Tremors 5: Bloodlines

Tremors 5: Bloodlines is a horror monster movie released straight to video, directed by Don Michael Paul and produced by Ogden Gavanski. It came out on October 6, 2015, as the fifth installment in the Tremors series. The film arrived 11 years after Tremors 4: The Legend Begins and was intended by Universal Pictures to reboot the franchise. It marked the first entry not involving Stampede Entertainment, the production company founded by the series’ original writing team; Universal kept all creative control for itself.

In the plot, Burt Gummer, now hosting his own survivalist web series, and his new cameraman Travis Welker are hired by South African Wildlife Ministry agents Erick Van Wyk and Johan Dreyer to handle Ass-Blasters in South Africa. After flying there, Burt befriends pilot Den Bravers. South African gun laws lead to Burt’s heavy weapons being confiscated, so Erick provides a small collection of guns that Burt considers too weak. The team sets up at an animal refuge, where Travis befriends a girl named Amahle and falls for her mother, Dr. Nandi Montabu, sparking rivalry with a local named Baruti. Two paleontologists find a fossilized Graboid but are eaten. Investigating, Burt realizes it’s a different breed. During a tribal dance, a refugee worker named Thaba is taken by an Ass-Blaster. Burt evacuates the refuge and, with Erick and Dreyer, finds the creature in a cave. Burt kills it, but its fall kills Dreyer. Discovering Ass-Blasters have laid Graboid eggs, Erick reveals himself as a poacher planning to sell them. He locks Burt in a cage and leaves with the eggs. Travis frees Burt the next day; their truck breaks down, and they walk back. They find Erick’s crashed truck and a massive Graboid with detachable tentacles, which Burt calls “The Queen Bitch.” Burt shoots the tentacles, but the Queen Bitch eats Erick. Burt sends Travis to destroy the nest with a grenade while he contacts Den. Travis kills an Ass-Blaster but fails to destroy the nest. Den arrives and uses his helicopter’s rockets to destroy it. Den helps repair their truck. Driving back, Travis reveals he is Burt’s son from a one-night stand 40 years earlier. At the refuge, Nandi, Amahle, and Baruti kill several Ass-Blasters and a Graboid. They discover Amahle is hiding a Graboid egg, which attracts the creatures. During an attack, Amahle wanders off with the egg.