The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Tagline: “Who will survive….and what will be left of them?”

Duration: 82 minutes

Film Quality: 5/5
Gore Content: 1.5/5
Entertainment Value:5/5
Originality: 5/5

Introduction

It’s rare these days that a film’s reputation precedes itself but back in the days of VHS, particularly in the UK, this film was synonymous with video nasties, despite never officially receiving a ban. We were told by people claiming to have ‘watched’ the film how unbelievably gory it was, how limbs were flying left, right and centre and how their friends threw up and passed out halfway through. Saying that this film was notorious is a bit like saying NWA were in a bit of a mood when they recorded ‘Straight Outta Compton’ and, though time has changed the way this film is regarded from sick obscenity to full blown classic, it remains a true landmark in horror cinema

In a nutshell

A group of friends in a camper van enter a world of pain when they visit a former haunt in deepest Texas and fall prey to the salacious appetites of a family of cannibals. Sounds like a simple premise and it is, but it’s not about the story, it’s about how it’s told…

Pure terror

So what’s good about it?

The tone and atmosphere of this film is relentlessly bleak and from the opening monologue, which pretty much seals the fate of the youngsters to whom we’re about to be introduced, to the final shot there is virtually no hope or salvation offered. We’re hit with flash photography of something that looks very much like a decomposing corpse before being slapped around the face with a grotesque ‘work of art’, a radio news report about grave robbing and some ear splitting, experimental music played over the top of images of sunspot activity, well known for amplifying madness. Within the first two minutes we’re told the kids are going to die, the dead are being disturbed and astrological forces are on hand to conspire against everyone you’re going to meet in the next 80 minutes. We even hear one of group’s horoscope…”There are times where you won’t believe that what’s happening to you is actually real”.

The score, by director Tobe Hooper and Wayne Bell, is truly incredible. It’s freeform to say the least with low frequency hums, crashing symbols and reportedly used household objects which were distorted in the sound studio to stunning effect, apparently to echo the sounds animals hear in the slaughterhouse. There’s very little in the way of recognisable notes which represents the omnipresent danger that presides over these unfortunate teens and the barely disguised insanity harboured within the twisted Sawyer family. The unbelievably ominous low drone that accompanies the fluid camera as we and Sally catch a first glimpse of the house fills you with dread despite the glorious sunshine and carefree attitude of our hapless teen.

The set design as well just oozes decay, death and imprisonment, particularly when Pam stumbles into the room filled with furniture constructed from recognisably human bones, lampshades made out of tanned skin and a chicken cooped up inside a cage barely big enough to contain its bulk. Then there’s Leatherface’s lair with meathooks, a slab for cutting up the meat, bloodstained walls. There’s the outdoor area with nets covering what looks like a massive car lot as it becomes apparent that the family have been doing this for years and of course the final ‘dinner’ scene which is about as nightmarish as had ever been filmed up to that point.

The devastating final shot

Hooper’s direction on the tightest of tight budgets is excellent and it’s a shame that he never quite recaptured whatever it was that inspired him to make this film so great. The performances he gets out of his actors is phenomenal, although by all accounts he put them through absolute hell, all of them receiving injuries at some point to the extent that the screams, terrorisation and appearance of utter hopelessness in many cases could well have been genuine. That said, Marilyn Burns truly set the standard for the final girl that I don’t think has been surpassed, taking around 40 minutes to document what would normally account for ten in later efforts. The way she barely clings on to sanity in those final shots sends shivers down my spine…it’s not a cry of relief that she’s the one who survived, there is a genuine sense that there is a trauma there which will never be shaken.

For me that is what makes this film so incredibly effective and that is the realism. As the film is virtually bloodless, there are no rubbery effects to date the movie, instead your own mind fills in the blanks and that stays with you long after the film ends.

What about the bad?

After praising the film for acknowledging that what your mind conjures up on its own is far worse than anything you can show on screen, I do of course mean apart from the terrible 70s fashions and hair styles! Yes, it’s from the time, but those flares and sideburns are a crime for which some of them deserve their fate!!!

Any themes?

