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Post by Crowfan on Aug 4, 2015 18:56:11 GMT -5
Area 51. Reed, Darren, and Ben go to a party. Reid hooks up with a girl, but suddenly he disappears, and nobody at the party has seen him. Darren and Ben decide to leave since they think that Reed is w ith the girl. But on the way home, they find Reid, and he's different and weird. He's obsessed with UFO's and going to Area 51. He claims that the Area 51 is pulling at him, and he is missing memories and time. So, he convinces his friends to go with him. Reed meets Jelena, a young woman who's father worked at the base. She has her father's things in storage so she takes the guys there. Once there, they find, maps, time sheets, pictures, and other things. Reed decides that he really has to to go Area 51. He convinces his friends to come along, and they manage to sneak into the base, and find what the government is protecting us from. These aliens are definitely not like ET. Spooky and recommended.
Greetings. This is a British horror movie about a young couple moving into a house and inviting friends over for a housewarming party. The friends find an old table that is actually a Ouija board, and of course, they play with it. Creepy stuff starts to happen, but the friends blame each other at first, until really unexplainable spooky stuff starts to happen. They realize that they are dealing with a very evil spirit. This starts off slowly, but it builds the tension that way. Recommended.
The Lake On Clinton Road. After watching an online video about the haunted Clinton Road, six friends from Massachusetts head to the Jersey shore to see if it's real or not. They stay in a cabin, but they are not alone. This is pretty creepy. Recommended.
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Post by nondescript spice on Aug 15, 2015 17:02:20 GMT -5
tusk - 2014
i believe this is kevin smith's first attempt at horror - saw it last night. i think it went straight to video.
kevin smith has made some funny movies - clerks will always hold a special place in my heart for when i was still in my 20's and smoking a LOT of weed. i liked chasing amy, dogma, etc. but tusk. wow.
justin long plays wallace, an-a*shole podcaster who makes cruel fun of others for ratings with his best friend, teddy, played by the I See Dead People kid, all grown up now. he goes to canada for an interview that falls through (kind of hilariously) and stumbles across an eccentric old man played damn well by michael parks, who is willing to tell wallace about his many adventures in his creepy big house in the middle of nowhere.
but there is a hidden agenda in that the old guy has a big desire to turn wallace into a walrus. wtf, right? though there are creepy elements to tusk, some very subtle and well done, the premise is so ridiculously absurd that you can't completely lose yourself in any spare horror.
kevin smith is known for his witty, snappy writing about pop culture, and the first half of the movie feels like a kevin smith movie. but as you get deeper into the story, which is stretched a bit too long, imo, you can't decide if you should be creeped out or just laugh your ass off - but not a laughing with you, but AT you kind of way.
it's a good bad movie. kind of smacks of the human centipede or boxing helena. you'll never look at a walrus the same way again, that's for sure. and it proves one more time that you can't trust creepy old men that live out in the middle of nowhere, especially in canada.
oh, there is a surprise cameo near the end that was a cool surprise. and i am not talking about silent bob's friend, jay.
