With a US gross of about $16 million, 1990’s Tremors didn’t exactly break box office records. Indeed, based solely on those receipts, the $10 million film would’ve lost money.

However, Tremors found a strong following on home video. This meant that 1996 finally brought a sequel via Tremors II: Aftershocks.

Though his experiences with the subterranean monsters dubbed “graboids” made him famous, Earl Bassett (Fred Ward) failed to achieve fortune as well. Down on his luck, he reluctantly agrees to accept a high-paying assignment to hunt down the deadly critters again.

This leads Earl to Mexican territory tormented by the graboids. With new partner Grady Hoover (Christopher Gartin) and returning pal weapons-obsessed Burt Gummer (Michael Gross), Earl risks life once more to nail some creatures.

A throwback to old 1950s monster movies, the original Tremors captured lightning in a bottle. Though it should’ve turned into silly cheese, instead it delivered a fun and clever mix of comedy and adventure.

A sequel presents a challenge because Aftershocks lacks the same ability to surprise. Whereas the first film came across as a delightful homage, a second chapter can’t follow that path.

Face it: most sequels exist for monetary reasons. Nothing about Tremors pointed toward story that needed a follow-up, as it delivered a standalone tale.

Not that this means the property can’t easily find room for exploration. Indeed, it would make no sense to believe that Earl and company took down the world’s entire graboid population during the prior flick, so more monstrous adventures remain up for grabs.

I do give Aftershocks credit for its refusal to simply remake the original. That one offered more of a claustrophobic story of survival, whereas the sequel puts the characters on offense to a greater degree.

Well, for a while, at least. Eventually the film finds its handful of humans trapped in an echo of the 1990 flick, but it gives them more leeway until then.

In addition, Aftershocks finds other ways to expand the first movie’s concepts. We learn more about the graboids and discover a few twists.

So why does the end result feel so derivative and uninspiring? Perhaps this goes back to the “lightning in a bottle” concept I mentioned earlier.

Tremors balanced homage, comedy, horror and action in a manner difficult to sustain. Those behind the sequel just can’t find a way to pull off those elements again.

I think the biggest issue stems from the general lack of reason for Aftershocks to exist as anything other than cinematic product. Heck, Universal didn’t even deem it worthy of theatrical distribution, so the movie went straight to VHS.

Granted, that probably seemed logical given that the 1990 film found its audience in that format. Still, you’d think Universal might feel they could capitalize on that success with a multiplex run rather than just send it direct to video.

Too much of Aftershocks simply seems uninspired and without much reason to exist. It also comes with a miniscule - even by 1996 standards - $2 million to $4 million budget that shows up via its minimal cast and settings.

Despite these financial constraints, various VFX creators do pretty well on their end. They make the graboids and related critters reasonably impressive, and even though the mid-90s CG elements show their age, the flick mainly focuses on practical materials so these don’t become an issue.

However, everything else about the production tends to feel bargain basement. We find a very basic vibe.

Returning actors Ward and Gross seem competent but uninspired as they reprise their roles. As new scientist – and Earl love interest – Kate, Helen Shaver doesn’t add much.

Effectively the sequel’s replacement for Kevin Bacon’s Val – Earl’s partner in the first flick – Gartin proves consistently annoying. He overacts relentlessly and turns Grady into the Character We Hope Will Die But Doesn’t Due to His Starring Role.

At no point does Aftershocks turn into a truly bad sequel, and it looks good when compared to most of the later Tremors offshoots. However, it seems unnecessary, uninspired and simply forgettable.

Tremors II: Aftershocks appears in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Expect a good but not stunning presentation.

For the most part, sharpness worked fine. Though the movie rarely seemed especially precise, it delivered more than adequate delineation.

I saw no issues with jagged edges or moiré effects, and edge haloes failed to manifest. Grain seemed reasonably natural, and I witnessed no print flaws.

Colors leaned natural, albeit a bit sandy to suit the stark Mexican setting. The hues felt well-rendered within these constraints, even if they didn’t impress.

Blacks seemed dark and dense, while shadows felt smooth for the most part. Nighttime shots tended to appear overly bright, but that stemmed from sloppy lighting on the set. Overall, this turned into a generally positive image.

One wouldn’t expect a stellar soundtrack from a mid-1990s direct-to-video affair, and the movie’s DTS-HD MA 4.0 mix felt moderately constrained. This didn’t make it bad, however.

Much of the soundscape focused on the forward channels. In that realm, we got solid stereo music as well as a reasonably nice sense of movement and breadth for effects.

In terms of surround involvement, the track tended to remain pretty subdued. The mix kicked to life moderately during action scenes, but this still seemed like a soundfield without great activity much of the time.

Audio quality worked fine, with dialogue that came across as natural and concise. Music showed appealing range and showed positive reproduction.

Effects also fared well, with material that felt accurate and fairly bold. Nothing here stood out as memorable, but the soundtrack seemed satisfactory.

A mix of extras appear here, and we find two separate audio commentaries. The first of which features writer/director SS Wilson and producer Nancy Roberts.

Wilson recorded a running, screen-specific track. It appears Roberts did a standard interview, and her remarks ended up edited into Wilson’s chat.

The commentary looks at the development of the sequel, story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, creature design and effects, music, stunts and action, editing, and related topics.

For the most part, this turns into a pretty solid discussion. Unsurprisingly, Wilson dominates.

The writer/director covers a lot of good domains, though he does peter out as the film progresses. Roberts adds useful notes on occasion, so even with some dead air, this still becomes an informative piece.

For the second commentary, we hear from film historian Jonathan Melville. He delivers his own running, screen-specific view of the same range of topics heard in the Wilson/Roberts track.

Inevitably, that means we get a lot of repetition, as Melville often echoes issues we already heard. While he adds some new bits, these don’t add a whole lot to the discussion.

Given that Melville wrote a book on the Tremors franchise, I expected a wealth of insights, but these appear only sporadically. Add a surprising among of dead air and this becomes a mediocre piece.

Three featurettes follow. Graboid Go Boom runs 19 minutes, 44 seconds.

Special effects designer/2nd unit director Peter Chesney discusses the movie’s effects and his work. He brings a good look at his experiences.

Critical Need to Know Information lasts seven minutes, 24 seconds. This one features info from visual effects creator Phil Tippett.

“Know” looks at his efforts in terms of the film’s effects. Tippett delivers a mix of worthwhile comments.

From 1996, The Making of Tremors II goes for eight minutes, 43 seconds. It takes us to the shoot and includes on-the-set comments from Wilson, Roberts, Chesney, Tippett, executive producer Ron Underwood, creature effects designers Tom Woodruff and Alec Gillis, and actors Fred Ward, Christopher Gartin, Michael Gross and Helen Shaver.

This becomes a pretty general promo piece. Still, we get some good shots from the set, so those add value.

A collection of Outtakes spans seven minutes, 45 seconds. This presents a fairly standard blooper reel much of the time, though we do get some interesting glimpses of the graboids.

In addition to trailers for Tremors and Aftershocks, we end with an Image Gallery with 100 stills that mix promo shots, ads and behind the scenes elements. It becomes a good little collection, one that also boasts excellent quality to its scans.

As a sequel, Tremors II: Aftershocks could fare less well than it does, as it becomes a watchable adventure. Nonetheless, it lacks purpose or drive and thus turns into a spotty and forgettable affair. The Blu-ray delivers generally positive picture and audio as well as an appealing roster of bonus materials. While not a bad movie, Aftershocks fails to live up to the highs of the first film.