering that it was never released theatrically. This DVD also sees it come with 16:9 enhancement, which is good to see. If you go into this one with low expectations for the video quality, you'll be pleasantly surprised. The clarity is high, detail for all the various settings such as the many shots of desert or semi-desert locations come up fine, and the night scenes are clear if only a little flat looking at times.

The audio track is in 5.1, but there's not terribly much occuring in the surrounds. The soundstage is biased towards the front with very minimal surround use, but at least the dialogue always remains perfectly clear regardless of what's happening on screen, and the sound effects sound good, if sometimes a little lacking in oomph. Not so much a complaint though, more just that it seems a little underwhelming when I think the film probably could have used some "over-the-topness" to add to the fun.

Extras are brief - there are cast and crew bios, production notes, trailers for all three films in the series and a Spotlight on Location which is about as good as these things ever get.

So, now with a retail release if you want to see this most recent instalment in the Tremors franchise you now have the option to rent OR buy it - or you don't. I say give it a go, because it's not half as bad as you might expect and if you're a fan of the films then it's silly not to check it out.


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  •   And I quote...
    "Somehow, crap CG + bad acting + stupid story = fun. Go figure."
    - Vince Carrozza
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