Rather than take another step down the landslide of quality that is the Tremors series, the filmmakers pull back and move in an entirely different direction for Tremors 4: The Legend Begins. It's a welcome, refreshing change: for the first time since the original, there is new material here to explore.

The film is set in the Old West and tells about how the giant underground worms first attacked the town of Perfection a century ago. Familiarity with the Michael Gross character of the first three films helps, because he returns here, to nice comedic effect, as a gun-shy ancestor from the East. Gross carries the film and makes it the best of the Tremors sequels. Still, the material isn't put together as tightly as it could have been, and the result doesn't feel as fresh as it should be.