MCA Home EntertainmentEverything about Tremors 2: Aftershocks screamed straight-to-video. The original’s leading man, Kevin Bacon, had decided that depicting a monumental space mission (Apollo 13) was more worthy of his time than fighting subterranean super-worms. As a result, studio execs reportedly slashed the budget to a measly $4 million and moved the setting from the Australian outback to a Mexican oilfield. And when the project looked destined to be buried deeper than its villainous Graboids, screenwriter S.S. Wilson reportedly offered to direct the film for free. Yet despite events conspiring against it, a second gleefully deranged B-movie throwback emerged.Shot in 1994 but released two years later, the troubled sequel did get to grace a handful of big screens, receiving a limited international release and premiering domestically at California’s Alfred Hitchcock Theater. But the vast majority of viewers would have happened upon Tremors 2 the same way they did the box office flop Tremors — scouring the shelves of the local video rental store.Perhaps sensing the need to command attention from the outset, Wilson wastes little time thrusting audiences back into the monstrous world. Before a single word has been spoken, a poor oil worker has been mercilessly hunted and devoured by one of the burrowing creatures that previously tormented the Nevada desert town of Perfection. Step forward Fred Ward’s grizzled handyman-turned-killing machine.Earl Bassett is in a very different place several years on, having wasted all his money on an ostrich farm whose ostriches appear to have taken a vow of celibacy. But he’s handed a financial lifeline when oil baron Carlos Ortega (Marcelo Tubert) asks him to return to his Graboid-hunting ways, offering $50,000 for each monster dead and twice the amount for each alive.Earl doesn’t have to do things alone, however. He’s joined by mechanic Pedro (José Rosario), geologist Kate (Helen Shaver) — given far more agency than the usual token woman — and her right-hand man, Julio (Marco Hernandez). And then there’s Grady (Christopher Gartin), Ortega’s taxi driver, who manages to hitch himself to the mission through a mildly annoying combination of excitable persistence and elite fanboying.Earl meets his biggest fan. | MCA Home EntertainmentYes, Scream wasn’t the only meta film of 1996. We soon learn that the events of Tremors have been capitalized on via shameless merchandising, with everything from comic books to arcade games now emblazoned with the Graboids and their hunters’ faces. Not that Earl has seen a cent of it, judging by how he reacts to Julio’s assumption that the shoot-em-up royalties alone must have put him in the one percent.Earl tries to claw back some of this money with the help of his overly enthusiastic sidekick and some explosive-filled remote-controlled cars before acknowledging he may need some extra assistance. Cue Burt Gummer (Michael Gross), the gun-toting survivalist who answers the call in a concrete man-cave filled with war memorabilia, wall-mounted stuffed Graboids, and enough firearms to supply an army.Wounded by the departure of his ex-wife (Reba McEntire, another no-show due to touring commitments), Burt is even more unhinged the second time around. "You know [Heather] blames our problems on the collapse of the Soviet Union? Said I was too hard to live with. Said I couldn't handle life without the threat of global war." Still, he proves invaluable in the fight against a new species of self-replicating, overground mutants dubbed Shriekers.Indeed, Burt repeatedly saves the day, albeit in unorthodox ways. See how he covers himself in fire extinguisher foam to evade the body heat-detecting creatures in the literally explosive finale. And Gross, previously best known as the dependable dad in Family Ties, is clearly having a blast delivering lines like “I am completely out of ammo. That's never happened to me before.”Michael Gross as the franchise’s ultimate gun-slinging nutjob. | MCA Home EntertainmentEarl also gets his fair share of zingers, most of which are aimed at his new partner-in-crime as their mismatched buddy duo evolves from hostility (“Who are you, and why are you so dumb?”) and dismissiveness (“How bout Loony World,” he ponders after Grady announces plans to open up a Graboid-inspired theme park) to, eventually, mutual respect.Tremors 2 handles its human relationships as effectively as the action-packed set pieces and practical effects, which, despite the lack of funds, have aged far better than many of the decade’s CGI fests. The refreshingly age-appropriate Earl and Kate have a natural chemistry, too, which makes their journey from mild flirtation to first date feel well-earned. And there’s an amusing camaraderie between the main survivors, which leaves you wanting more once all the critters are blown into smithereens.Sadly, Gross was the only actor ever to head back to a franchise that veered off, with diminishing returns, into private islands, the Canadian Arctic, and a 19th-century mining town. While everything that followed merited the Blockbuster bargain bucket, this joyous second chapter deserved the full popcorn experience.Tremors 2: Aftershocks is available for rent on Prime Video.