Tremors
by Robbo
Posted on 15 June 2021
Rating -
Tremors is a 1990 American western-themed monster horror comedy film directed by Ron Underwood, produced by Brent Maddock, and S. S. Wilson, and written by Maddock, Wilson, and Underwood.
Tremors was released by Universal Pictures and stars Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross, and Reba McEntire.
Valentine “Val” McKee and Earl Bassett are handymen working in Perfection, Nevada, an isolated settlement in the high desert east of the Sierra Nevada mountains. They eventually get tired of their jobs and leave for Bixby, the nearest town. As they leave, they discover the dead body of Edgar Deems, a fellow resident perched atop an electrical tower. Jim Wallace, the town’s doctor, determines that Edgar died of dehydration, apparently having been too afraid to climb down.
Later on, an unseen creature kills shepherd Fred and his flock of sheep. Val and Earl discover his severed head and believe that a serial killer is on the loose. Two construction workers ignore Val and Earl’s warning and are killed by the same creature, causing a rock slide. Val and Earl try to find help after warning the residents, but find the phone lines are dead and that the rock slide has blocked the only road out of town.
Val and Earl borrow horses to ride to Bixby for help. They come upon Wallace and his wife’s buried station wagon near their trailer, but the couple is missing (having been killed the previous night). As they press on, an enormous burrowing wormlike monster suddenly erupts out of the ground, revealing the snakelike creature to be one of the worm’s many tentacled “tongues”. Thrown from their horses, the men flee with the monster in pursuit. The chase ends when the creature crashes through the concrete wall of an aqueduct, dying from the impact.
Rhonda LeBeck, a graduate student conducting seismology tests in the area, stumbles onto the scene; she deduces from previous readings that there are three other worms in the area. Rhonda, Val, and Earl become trapped overnight atop a cluster of boulders near one of the worms, and surmise that the creatures hunt their prey by detecting seismic vibrations. The trio then find some discarded poles and use them to pole vault across some nearby boulders to reach Rhonda’s truck, narrowly escaping the creature.
After the trio return to town, all three remaining worms attack the settlement. Inside the general store, the worms attack again and kill owner Walter Chang, forcing everyone to hide on the town’s various rooftops.
Meanwhile, survivalist couple Burt and Heather Gummer manage to kill one of the creatures after unwittingly luring it to their basement armoury.
Realizing they must leave town Val commandeers a track loader and chains a semi-trailer to the rear. The survivors use it to try and escape to a nearby mountain range. En route, both worms create a sinkhole trap that disables the track loader, and the survivors flee to some nearby boulders for safety.
Tremors was set for a November 1989 release. However, the MPAA gave the film an R rating owing to language, and the creators decided at the last minute to make the film more commercially available.
Over 20 or so uses of the F word were either cut or re-dubbed with softer words; examples include “Can you fly, you sucker?” and “We killed that motherhumper”, among several others.
The film was pushed back to allow more time for editing, and the film was eventually released in January 1990 with a PG-13 rating. Wilson and Maddock later stated they were very happy with the decision to make Tremors appeal to a more family-friendly audience rather than an adult-oriented audience
Tremors had a budget of $10 million and ended up grossing $16,667,084 at the domestic box office, which made it financially successful, though far below projected numbers.
Its creators blamed the subpar theatrical performance on its marketing campaign; S. S. Wilson felt that the film was not well promoted once its release date was delayed, while Brent Maddock stated the theatrical trailer was “cringe-worthy” and likely deterred audiences.
While only a modest hit at the box office, Tremors went on to become a massive hit on home video purchases, rentals, and television, becoming one of the most rented films of 1990.
Because of this, it has gained a very large cult following over the years.
Most films of this genre sway too far one way or the other but Tremors manages to finely balance the elements of both comedy and horror.
What makes this film standout from other films of this genre is the characters. Most horror films focus on the monsters or the violence with one dimensional, cliched characters, whereas Tremors realises that the characters are the driving force of the film so focuses on character development.
It does feature the enduring trope of a group of people isolated from the outside world battling a seemingly unrelenting monster, but it works.
Tremors is a simple story, well written, well directed and well acted.
I’m sure that not everyone will like Tremors, but for me it’s one of my go to films as I can watch it and enjoy it anytime, and that’s why I gave it a 5 star rating.
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