10 Worst Sci-Fi Movie Prequels

Tremors truly is the cockroach of the movie world, given that the modest success of the 1990 original sci-fi horror-comedy would've led few to believe it'd still be clinging to life 30 years later, with the seventh film, Tremors: Shrieker Island, due to release later this year.

And to be fair, the franchise as a whole is hardly awful, largely thanks to the continued involvement of Michael Gross, the only actor to have appeared in all seven films, having been upgraded from an initial supporting player to flat-out lead once Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward bailed.

But not even Gross' presence as gun-totting survivalist Burt Gummer can save franchise prequel Tremors 4: The Legend Begins, because Gross is instead forced to play Gummer's great-grandfather Hiram.

Though the Wild West-set concept had potential enough, Hiram makes for an uninteresting Burt substitute, while the movie's depressingly low action quotient and generally uninspired origin story make it feel wholly undercooked.

As amusing as the idea of a western-themed Tremors movie is, The Legends Begins doesn't even begin to take full advantage.