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Post by Mod City on Aug 18, 2015 12:21:40 GMT -5
Looper (2012)From Wikipedia, because I'm too lazy to come up with my own description: Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Joe - and in the course of his work, he is faced with the duty of closing his own loop when his older self, played by Bruce Willis, appears for execution. What follows is a story of young Joe coming to grips with his responsibility to the syndicate, himself, his future self and the needs of another character and her son, against whom old Joe has a personal vendetta to execute himself. It's a twisty time-travel tale, even though there isn't really that much time travel in it. Despite many of the potential pitfalls in such a story, the film handles time travel as well as any other movie, such as the Terminator series or 12 Monkeys (another Bruce Willis flick). I liked it as much for Gordon-Levitt's portrayal of a younger Bruce Willis as anything. He apparently had some prosthetics applied to make him resemble Willis more, and he studied Willis' voice mannerisms to sound more like him. It's quite effective - you can tell he's supposed to be Bruce Willis before Willis ever shows up in the movie. It reminded me of River Phoenix's portrayal of a young Indiana Jones in the Last Crusade. Phoenix based his mannerisms on Harrison Ford instead of Indiana Jones specifically, and you can just hear Ford in his speech patterns. It works on the same level here, especially when Gordon-Levitt and Willis share the screen. I checked this out out of curiosity about the director, Rian Johnson, who is set to direct the second new Star Wars movie after JJ Abrams. It's solidly-made and smartly-written, even if some of the premise is spread a little thin, so it was an encouraging peek at what could be in store for that series. I also have access to Brick, Johnson's film debut, and I know I should check that out as well. In that same vein, I'm curious about the works of Scott Derrickson, who is set to direct the Marvel movie Doctor Strange. He's known mostly for modern horror flicks - a genre of which I'm not a big fan - so I don't know his work well outside the big-budget dud The Day The Earth Stood Still. Anyone out there familiar with his movies have any recommendations on his best work? I have high hopes for that movie so I'm looking to up my confidence in the filmmaker responsible for it.
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Post by Crowfan on Aug 19, 2015 14:29:56 GMT -5
The Lazarus Effect. A group of scientists led by Frank and his fiance Zoe have found a way to bring the dead back to life. They experiment on pigs and then they bring back a dog named Rocky who had been put down because he had cataracts and was blind. Unfortunately for Frank, the project is going to be shut down because the university he works for pulls the grant. Doing one final experiment, Zoe is electrocuted and Frank and the others bring her back to life. The problem is when she came back, she comes back with something evil in her. Pretty creepy. Recommended
Unfriended. A group of friends is chatting online one evening, and they have an uninvited guest to the chat. It's the year anniversary of a prank the group pulled, which led to a girl named Laura Barns to kill herself. One year later, it seems that Laura is back for revenge. I like this movie, although I've heard that it's one you either like or hate, based on the fact the actors are only shown on their computers while they chat with each other. Recommended.
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Post by nondescript spice on Aug 19, 2015 21:10:08 GMT -5
^there's a picture from tusk. it's still in my head, so i'm sharing the love.
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Post by Crowfan on Aug 20, 2015 5:25:45 GMT -5
Redbox has that movie and I think I saw a copy of it at the library too.
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Post by Mighty Jack on Aug 22, 2015 3:43:25 GMT -5
I remember reading an article about the most disturbing scenes in movies on the year, and Tusk made the list. They have it at my library, but do I really feel like being disturbed?
Torment (Swedish: Hets) 1944 Yo, Chicken, if you're out there, have you seen this one? I liked it quite a bit. It's Ingmar Bergman's first produced screenplay and it's a coming of age drama about a sadistic a-hole of a teacher who puts his student's through hell. One of those student's falls for a troubled girl... who is also being tormented by this rat bastard. Considering that I found school a hellish experience, this was right up my alley! Alf Sjöberg was the director, but when the studio wanted a different ending, and he wasn't available to shoot it, Bergman did the honors. It was his first directorial effort.
