The Correct Order To Watch The Tremors Movies

Ron Underwood's 1990 monster flick "Tremors" is one of the better horror films of its decade and kicked off a long-running entertainment franchise that includes seven films and a 2003 TV series. It also provided horror aficionados with one of the most indelible heroes the genre has ever seen in Burt Gummer (Michael Gross), a violent, gun-toting survivalist who somehow comes across as decent, caring, and lovable. Burt Gummer was only a supporting character in the first "Tremors," but became the series' central protagonist in "Tremors 3." Gross remained devoted to the series until its end in 2020.

The monsters in "Tremors" were novel and awesome. Nicknamed Graboids, the monsters were outsize, blind, subterranean worm creatures that could burrow at amazing speeds. They were each possessed of three snake-like tongues that could pop up from the ground and grab potential victims. They sensed their prey by listening to footsteps and vibrations, leading to many amazing sequences wherein human characters had to do whatever they could to stay off the ground. The first "Tremors" plays like a very high-stakes game of The Floor is Lava.

In subsequent sequels, the Graboid lifecycle would be expanded to include over-ground, two-legged babies called Shriekers, as well as flying flaming fart bats called Ass-Blasters. The sequels all went straight-to-video and they each had much smaller budgets than their theatrical forebear, but the "Tremors" movies were never less than wholly appealing, and Burt Gummer is a hero who deserves to be mentioned in the same sentence as Ash from the "Evil Dead" pictures.

If one wants to marathon through the "Tremors" movies, here is a handy-dandy list one can use as a reference.

Here are the movies and the TV series in their proper order:

• "Tremors" (1990)
• "Tremors 2: Aftershocks" (1996)
• "Tremors 3: Back to Perfection" (2001)
• "Tremors" the TV series (2003)
• "Tremors 4: The Legend Begins" (2004)
• "Tremors 5: Bloodlines" (2015)
• "Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell" (2018)
• "Tremors: Shrieker Island" (2020)

The TV series also stars Michael Gross and is canonical with the movies, taking place after the events of "Back to Perfection." The show was hated by the sci-fi community because of a rumor that it was being made specifically to replace the fan-favorite "Farscape" (which was not the case). It was also filmed in the same location as "Titanic," with that film's sets being destroyed to make way for its production. Don't resent "Tremors" for this, though. Those sets were going to be eventually destroyed no matter what.

"The Legend Begins" is a prequel Western set in 1889 and follows a mild-mannered ancestor of Burt Gummer named Hiram (also played by Michael Gross). "Bloodlines" features the long-lost son of Burt Gummer and reimagines the character as the host of a "Crocodile Hunter"-like reality TV series about Graboids. "A Cold Day in Hell" was meant to take place in the snow, but it seems that the filmmakers' chosen location wasn't snowy enough at the time of shooting, so they just went with a cold mountain locale. In "Shrieker Island," Burt meets a noble, sad fate.

Most of the "Tremors" movies feature a strong ensemble of colorful, interesting human characters, a notion introduced in the original. The tone throughout is always light, often bordering on the comedic.

The first "Tremors" is a modern classic, but the sequels are all largely enjoyable. They can be rented from various online video stores and the TV show is on Tubi.

Get cracking.