Scarecrow's Blog From the Darkside

Burt is in a precarious situation ***½ / ***** My daughter was excited about watching the entire Tremors franchise, and some of the films I haven't watched in a while. I mentioned in my Letterboxd review that this was the first time I've watched Aftershocks since 1996. I was fed up with my brother, tired of his shit, and left home at 18 to get an apartment. As a teenager, when the woman renting the apartment to me mentioned HBO had never been turned off, I was giddy so say the least. And Aftershocks was regularly on HBO at the time. I mentioned in a previous review for the first Tremors on my Letterboxd account that it was a mainstay throughout my teenage years of the 90s, always on in some format or available to me. This sequel, though, is actually quite a lot of fun if unnecessary. With Bacon and McEntire otherwise occupied (the former in another film production and the latter on a music tour), the sequel feels "less than" but has plenty going for it. The last ti

*** / **** In 1958 Sacramento, Blue (Siemaszko) loses her horn playing jazz musician father (Tom Skerritt, taking some cash for little screen time) to heroin overdose/car crash and has no future or home, lured into call girl brothel life by a persuasive (in more ways than one) madam, Elle (Wendy Hughes), capitalizing on her poverty and desperation. But this life just isn’t for Blue, even as she tries to adapt and survive, eventually receiving help from Elle’s bodyguard and groundskeeper, Sully (Davi, in one of his nicest and surprisingly warm performances/roles) when a terrible senator (Christopher McDonald; who else?!) wants to abuse her in a stag film. Can Blue truly get away from Elle, who is quite invested in her ability to bring a lot of clients and profit? Will Sully even be capable of stopping her? The film includes Josh (Brent Fraser), the high school quarterback, as Blue’s love interest, and bar owner, Jules (Warhol alum, Dallesandro), who is so contemptible and sleazy he agre