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Post by SoCalChevy on Aug 23, 2015 0:23:07 GMT -5
Just finished re-watching "Unforgiven", one of my all-time favorite westerns. Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, and Gene Hackman all acted very well. I liked that no one was entirely good or bad. I also thought the "Duck of Death" bit was funny
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Sept 11, 2015 16:51:54 GMT -5
My internets are back up and running after a long summer, so I guess I'll update on the blockbusters I've seen in the meantime. Mad Max: Fury Road - Way to put that Fast and Furious franchise to shame, George Miller. Now if only Happy Feet Two had this much effort in it, I'd have infinite more belief in you. Effectively washes out the aftertaste of Beyond Thunderdome though. Tomorrowland - The reaction to this film reminded me of the opening to The Simpsons Movie: "Now we'd like to say a few words about the ENVIRONMENT!" "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! PREACHY!" The fact that any movie with a message such as this can be met with such venom is a sad commentary on our society, and not really the film itself (which I thought was perfectly fine, though not one of Bird's better efforts). I do agree it's at its strongest during its first two acts, then kind of sputters toward the end, but I have no beef with the film nor the message. At least as far as movies based on Disneyland rides, it's a hell of a lot better than any of those godawful Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Jurassic World - Well done fourth entry makes up for the foul mark of Jurassic Park III, though it doesn't quite reach Spielberg's high marks of the first two, which played suspense like a musical instrument. JW doesn't really have any suspense during its entire runtime, though it's monster battle royale climax delivers. Enjoyed my trip back to these movies from my youth, though I had very little desire to watch the movie a second time after it ended. Seems as if millions of people disagreed with that assessment though. Inside Out - Best. Movie. Of the year. And Pixar's best movie ever (beating out my old fav, The Incredibles). This emotional rollercoaster of a movie has everything and packs more punch than even the loudest of action movies this year. Terminator: Genisys - This critical punching bag is better than most are giving it credit for, as most are just rallying behind "Why bother?" than objectively watching the movie itself. The movie is fairly mediocre on its own terms though (still a right shade better than Salvation). The film is interesting during its first half, and grows tiresome with dimwitted twists during the second, and finally just kind of collapses dead in the climax from indecision of how to properly continue itself (the twist to Arnold's Terminator surviving the end was ridiculous). Turn your bran off entertainment. Maggie - Schwarzenegger's other movie this year is the better of the two. It's a quiet indy drama. About zombies. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. I love describing it. But you know those people in zombie movies who are unable to let go of the zombie's previous identities and can only see them as human beings? This is a story told from their perspective. And it's superbly done. Minions - Saw this movie for free with a pass I received after my theater screwed up their showing of the Sharknado 2 live show, and it was pretty much exactly what I expected: a plotless exorcise in throwing the Minions around into random situations and listening to their yammering for 90 minutes. Mileage will vary on how much you tolerate the little guys. I love them, so I have no regrets. Ant-Man - Marvel Studio's biggest behind the scenes disaster turns out fairly decent. What results is a fun movie that mostly feels like it was made out of obligation out of devotion to a release date, and it seems like its meaning and vision left with the (far more talented) director that bailed on the project. Enjoyable movie, but the worst of Marvel's phase 2 (not accounting for Agents of SHIELD...and it's still better than Iron Man 2). Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation - Hell yes. Now this is a bloody good action movie. I don't know how Tom Cruise does it, but ever since the lackluster Mission: Impossible 2 he has been constantly finding the booster shot this franchise needs to continue. And Rogue Nation may very well be the best one of the franchise. The action scenes start with spectacle (the much advertised plane scene is the first sequence in the movie) and slowly gets darker and the action gets grittier as it goes on. It's a beautiful ballet of tone, and one I can't wait to watch again. Fantastic Four - HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...woooooooooooooooooooooooooooow. That's what I get for giving this movie the benefit of the doubt. Moving on. The Man from UNCLE - Mostly fun diversion that doesn't really do much particularly well nor fairly standard. Never seen the series (I'm mostly a M:I or Get Smart kind of guy when it comes to 60s spy stories), but the movie did make me casually interested if I ever have the chance. San Andreas - Most of my coworkers mocked me for not seeing this when it came out, so I watched it last week at a dollar theater. I feel as if it was overpriced by about fifty cents. This is one of those disaster movies where the main characters are seemingly running a pre-determined invisible line where the disaster is NOT going to be, while just about everyone dies around them. There is barely any excitement because it rarely ever feels as if the protagonists are in danger. The small exception to this is the daughter character, as the film goes to more lengths to put her in danger because she's the movie's MacGuffin, and because she's the MacGuffin we all know that she CAN'T die anyway. Kudos for a scene involving rubble and a car, as well as a centerpiece scene involving a tsunami, but the rest is garbage no matter how large every woman's breasts are and how much they jiggle during the earthquakes. tusk - 2014 i believe this is kevin smith's first attempt at horror - saw it last night. i think it went straight to video. It's his second. His first was called Red State, which was a horror-action-thriller based on the Westboro Baptist Church. He even tried to get the Westboro people to view the film but they walked out of the film after a few minutes, which the head of the group "what's-her-name" (don't care to give these people attention so I didn't bother to look it up) turned to him and said "Kevin, this is DISGUSTING." He claims it's his favorite review he received for the film. Tusk is such an odd movie when you first watch it, but if you have the blu-ray they include one of Smith's webisodes where the movie was conceived. After listening to it, the movie makes a hell of a lot more sense.
