Tremors: Shrieker Island (2020)

(On Cable TV, March 2021) While it is a truth universally acknowledged that the first Tremors is an all-time monster horror/comedy, few will disagree that its sequels were terrible. Expectations for Shrieker Island were accordingly low… which may serve to explain why this seventh entry is actually… not too bad? Of course, we’re still grading on a curve here: “not too bad” may be as modest as holding our attention for the running time and have a few set-pieces along the way. Here, the film seems to take its cues from Kong Island by moving the production to Thailand and then pumping up the creatures to skyscraper height. Michael Gross is back as series protagonist Burt Gummer, and he’s actually one of the best parts of the film — taken out of retirement to investigate creatures on a tropical island with rich game hunters. Time will tell if Shrieker Island ends up being as concluding an instalment as it’s meant to be, but to its credit, the film plays that moment absolutely straight, as if there would never be another movie. The CGI-fuelled action beats are limited by a budget, but generally allow for some acceptable action sequences, and the amount of worldbuilding around Grummer’s status as a monster-hunting legend is not bad. It doesn’t make Shrieker Island any more than a monster film, but it’s not unwatchable, and that’s roughly all we’re asking for.