TremorsIf you go out into the deserts of Nevada, walk softly and carry an elephant gun. Tremors is a monster movie about a pack of man-eating worms that burrow through the dirt, and sense their prey through vibrations on the surface. These creatures--dubbed "graboids"--stalk and attack the few residents of the ramshackle town of Perfection, Nevada, picking them off one by one. As local handymen Valentine "Val" McKee (Kevin Bacon) and Earl Bassett (Fred Ward) prepare to leave the town for better opportunities, they end up trapped in the valley by the worms, and are forced to defend themselves like the rest of the town, under siege by underground predators.
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Val and Earl are essentially a couple of "cowboys", tooling around in the badlands, doing odd jobs instead of anything more substantial with their lives. Like the rest of the residents of Perfection, they seem to be escaping from something else in the civilized world, be it the responsibilities of civilization, or seeking the privacy of a remote outpost, away from governmental intervention. These people are craving the freedom of the wild and the open desert skies. The exception is Rhonda LeBeck (Finn Carter), who is not a resident of the desert town, but is a scientist performing seismographic readings, which turn out to have been influenced by the graboids--the term coined by local shop proprietor, Walter Chang (Victor Wong). The irony of Tremors is that by the end of the film, everyone is running from the worms that are hunting them and instead are seeking the comforts of civilization. The graboids may or may not be of this world--Earl shares his opinion that they aren't "local boys"--and the survivors have to learn about how they operate in the environment to ensure their own safety. What they learn is that the graboids don't seem to have eyes, but observe the world through "listening", sensing movement and sound as a queue to attack and feed. Most of the graboids--there are apparently four in total--can usually be distracted and duped into falling for some kind of trap, with the exception of one which tried to stop Val and Earl as they were exiting the valley--one with a missing tentacle they call "Stumpy", who seems to be a bit more clever than his brethren. As Rhonda observes when they first lure one to its demise, these worm-like hunters propel themselves through the dirt by small spikes in their bodies, and they also exude a foul-smelling musk, although the biological purpose of this is a mystery. These details suggest an ecology that was developed behind the scenes for the graboids. This makes them more than just latex, B-movie crawlies--they become fully realized creatures in Tremors that are studied by the characters in the movie. This enhances the film's science fiction edge, even though it superficially shares more in common with a horror movie set in a dusty Western setting.
Tremors also uses several cinematic devices found in another film about a massive predator that lurks beneath the "surface": Jaws. Like Jaws, there are frequent shots taken from low to the ground (or even below), as a graboid chases its prey through the dusty earth riddled with barbed wire fencing and rusted machinery parts. Tremors creates the impression at first that the monsters which lurk under the ground are merely the eel-like appendages of the much larger worm, in a slight twist from Jaws where the audience doesn't see the monster until late into the film. It isn't until Val and Earl discover later that the graboid is a much larger beast that the immensity of their problem is understood. The characters of Tremors learn that they must stand perfectly still and silently to avoid attracting the attention of their much faster, much deadlier foe, recalling the massive sandworms in Dune. This sometimes forces them to hide up on the unsteady roofs of the town buildings or on rocky outcroppings to escape their clutches. This leads to some wonderfully tense scenes, like when a young girl named Mindy (Ariana Richards) inadvertently kites a graboid while she bounces around town on her pogo stick--the toy gets sucked down underground, only to be spit up into the air shortly thereafter. Although Tremors is a monster movie, moments in the film deliberately give it a "Western" feel. For instance, when Val and Earl decide they need to try to get help from nearby Bixby, they ride out into the desert on two horses, carrying rifles--Val even wears a cowboy hat as he does it. When the two hired hands argue over who makes breakfast, Val describes their previous meal as "bologna and beans"--definitely cowboy food. Virtually all of the characters speak in local dialect and with colloquialisms that emphasize the distinct Southwest tone of Tremors.
Tremors was a moderate success when it was first released in 1990, and has since evolved into something of a cult hit. The original film also managed to spawn a series of direct-to-video sequels, some of which also feature actors from the original film. The movie's popularity likely had something to do with its frequent airings on local television, as the original has a number of memorable scenes. For example, there is the scene where Val, Earl, and Rhonda are forced to try their hand at pole vaulting from one "residual boulder" to another to get to her truck. Another great scene includes the gun-happy Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) and his equally gun-happy wife, Heather (played by country music star, Reba McEntire), as they defend their basement rec room from a particularly aggressive graboid, showering it with a hail of gunfire. And of course, there is the exciting climax where Val plays matador to Stumpy, and postulates about whether the graboids have the capacity for flight. All of these thrilling moments give Tremors a simple, down home monster movie charm that makes it an endearing, modern cult classic.
Recommended for: Fans of a monster movie with giant, man-eating grubs, where the survivors must avoid being eaten through their ingenuity (and sometimes an elephant gun). Tremors is a fun and fast-moving film that is both tense and playful, with a dash of camp appeal--good fare to throw on the TV for a lazy weekend with a big bowl of popcorn.
Tremors also uses several cinematic devices found in another film about a massive predator that lurks beneath the "surface": Jaws. Like Jaws, there are frequent shots taken from low to the ground (or even below), as a graboid chases its prey through the dusty earth riddled with barbed wire fencing and rusted machinery parts. Tremors creates the impression at first that the monsters which lurk under the ground are merely the eel-like appendages of the much larger worm, in a slight twist from Jaws where the audience doesn't see the monster until late into the film. It isn't until Val and Earl discover later that the graboid is a much larger beast that the immensity of their problem is understood. The characters of Tremors learn that they must stand perfectly still and silently to avoid attracting the attention of their much faster, much deadlier foe, recalling the massive sandworms in Dune. This sometimes forces them to hide up on the unsteady roofs of the town buildings or on rocky outcroppings to escape their clutches. This leads to some wonderfully tense scenes, like when a young girl named Mindy (Ariana Richards) inadvertently kites a graboid while she bounces around town on her pogo stick--the toy gets sucked down underground, only to be spit up into the air shortly thereafter. Although Tremors is a monster movie, moments in the film deliberately give it a "Western" feel. For instance, when Val and Earl decide they need to try to get help from nearby Bixby, they ride out into the desert on two horses, carrying rifles--Val even wears a cowboy hat as he does it. When the two hired hands argue over who makes breakfast, Val describes their previous meal as "bologna and beans"--definitely cowboy food. Virtually all of the characters speak in local dialect and with colloquialisms that emphasize the distinct Southwest tone of Tremors.
Tremors was a moderate success when it was first released in 1990, and has since evolved into something of a cult hit. The original film also managed to spawn a series of direct-to-video sequels, some of which also feature actors from the original film. The movie's popularity likely had something to do with its frequent airings on local television, as the original has a number of memorable scenes. For example, there is the scene where Val, Earl, and Rhonda are forced to try their hand at pole vaulting from one "residual boulder" to another to get to her truck. Another great scene includes the gun-happy Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) and his equally gun-happy wife, Heather (played by country music star, Reba McEntire), as they defend their basement rec room from a particularly aggressive graboid, showering it with a hail of gunfire. And of course, there is the exciting climax where Val plays matador to Stumpy, and postulates about whether the graboids have the capacity for flight. All of these thrilling moments give Tremors a simple, down home monster movie charm that makes it an endearing, modern cult classic.
Recommended for: Fans of a monster movie with giant, man-eating grubs, where the survivors must avoid being eaten through their ingenuity (and sometimes an elephant gun). Tremors is a fun and fast-moving film that is both tense and playful, with a dash of camp appeal--good fare to throw on the TV for a lazy weekend with a big bowl of popcorn.