In that same vein, I'm curious about the works of Scott Derrickson, who is set to direct the Marvel movie Doctor Strange. He's known mostly for modern horror flicks - a genre of which I'm not a big fan - so I don't know his work well outside the big-budget dud The Day The Earth Stood Still. Anyone out there familiar with his movies have any recommendations on his best work? I have high hopes for that movie so I'm looking to up my confidence in the filmmaker responsible for it. I've only seen The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Deliver Us From Evil. I remember liking Emily Rose when it came out but I haven't seen it in a while, though I thought Deliver Us From Evil was mediocre. Edit: D'oh, forgot he directed The Day the Earth Stood Still remake and one of those DTV Hellraiser movies. Don't remember much about either though, but I remember liking the visuals of Day the Earth Stood Still. But I guess that means the only movie of his I haven't seen is Sinister, so I've seen most of his filmography and never realized it.
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Post by Mod City on Sept 12, 2015 18:23:07 GMT -5
Edit: D'oh, forgot he directed The Day the Earth Stood Still remake and one of those DTV Hellraiser movies. Don't remember much about either though, but I remember liking the visuals of Day the Earth Stood Still. But I guess that means the only movie of his I haven't seen is Sinister, so I've seen most of his filmography and never realized it. Yeah I didn't hate The Day The Earth Stood Still, but it didn't thrill me, either. I'm not exactly sure what made Marvel think of him to direct Doctor Strange, but I didn't get the James Gunn hire for Guardians of the Galaxy, either, and that turned out great. Thanks for the input, Torgo
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Post by Mod City on Sept 12, 2015 18:44:27 GMT -5
Interstellar
Spoilers ahead.
I'm really not a big Christopher Nolan fan. I think his Dark Knight stuff is overrated (I haven't liked the film franchise since the Michael Keaton days), though I did really enjoy Memento. I've never seen Inception, either, so I guess I'm a bit behind.
This was actually pretty good, though. Great ideas, even if the science gets stretched a bit (from what I've read, anyway). Really nice performances overall, and it really looks nice. I saw it on regular DVD, but I'll bet Blu-Ray is excellent. Or in the theater, wow, just thinking about that makes me want to see it on the big screen.
With all the talk about gravity in the movie, I was taken back to the recent film Gravity, which I really liked, and thought about how the two could actually make nice companion pieces for each other. There is a thread of the need for human connection and love that runs through both films, and in both it's the vital piece of the puzzle that gets our heroes home.
Another thing I kind of enjoyed, though kind of trivial, were the similarities to other movies. The demonstration about wormholes with the paper and the pen is almost identical to the way its demonstrated in Event Horizon. Additionally, Event Horizon deals greatly with black holes and traveling to new dimensions and also features a character named Cooper (who, along with a female crew member, is one of only two survivors of the incident in the movie, just as Cooper and Brand are the only two survivors of the incident in Interstellar).