There is a lot more going on in this film than the casual observer gives it credit for. Hooper subverts the idea of family as good, particularly during the horrific dinner scene which turns the traditional family dinner into an absolute nightmare. You have Leatherface as the mother (complete with absurd make up and wig) there’s the chef as the father figure, the Hitchhiker as the naughty little kid and Grandfather as the elder statesman. The fact that the three compos mentis members laugh and joke their way through the scene makes it even more horrific, juxtaposed with the close ups of Sally’s terrified eyes and screaming face. Family isn’t always the cornerstone of a good home.

There is plenty of social comment as well. As one of the characters says, the slaughterhouses have been closed and modern technology has implemented new, more efficient ways of slaughtering cattle, making many of its workforce redundant. This has left many small towns in middle America destitute and dying, the big cities and authorities leaving them to fend for themselves. In Hooper’s vision America is literally eating itself, embodied by the cannibalistic antics of the Sawyer family.

Hooper was also intrigued by the coverage of world events, particularly the glee with which real life violence, especially in the case of the war in Vietnam where footage of the aftermath of battles would routinely show blood strewn across the streets. Vietnam was the first televised war and it occurred to Hooper that mankind was the real monster and the biggest threat to its own civilisation. By creating the character Leatherface, with his own features hidden by the skin of those he has killed, Hooper literally showed the human face to be the mask over which evil which could hide.

Release History

The BBFC really didn’t know what to do with this film and it very nearly undermined everything they were trying to achieve with censorship. The problem was not with any on screen violence, which is relatively tame and off screen (there’s more actual blood than fake blood – Marilyn Burns genuinely cut herself running through the woods and the cut on her finger during the dinner was also real!), but with the overall tone of the film which is incredibly oppressive and disturbing. You can’t censor the atmosphere of the film so when a cut version was submitted to the BBFC (some minor trims from the dinner scene) it made no difference whatsoever and remained unreleasable in their eyes.

The Wizard Video release, which was uncut and distributed in 1981, remained the only way to see this film as many local councils refused to grant a license to screen it in cinemas. It was never officially banned, partly because it was never re-released, and other than a few cinema and festival screenings in the London area it became one of those films where the only means of watching it was to buy a tenth generation copy for a fiver from Dave at The Dog and Duck.

Then came a surprise!!! In 1999 Blue Dolphin released the completely uncut version on VHS which became a runaway hit and also enjoyed a reasonably successful cinema run. But it was under Second Sight’s supervision that it received the best treatment, finally releasing a glorious three disc steelbook which was as comprehensive in content as its release history has been complicated.

Cultural Impact

Leatherface has become one of the true horror icons and the film was instrumental in predicting the slasher genre. Like ‘Psycho’ it was loosely based on the exploits of Ed Gein but was perhaps more explicit in the gruesome details, focusing on the more ghoulish aspects of his crimes rather than using it as the driver for a whodunit plot. Still as outlandishly popular now as it was in the years since it was released, we’re still seeing remakes and reboots, films bearing an uncanny resemblance and nods to the original. One of the most financially successful independent films of all time, it’s also one of the most influential.

In the US it was the last film rated ‘X’ before the introduction of the NC-17 rating (despite Hooper being convinced that the lack of on screen gore and violence would ensure a ‘PG’ rating!) and it also spawned a video game which was an almighty flop – so violent that many stores refused to stock it…imagine that in our era of violent shoot ‘em ups!!! I’m sure the next instalment featuring the exploits of everyone’s favourite chainsaw wielding maniac is just around the corner!!!

Final thoughts

About as pure a horror film as you could wish for, everything from the opening shot to the closing ‘dancing chainsaw’ scene is designed to frighten, unnerve and disorientate. Most films lose their impact over the years but Chainsaw has lost nothing and it just as devastatingly effective now as it was back in the mid-70s. It is an absolute depiction of madness on celluloid, the ferocity of which has rarely been matched since its release more than 40 years ago. Hooper would try again with a decent sequel and ‘Death Trap’ (aka ‘Eaten Alive’) which was more of a studio affair but he never did anything as raw and visceral as his first feature.

Memorable Quotes

Narrator: “Had they lived very, very long lives, they could not have expected, nor would they have wished to see as much of the mad and macabre as they were to see that day.”

