“I’m a masterpiece of self destruction.”

After destroying a Shrieker infestation in Argentina Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) returns to his home in Perfection, Nevada. Chang’s store is now being run by his niece Jodi (Susan Chuang). The town has a new resident, Desert Jack Sawyer (Shawn Christian), who runs mock Graboid attack tours. The town’s early warning system for Graboids, put in by Burt, is in disrepair due to neglect. And the Graboids are back.

Burt has determined that there are three Graboids in the valley. He is ready and willing to go on the hunt when government agents show up. Charlie Rusk (John Pappas) and Frank Statler (Tom Everett) along with paleontologist Dr. Andrew Merliss (Barry Livingston) have declared Graboids an endangered species and refuse to let Burt hunt them. They want to capture one for study. They state that if they can not catch a Graboid they will use eminent domain to take over the valley. Jack comes up with a plan. If the agents let Burt catch one for them, they will let Burt kill the other two.

While Burt and Jack look for Graboids, agents Rusk and Statler along with Dr. Merliss look on their own in another part of the valley. Burt and Jack’s run in with a Graboid results in Burt being swallowed whole by it. Jack lures it to Burt’s compound where it runs into the cement barrier and kills itself. Burt is then rescued when Jack takes a chainsaw to the animal and frees Burt from its insides. One Graboid down. The agents on the other hand run into a problem when the Graboid they are chasing “gives birth” so to speak and Shriekers are released. The Shriekers having killed the agents are now running loose in the valley. The final Graboid is christened El Blanco. He appears to be sterile since he did not give birth to any Shriekers. For the moment, he is the least of their problems.

Things start changing again. Something happens to the Shriekers. They molt. When they do they become winged monsters that propel themselves with stomach acids that when expelled out their butts blast them into the air allowing them to fly. Hence, Ass-Blasters.

"Tremors 3: Back to Perfection" was released in 2001 and directed by Brent Maddock. This is where we go from far fetched to down right silly. Of course it’s worse than Tremors 2 which was worse than Tremors 1 but by now people are just into the Graboids, the Shriekers and now the Ass-blasters but not anything else. They don’t care about the plot or the acting or the dialogue. The camp factor is rising and so is Michael Gross’s over acting but for fans of the franchise its perfect. I can’t begrudge them. I have my addictions too.

The only Shriekers shown are those in the beginning of the movie. Due to pacing and budget issues any other Shrieker action is off screen. The Ass-blasters are the stars and you gotta show off your stars. Several actors from the first Tremors movie return. Burt, Miguel, Mindy and Nancy reprise their characters. Melvin has a small part. This time he has a last name. Michael Gross’s sister Mary has a bit part. This is the first time CGI is used for Graboids. Previously all Graboids were puppets. I prefer the puppets.

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