Either way, I ended up liking it a lot. It's a little slow early on, but never boring.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Sept 13, 2015 16:29:55 GMT -5
Edit: D'oh, forgot he directed The Day the Earth Stood Still remake and one of those DTV Hellraiser movies. Don't remember much about either though, but I remember liking the visuals of Day the Earth Stood Still. But I guess that means the only movie of his I haven't seen is Sinister, so I've seen most of his filmography and never realized it. Yeah I didn't hate The Day The Earth Stood Still, but it didn't thrill me, either. I'm not exactly sure what made Marvel think of him to direct Doctor Strange, but I didn't get the James Gunn hire for Guardians of the Galaxy, either, and that turned out great. Thanks for the input, Torgo I imagine he had a pitch that excited them. And with his background in horror, they probably see visual potential with him. That's my theory anyway. If you look at the directors Marvel has been hiring, the closest thing to a safe choice they had was Joe Johnston who did a movie similar to Captain America with The Rocketeer and had a history of blockbusters like Jumanji and Jurassic Park III. Before Iron Man, Jon Favreau's sole effects heavy film was Zathura, which was largly ignored upon release. Louis Letterier mostly had a history with Luc Besson action movies, notably the first two Transporter movies. Closest thing Kenneth Branaugh had to an effects film was Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. Joss Whedon was best known for his work on television, but his work with ensembles made him a prime candidate for the Avengers films. Shane Black's sole directing credit was Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which was an outstanding movie starring Robert Downey Jr. but hardly the first thought you'd have to take over the Iron Man franchise. Alan Taylor had mostly directed small dramas and a few acclaimed television shows including Game of Thrones. The Russo brothers previous film was You, Me, and Dupree, and were the last people I would think would be able to deliver the brilliant Winter Soldier. Peyton Reed mostly had a history of quirky comedies starring the likes of Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston, though he was at one point in his career attached to Fantastic Four. And of course there's James Gunn, one of their most outside the box choices. Bearing all that in mind, if they see something in Derrickson, I'm sure it's something special.
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Post by Who Let Servo Drive on Oct 1, 2015 15:21:50 GMT -5
Area 51. Reed, Darren, and Ben go to a party. Reid hooks up with a girl, but suddenly he disappears, and nobody at the party has seen him. Darren and Ben decide to leave since they think that Reed is w ith the girl. But on the way home, they find Reid, and he's different and weird. He's obsessed with UFO's and going to Area 51. He claims that the Area 51 is pulling at him, and he is missing memories and time. So, he convinces his friends to go with him. Reed meets Jelena, a young woman who's father worked at the base. She has her father's things in storage so she takes the guys there. Once there, they find, maps, time sheets, pictures, and other things. Reed decides that he really has to to go Area 51. He convinces his friends to come along, and they manage to sneak into the base, and find what the government is protecting us from. These aliens are definitely not like ET. Spooky and recommended. I liked it too. Interesting that it has such a low rating on IMDb. I wonder why that is. The same is true of many horror movies. Could it be that non-horror movie fans rate horror movies down? Why would they do that? I'm not a rom-com fan but I don't rate every rom-com a "1" on IMDb just for that reason. OR could it be that there's a split in the horror community itself? Between found-footage, slow burn, unknown terror fans, and gore, big scary monster you see a lot fans? I suspect this might actually be what's behind the low ratings of so many horror movies. I'll have to check those out, CF. Are they found footage?
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Post by Crowfan on Oct 1, 2015 22:06:33 GMT -5
The Lake On Clinton Road is found footage. Greetings is not. The British don't do a whole lot of found footage horror films, at least not ones I've seen, anyway.(I doubt I've seen every British horror movie ever made, so I thought I'd clarify) Both are very good and I think you'd like them
I'm not sure why many found footage films get such low ratings. I usually like them(unless the acting is so bad I start riffing on the movie), but I've heard that people are tired of the whole found footage film. I personally liked "The Gallows" which came out this summer and I saw in the theater, but I've heard lots of people didn't like it because people said they had a problem with the found footage thing.
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Torgo
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Post by Torgo on Oct 9, 2015 1:04:28 GMT -5
The greatest cinematic saga of our time delivers its long awaited latest installment this year. Star Wars? James Bond? The Avengers? Jurassic Park? No it's...
