HALLOWEEN HANGOVER: TREMORS: SHRIEKER ISLAND (2020) *

A billionaire big game hunter (31’s Richard Brake) is making a killing on his secluded island where people are willing to pay top dollar to hunt bioengineered Graboids.  He doesn’t realize that when the Graboids reproduce, they turn into pint-sized, two-legged “Shriekers”.  Naturally, it’s up to survival nut/Graboid killer Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) to save the day. 

Tremors:  Shrieker Island is the seventh entry in the Tremors franchise.  Seven was not this series’ lucky number, that’s for sure.  Remember back to Part 2?  That one was a fun variation on Jurassic Park as the newly mutated worms ran around like sawed-off raptors.  This one is a lot more blatant in its inspiration.  Not only does it rip off Jurassic Park, but it also shamelessly lifts from Predator too.  It’s one thing to mimic the infrared POV hunting shots from that movie.  It’s another thing to have a character say, “Hey!  That’s just like Predator!”  It’s as if the film’s bar is set so low, they have to spoon feed the audience the references.  (There’s even a character who uses a big ass gun not unlike the one Jesse Ventura had in Predator.)

The lone good idea was getting Richard Brake to play the megalomaniacal hunter villain.  Unfortunately, he’s not given much to work with.  He chews the scenery pretty well, but the lines just sort of hang there because his dialogue is so clunky and poorly written.

Gross looks slightly less enthusiastic than usual.  I’m not saying he phones it in or anything, but there’s a noticeable lack of glee in his eyes when he’s hunting the Graboids this time around.  It doesn’t help that he’s saddled with the irritating Jon Heder for a sidekick.  Jamie Kennedy wasn’t a terrible partner in crime for the past two movies, but Heder is downright insufferable.  You have to wonder how many people said no to the role before he said yes.  Maybe if he stayed in character as Napoleon Dynamite it would’ve been slightly better, although I highly doubt it. 

Don Michael Paul’s uninspired direction is the final nail in the proverbial coffin.  The lackluster action sequences coupled with the insipid humor makes this by far the worst in the series.  The pacing is stagnant too as the film slogs from one inert set piece to the other.  Also, there was no reason this needed to be 102 freakin’ minutes long. 

What’s worse is they foolishly try to give the film some dramatic weight at the end, which fails spectacularly.  Whatever potential for drama the scene had is squandered as it lands with a big old thud.  I mean, you can’t have your first ninety minutes be that bad and then expect us to actually care what happens in the final reel.  The fact they REDACTED makes it that much more infuriating. 

In short, Tremors:  Shrieker Island is nothing to shriek about.  Hopefully, this will be the final rodeo for the franchise.  Something tells me Universal will somehow worm another sequel out of this series in the not too distant future.