Tremors (1990)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Ron Underwood

Writers (WGA):

S.S. Wilson (story) &
Brent Maddock (story) ...

Release Date:

19 January 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

The monster movie that breaks new ground.

Plot:

Natives of a small isolated town, defend themselves against strange underground creatures which are killing them one by one.

Plot Keywords:

Graboids | Monster | Desert | Seismologist | Nevada

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Kevin Bacon	...	Valentine McKee
Fred Ward	...	Earl Bassett
Finn Carter	...	Rhonda LeBeck
Michael Gross	...	Burt Gummer
Reba McEntire	...	Heather Gummer
Robert Jayne	...	Melvin Plug (as Bobby Jacoby)
Charlotte Stewart	...	Nancy Sterngood
Tony Genaro	...	Miguel
Ariana Richards	...	Mindy Sterngood
Richard Marcus	...	Nestor
Victor Wong	...	Walter Chang
Sunshine Parker	...	Edgar
Michael Dan Wagner	...	Old Fred
Conrad Bachmann	...	Dr. Jim
Bibi Besch	...	Megan

Also Known As:

Beneath Perfection (USA) (working title)
Dead Silence (USA) (working title)
Land Sharks (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | Italy:T | Iceland:16 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:15 | France:Unrated | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Ireland:15 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 | West Germany:16 | Singapore:PG | Brazil:14

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

The original ending of the film was much different. Val and Earl head out to Bixbie and Val doesn't hook up with Rhonda. But it is implied. The two are looking for their lighter and realize that Rhonda still has it, they turn around and head back. This ending was shot, and tested for one audience, and was not well received. It is available in the documentary on the DVD.

Goofs:

Plot holes: The first worm gets itself killed by crashing into a concrete wall, but it has no problems crawling up through floors. It's reasonable that floors in the larger buildings in the town have concrete foundations, hence the worm shouldn't be able to just crawl through them.

Quotes:

Earl Bassett: So we're stuck here. That pisses me off.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Corner Gas: The Accidental Cleanist (#5.17)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

WHY NOT TONIGHT

For all you know, they can fly

**VIBRATING SPOILERS**

This is a great movie and a fun ride. They went back to the basics and came out with one of my all-time favorite flicks.

There are two ways to make a good monster movie: slow-paced and suspenseful, or fast-paced and surprising. Tremors definitely opts for the latter method. The producers also managed to assemble an excellent cast, all of whom establish their invidual characters with admirable clarity. Only Mindy, the young girl, comes off as kind of a cipher. Plus, with the exception of Kevin Bacon and Michael Gross, they all look like REAL people.

The spotlight gets shared out pretty equally among the cast, as well. One particularly nice touch was the fact that our two main heroes weren't the only people in town who have any competency, at all. Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon DO carry the movie, but it's more because of the great screen chemistry between them. Miguel has the better ideas, and Burt contributes more to the actual destruction of the monsters.

While Tremors never really 'cheats' the audience, i.e. sets up a situation and then doesn't deliver, the movie does vary teasingly from the expected. One of the aspects I enjoy most about showing this film to first-time viewers - aside from the the pride I take in indoctrinating new members to the Cult of the Graboid - is how the movie fools them about things like who gets eaten and who doesn't, and how the worms actually operated.

My one bullsh*t call is the Cat loader. Any operator with any kind of experience could have used the loader bucket to lever the tractor up and out of the pit it fell into, and that impact wouldn't have knocked out the engine. Whether they could have pulled themselves out before the Graboids yanked them off the tractor is less certain (Every time I see the scene of Burt Gummer falling from the loader to the ground, I cringe and think: there's a stuntman with two broken ankles).

I also could have used more Victor Wong and less Reba McEntire. She's just hard to listen to, as an actress. As little as she contributes after Burt and Heather shoot up the Graboid in their basement, they could have fed HER to the monsters and let Walter Chang survive.

Ah, well. YOU try telling a Graboid who it can't eat.

Oh, and I love Val & Earl's truck. I think it's a late-60s Jeep J10 Warrior. Absolutely indestructible.