Tremors 5: Bloodlines
Yes, ladies and germs, the Tremors series is back. The motherf***ing Lord of the Rings of direct to video franchises. The long awaited fifth installment is finally here after the failure of the television series (unrightful in my book), lukewarm reception to it's "prequel" fourth entry (very rightful in my book), and false start of previously rumored installment "The Thunder from Down Under." Bloodlines is the very first film media of this franchise not to be touched by the screenwriters of the first film Brent Maddock and SS Wilson (who each took turns directing the last three films), but can the Tremors legacy live on without those who lived and breathed it from it's very conception?
Way back in 2004 after the series had ended and Tremors 4: The Legend Begins failed to adequately catch my interest I had always hoped a potential fifth film would have brought back the character from the TV show to continue the epic saga, and maybe wrap up some loose ends from the series in the process. As time went by that was obviously not going to happen. Still, I can't help but be more than a little disappointed that the new film chooses to more or less just kind of leave behind its roots. The only cast member to return is Michael Gross, who has always been somewhat of a poster boy for the series (even from under the shadows of Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward), and we only get minimal glimpses of Perfection, Nevada, the desert valley the franchise has been proud to call home. Bloodlines is not the first time the series has left Nevada, that would be Tremors II: Aftershocks which switched things up by going to Mexico, but the DNA of the first film could firmly be found in it. Bloodlines does attempt to nod to the original film with somewhat subtle touches like a familiar camera move or even the same opening title font, but the spirit of the franchise doesn't always seem to be there. It almost seems old, worn down, and beaten up, much like Gross's character of Burt Gummer himself. It kind of pains me to even consider typing those words, since Tremors has always been one of my favorite monster movie franchises, but it's a very low energy effort.
To be quite honest, the movie is a downright bore until it shows us some monster action. The first forty minutes are littered with dry, uninteresting character moments that don't exactly develop anyone, just mostly having them talk and filling up time for the sake of pushing this sucker to ninety minutes. There are also a few sloppy attempts at suspense by hiding the creatures and portraying horror through shakey, quick cut editing. Yeah, it's not scary. It's not even coherent. There was more than one moment in this movie that I had to admit to myself that I had no idea what I was seeing because of how wretched the camera work is.
When the monsters are onscreen, the movie gets a heartbeat. And they look pretty damn good too. This is probably some of the most sure-footed effects work I've ever seen for a direct to video film. And the movie does something clever by making these creatures a different race of the same species, which allows for new creature designs without adding to the already convoluted reproductive cycle of the traditional Grabiod/Shrieker/Assblaster chain. This is where the movie really starts to get traction, and even in the immediate aftermath we are treated to a rather childishly crude, but oddly hilarious montage of Burt Gummer trapped in a cage, going crazy from heat stroke, and putting his survival skills to the test. It's not classy, but it's very in tune with his character and very worthy of being part of the Tremors legacy. It all concludes with a finale that does manage to give the final beastie a gloriously over-the-top death.
But that still leaves the rest of the movie to mildly annoy us. Jamie Kennedy is here for some reason, not quite sure why. I'm assuming his character is supposed to be comic relief but he's comic relief in a self-aware horror comedy, so he's never really given anything to do that's more amusing than his surroundings. He even paraphrases one-liners from Die Hard and Predator all in the span of about sixty seconds, so I guess that's something. The acting for the most part is pretty dreadful, save for Michael Gross who slips the Burt Gummer character back on like a glove. And there's a large chested woman in tight clothing who wields a bow and arrow, which may or may not be an attempt to appeal to the Hunger Games demographic. I doubt that's going to pan out for them (but her knockers look nice in that tank top, and that ass in those shorts...okay I'll stop).
Tremors 5 isn't the glorious return the franchise deserved. It's well-meaning, I suppose. There's effort to mix the old with the new, but it never actually gels. I'll still be treasuring the first three movies and the TV series while largely ignoring the fourth. Not quite sure where this falls on my radar yet, but it might drop somewhere in between. Maybe I'll start to evaluate it more favorably if a Tremors 6 happens and the franchise starts to kick ass again.
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