Attendant: “You don’t want to go messing around other folks’ property. If some folks don’t like it…they don’t mind showing you.”

Hitchhiker: “I have this knife.”

You’ll like this if you enjoyed…

‘The Hills Have Eyes’, ‘Slaughterhouse’, ‘Eden Lake’, ‘Wolf Creek’

Beyond the Darkness (1979)

Tagline: “Even death can’t keep them apart”

Duration: 94 minutes

Film Quality: 3.5/5
Gore Content: 4/5
Entertainment Value:3/5
Originality: 3/5

Introduction

Joe D’Amato has filmed more Euro-sleaze than Adam Sandler has been in crap movies but he certainly outdoes himself with this one. Until last week I knew it by reputation, remembering one article in The Dark Side magazine way back in the 90s declaring that it would never receive an uncut release in the UK, instantly arousing my interest. Last year, still never having had a sniff of this film, discovered that 88 Films had an Indiegogo campaign to restore it in 2k along with three other movies, I decided I was in. When you wait the best part of 25 years to see a film, distorted expectation levels can lead to disappointment but this one delivers on its reputation in spades…it is seriously nasty!

In a nutshell

A taxidermist, Frank, loses his fiancé to illness, little knowing that it owes more to his housekeeper’s practice of ‘the dark arts’ than any medical condition. He injects his dearly deceased with a preservative, exhumes her, disembowels and stuffs her, laying her to rest in his bed as if she were still alive. Needless to say his housekeeper, Iris, is not pleased and from thereon in it’s carnage with a number of ‘guests’ meeting grisly ends.

So what’s good about it?

I tend to prefer straight up, honest to God horror, euro-sleaze has never really been a sub-genre that’s floated my boat but curiosity got the better of me in this instance so I thought I’d give it a go. Let’s just say that it delivers on its promise like a Michael Bay action flick…D’Amato knows his target audience and gives them exactly what they want. This ticks every box plus a few others that nobody really asked for. Hints of incest, necrophilia, cannibalism, the total destruction of the human body on multiple occasions, this is extreme to say the least.

The on screen gore is surprisingly well done and VERY gooey! After a slow start D’Amato hits you with the first set piece, Frank’s long and detailed disembowelling of his fiancé in which he, with an emotionless face, slowly pulls out her intestines, throws them in a bucket before eating her heart (lovely touch seeing the blood fly out of the severed arteries as he chows down!). He then sadistically pulls out the fingernails of a hitchhiker who walks in on this display, seemingly for the sheer fun of it. But that’s nothing compared to the limb by limb decapitation of an unfortunate jogger who is then put, piece by piece, in a bath of acid, let down the plug hole with the sloppy remains buried in the garden…oh, and then Iris eats a chicken casserole whilst still covered in her blood. Even Frank vomits at that point…yes, this rivals the levels of some of the cannibal films around at the time.

It has some very uncomfortable undertones! Yes, Iris is the housekeeper but as Frank is an orphan she is very much a mother figure so to see her breastfeed Frank (who must be in his mid 20s) is a little disconcerting to the say the least. She then later, right in front of Frank’s stuffed fiancee, gives him a hand job which takes notions of sexual perversion to all kinds of new levels. We don’t see it but the fact that he puts his bride to be in his bed…what the hell does he do to the corpse at night???

The one thing I wasn’t expecting was how well made this film was. The acting is top notch, particularly from the female members of the cast. Franca Stoppi is incredible as the steely eyed Iris, every inch the believable sociopath and utterly terrifying, particularly during the decapitation by cleaver scene and its aftermath. Also, despite playing the part of a corpse for pretty much the entire film, Cinzia Monreale really looks the part with her dead-eyed stare and chilling, expressionless face. It really shouldn’t be underestimated how difficult this must have been.

Finally there’s D’Amato’s direction which is perfectly paced and always engaging. You just have to look at some of Mario Bava’s later efforts (‘Five Dolls for an August Moon’ comes to mind) to know that films of this type can be incredibly boring and dull with terrible dialogue, flat direction and little thought given to plot. But D’Amato cleverly gives the actors room to breathe and it never outstays its welcome. It also helps to have the ever-reliable Goblin on board to provide a terrific score with driving synth and mellow piano juxtaposed depending on which character is on screen, further adding to the atmosphere.

