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’