And what about the bad?

As I said, euro-sleaze isn’t my thing and, fortunately for me, D’Amato places ‘Beyond the Darkness’ just the right side of horror whereas many of its type can easily fall into the category of borderline porn. For this reason I can see a lot of modern day audiences being turned completely off by this which is a shame because it is a surprisingly good and well-crafted film. Also, 88 Films very wisely included the original Italian dub with subtitles because the English language cut suffers from the kind of terrible acting and fake accents (I think the hitchhiker must have been dubbed by a relative of Dick Van Dyke, such was the ineptitude of the London accent!) that can render a good film laughable so stick with the original language version if you can

Any themes?

Yes, and all of them seedy! If Iris really has taken the place of his mother Frank has some serious Oedipal issues, not to mention his necrophiliac leanings. Yes, he’s suffered a trauma and he is clearly predisposed to having a fascination for resurrecting and preserving the dead through his work as a taxidermist. Now, before any taxidermists reading this (I’m sure there’s hundreds of you but it’d be just my luck!) I’m not saying that there’s a connection but the writers are clearly asking us to make that link between a seriously disturbed individual channelling his psychosis through his choice of hobby. His desire is to preserve his fiancée at her peak, glass eyes and all, so that she will forever be perfect and can’t let go of the fact that she has passed on.

There are shades of ‘Psycho’ in its bizarre family dynamic with Iris as the matriarch. However this premise is turned on its head by the object of the subversive male’s sexual desire front and centre as a corpse. Whereas the very much alive Iris brings these desires out in a horrifically literal sense, Hitchcock’s classic presents the matriarch herself as a corpse representing the suppression of his sexual desires.

Release History

This didn’t get a UK release until ten years after its international release, a case of bad timing perhaps as films were being seized, banned, censored and generally stripped of their dignity left, right and centre. A pre-cut version that was missing some five minutes, some of it dialogue but much of it gore, was passed uncut by the BBFC for the VPD VHS release in 1989. This passed well under the radar and wasn’t a particular success, deleted fairly quickly.

88 Films picked it up in 2016 and ran their Indiegogo campaign to get this film restored in a 2k scan along with ‘Absurd’, ‘Aenigma’ and ‘Massacre in Dinosaur Valley’, looking at £40,000 to remaster all four films. They managed upwards of £80,000 which resulted in a fifth film, ‘Absurd’s prequel ‘Anthropophagous’, as well as supplemental material for all five films being delivered as part of the campaign. The film was released completely uncut (the version that was delivered to my door last week) and for that kind of dedication we should all be very grateful.

Cultural Impact

Other than its reputation as an extreme piece of euro-sleaze it passed by relatively unnoticed at a time when these types of film were ten a penny, however it's garnered quite a reputation over the years amongst hardened gorehounds. It’s only now in the UK, that we’re getting a chance to appraise the film and see it for what it is. Yes, at its devoured heart it’s a sleazy piece of exploitation cinema but scratch the surface and it’s much more than that…an example of a superior director putting his inimitable stamp on the genre at a time when the floodgates were open with an ‘anything goes’ attitude.

Final Thoughts

Perhaps a little strong for your casual horror fan, for me it lived up to its reputation which is rare for a film that is well into its fourth decade. It’s a strong entry in D’Amato’s back catalogue and its fantastic that we’re finally getting the chance to see it. If you live in the UK and weren’t part of the Indiegogo campaign then it’s definitely worth the money, you won’t be disappointed.

You’ll like this if you enjoyed…

‘Anthropophagous’, ‘New York Ripper’, ‘Absurd’.

The DPP 39: Video Nasties Part 4

In 1984, the Video Recordings Act ushered in a terrifying new era in UK home video entertainment.  The regulation and subsequent censorship of home videos by the British Board of Film Classification led to a number of films being seized by the authorities and prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act 1959. In total, 39 of these films were successfully prosecuted, over the coming months The Horror Video will look very briefly at the release history of each film and its current status. We’ve already covered the A’s (click here to check out ‘Absurd’, ‘Anthropophagus’ and ‘Axe’), here for the first half of the ‘B’s (click here for ‘Bay of Blood’, ‘The Beast in Heat’ and ‘Blood Feast’) and here for the second half (click here for ‘Blood Rites’, ‘Bloody Moon’ and ‘The Burning’). Now onto the Cs and we enter the bizarre sub-genre of the cannibal movies!

Title: ‘Cannibal Apocalypse’ (1980)

Director: Antonio Margheriti
Uncut running time: 96 minutes
Alternative titles: ‘Invasion of the Flesh Hunters’, ‘Slaughterers’, ‘The Cannibals in the Streets’, ‘Savage Apocalypse’, ‘Apocalisse Domani’

This is an interesting one as it plays more like a zombie film than its cannibal cousin in that the flesh eaters in question are infected rather than dead. Viewed as a reaction to the Vietnam War, a veteran returns suffering from a strange condition that makes him prone to moments of rage and attacks during which he bites his victims. As much a comment on the horrors and chemicals veterans were exposed to during that conflict as it is a reflection of their mental health and feelings of isolation about what they saw or were made to do, it works very well as both. Very gory with some effective set pieces, most notably the flesh eating and standout gunshot wounds.

Released uncut on VHS by Replay it fell foul of the authorities, probably more by association with other cannibal films than by content and was added to the DPP list in July 1983 where it remained until 2005. Cinema Club submitted an uncut version to the BBFC who demanded just two seconds of cuts (a rat being set on fire by a flamethrower). The same version was released on Optimum DVD and it has been screened on the UK Horror Channel in its prime time 9pm slot.

Current status: Cut by 2 seconds on UK DVD since 2005, uncut in the US since 2002 on Image.

Title: ‘Cannibal Ferox’ (1981)

Director: Umberto Lenzi
Uncut running time: 93 minutes
Alternative titles: ‘Make then Die Slowly’, ‘Let the Die Slowly’, ‘Woman from Deep River’, ‘Cannibal Feroz’

Where to start with this one! At least ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ has something to say, this one is genuinely nasty and deserve its status as perhaps the most banned film in film history. Lacking any kind of social comment it features three friends who encounter two men being hunted by a tribe who are after revenge after the duo subjected them to torture and rape. Terrible acting and very cheap looking it is incredibly gruesome, including a great deal of sexual violence and genuine animal cruelty which often leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Amazingly, this was available uncut in the UK when Replay put it out in August 1982 but it was swiftly withdrawn before a BBFC-approved version with almost seven minutes of cuts was released just a month later! Within a year the cut and uncut versions were both prosecuted and the movie didn’t see the light of day until the year 2000 when VIPCO brought it out of retirement. True to form it was a lazy attempt, submitting the version already missing seven minutes, the BBFC still insisted on a further 6 seconds of animal cruelty cuts. No further attempts have been made to release the film and it’s not difficult to see why with a blend of flesh eating, sexual violence and animal cruelty – the BBFC would never go for it!

Current status: Unavailable in the UK due to deletion of VIPCO release cut by 6m 57s, uncut and unrated on Grindhouse blu ray.

Title: Cannibal Holocaust (1979)

Director: Ruggero Deodato
Uncut running time: 95 minutes
Alternative title: ‘Cannibal Massaker’, ‘Holocausto Cannibal’

As divisive a movie as you could find, critics dismiss it as exploitative trash as often as they praise it for its social comment and absolute realism – don’t forget the makers of this film were prosecuted by the Italian courts who genuinely believed the actors were killed! The bulk of the film is found footage from a group of documentarians who went missing in the Amazon whilst making a film about local tribes. What they find is a barbaric attempt to portray the tribesmen as brutal savages, instead showing themselves to be the aggressors who have the tables fatally turned. Incredibly powerful, possibly too much so, it’s very tough to watch yet difficult to tear yourself away from. You’re left feeling like you need to take a shower after watching it and hating yourself for that voice in your head telling you that what you’ve seen is an incredible piece of cinema.

It’s never seen an uncut UK release after Go Video put out a pre-cut version in February 1982. It lasted less than five months before it was seized, prosecuted and locked up. VIPCO did a predictably bad job of releasing it in 2001, suffering from 5m 44s of cuts, largely to the flesh eating and animal cruelty although, just like abortive attempts to censor ‘The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’, it did little to dampen the overall tone of the film. That could have been in the back of the BBFC’s collective minds when Shameless managed to get it past the censors with just 15 seconds of cuts, restoring all of the flesh eating and even most of the animal violence, just one scene involving a Coati suffering any cuts. They also presented a new edit approved by Deodato that removes most of the animal violence, apparently tinged by guilt at the footage he filmed – this version was passed uncut. It has to be said that there is usually an outcry amongst the horror community when a cut version is released but hats off to Shameless, they put out a version that I never thought would get past the UK censors. Click here for my full review of this movie.

Current status: Available on Shameless in the UK missing 15 seconds with Deodato’s new edit passed uncut, both versions uncut in the US on Grindhouse.

Tremors (1990)

Tagline: “The monster movie that breaks new ground”

Running Time: 96 minutes

Film Quality: 4/5
Gore Content: 2.5/5
Originality: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 5/5

Introduction

This could well be the very definition of the term ‘sleeper hit’ and nobody could have predicted that people would be quoting, talking about and revelling in the brilliance of what is basically a modestly budgeted 50s monster movie pastiche with no ‘big names’ nearly 30 years after its release. But on VHS it clicked with its audience and crossed over, becoming a reasonably big word of mouth success story…if only you could bottle what this film has. What it’s got going for it is a great sense of fun, a love and respect for the genre it is parodying and some wonderful chemistry between our three leads.

In a nutshell

Something is eating flocks of sheep, causing rock slides, devouring road workers and, more importantly, stopping Val and Earl from leaving Perfection for a life in the big city. Fortunately there is an unconventionally attractive geologist on hand conducting experiments, but can the three of them lead the remaining few survivors to rocky ground and prevent them from becoming breakfast, lunch and dinner for the Graboids?

What’s good about it?

It’s classic 50s b-movie fodder for the VHS generation! Giant worms invade a small rural settlement with no explanation as to where they have come from and the simple townsfolk only have their wits and a ridiculously large arsenal of guns, grenades and “a few household chemicals in the proper proportions” to call on for protection! It’s a delightfully simple premise and the fact that the film never once deviates from this singular idea, never over-complicates or allows its characters to come up with an unrealistic plan gives the absurdity of the situation a grounding in reality that some of its pretenders (yes, I’m talking to you ‘Eight Legged Freaks’) lacked.

The chemistry between the two leads, Val and Earl (played above and beyond by Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward), is a joy to watch and rare in the genre. From the opening scene we’re introduced to a couple of old friends and workmates who bicker over the trivialities of who made breakfast the previous day but are totally dependent on one another. They provide the heart and soul of the film and give us two characters we truly care about and warm to immediately. Rhonda provides great support as the knowledgeable geologist and love interest for Val and there are memorable turns, particularly from Michael Gross as the gun-toting Burt Gummer and Victor Wong as Walter Chang.

There is some terrific humour to be found, most of it character based and fuelled by the tension within the group. Whether it’s Earl’s ideas for planning ahead (“We plan ahead, that way we don’t do anything now…Earl explained it to me”), everyone making fun of Burt’s lifestyle, the irritatingly cocky Melvin or the dumb verbal sparring between Val and Earl there are plenty of chuckles alongside the odd belly laugh. Ward in particular manages to convey so much with just a couple of looks, particularly when watching Val tend to Rhonda’s wound, as he tries his hardest to match make the couple amongst all the carnage.

Speaking of carnage, the monster effects are surprisingly well realised as the effects crew make the most of its modest budget and the clear limitations of the analogue creatures. As they spend most of the film underground we get a fair few shots of dust, gravel being forced up and everything from a pogo stick to an entire building pulled under dirt. We’re teased with a small rumble here, a tentacle there, a severed head and sheep remains until we get our first glimpse of a full sized graboid when it literally hits the wall. It’s well into the second half of the film before we see a live one burst through the ground and attack Rhonda and it doesn’t disappoint with plenty of gooey slobber and teeth-filled tentacles. We do get a few computer enhanced shots of them tearing through the loose dirt but all in all I was impressed by the creature design which, much like the script, doesn’t deviate from the simplistic.

What about the bad?

Considering the great characterisation of the leads, some of the minor characters are very thinly drawn out and may as well have been called ‘Breakfast’, ‘Lunch’ and ‘Dinner’ as it’s pretty easy to pick out who will perish and who will survive.

I also struggled with the difficulties the townsfolk had in escaping. As one character points out ‘For Christ’s sake this isn’t the Moon’, I would have thought that there would be more than just one 4x4 in a small town with only one road and therefore more means of escape. Yes, Burt says the reason they settled there was because of the ‘geographical isolation’ but I had trouble believing that there was no way out. In a previous post for ‘The Hitcher’ I mentioned how well director Eric Red makes the open desert look like a prison…I didn’t get that from ‘Tremors’.

One final grump is that it looks like they started to run out of money for effects work towards the end of the film. The demise of the final two Graboids remind me far too much of Bolognese sauce escaping from a sealed pitta bread! Also, am I the only one who thinks the Graboid sound effect was just a short cut of a crowd of screaming girls?

Any themes?

I’m tempted to say ‘no’ and just enjoy the film for what it is, a joyous piece of nostalgic entertainment created purely for the enjoyment of the genre and for our own personal pleasure! There’s no hint of environmental issues as the cause of the Graboid invasion, no social comment on race relations, genres are treated equally (we even get redemption for Val’s initially shallow attitude as to what virtues a woman will have to meet his expectations…all of them superficial) there’s no play on morals…it’s just fun, what more do you want???

Release History

I can’t find much evidence but I have my suspicions that the distributors were told to tone down the language in order to get that more family friendly PG-13 rating. There is one, very in your face ‘F-bomb’ but there are several other occasions where you can clearly see the actors mouthing ruder versions of what they’re actually saying. To be honest it doesn’t bother me that much…’Mother-humper’ somehow works better than its 18-rated counterpart!

No cuts for violence that I can find evidence of and, apart from the odd ‘edited for TV’ version that did the rounds in the UK in the early-90s, it’s never had any further censorship issues but it IS crying out for the special edition blu-ray treatment by now surely?

Cultural Impact

Despite initially regarding it as a career-low, it catapulted Kevin Bacon into the limelight and his presence in a film can generally be regarded as a sign of quality.

However, if ever a film can be held up as example of sequels providing diminishing returns then ‘Tremors’ is it. Currently standing loud and proud as a series of five, other than the second one which, though not a patch on the original, isn’t half bad, the others are…well…shite! The fourth one is set in the 19th century and features Michael Gross as Burt Gummer’s ancestor despite the fact he’s supposed to have ‘moved there’ at some point before events in the original! Really, if you have to stray from the first one then please stop at part 2 and turn around before you go any further!!!

I’m still trying to pretend the TV series didn’t exist!

Final Thoughts

A great example of how a VHS release provided a box office flop with a second wind and proof that the video vigilantes have more taste than cinema’s snipers! It’s perfect Saturday evening entertainment with a pizza, a few beers and some like-minded mates. I remember going to a cottage with some friends on a stag do and putting this on. We all like a good, thought provoking horror film or one that will terrify your testicles back into your body but every now and then we yearn for a piece of light entertainment, and horror doesn’t get much lighter or more entertaining than this!

Memorable Quotes

Val: “Yeah, sure Earl. We all knew about them, we just didn’t tell you.”

Earl: “Son of a goddamn bitch…pardon my French….shit!”

Val: “We hear you Burt but be advised there are two more, repeat two more mother-humpers.”

Val: (Shouting) “Hey……..I found the ass-end.”

Earl: (discovering the Graboids have been waiting all night) “Don’t these things have homes to go to.”

You’ll like this if you enjoyed…

‘Grabbers’, ‘Them’, ‘Piranha’, ‘Eight Legged Freaks’