Tremors

Tremors is an absolute classic thriller, pitting the inhabitants of a small podunk town against four giant worms. The cast is well rounded, with Bacon and Ward playing the two unexpected hero's. And Reba? Amazing. The storyline is developed, the acting and dialogue not too cheesy, and the effects great for a movie it's age. Just a good time.

This movie caught me by surprise: I worked in a video store, and one day we got a preview tape of this movie, prior to its video release. I hadn't heard much about it, so I watched it, and was quite surprised at how enjoyable it was. Since then, I have seen the movie about ten more times (at least), and still get a kick out of it.

Tremors is basically a landlocked variation on 'Jaws' and those 1950s giant bug movies: the isolated town of Perfection, Nevada (population 16), finds itself under seige by four monstrous, subterranean wormlike creatures, that hunt by sensing vibrations in the ground. The plot revolves around the townspeople trying to outwit and escape the creatures (dubbed 'Graboids'), which are tearing the town out from under them.

What really makes the movie work is the characters: all of them come across as real people trapped in an insane situation, and all have a lot of charisma, even though the film doesn't have tons of character development. Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward are a hoot as a pair of low-rent handymen who become reluctant heroes. The byplay between the two is a lot of fun.

Usually movies like this revolve around stupid people doing stupid things, just to raise the body count. Tremors is different: the characters react believably, and do smart things to try and escape and/or kill the Graboids. The creatures too are also fairly smart, and are not just mindless eating machines with no brains.

Given its premise, Tremors is not a gory or violent film (although it has a couple of minor gross bits), and has a very good sense of humor. The film-makers are aware of their far-fetched premise (a couple of key questions go unanswered), but they treat it with respect and a certain amount of affection.

Tremors didn't have much life in theaters, but has become something of a 'Midnight Movie' on home video, with definite cult possibilities. Check it out, and don't be surprised if you end up buying it.

A small isolated desert community comes under attack from underground monsters. Valentine McKee (Kevin Bacon) and Earl Bassett (Fred Ward) are two poor handymen. Rhonda LeBeck (Finn Carter) is a seismology student. And the hardcore survivalists Gummers (Michael Gross, Reba McEntire) are just some of the town residents.

This is Jaws on land. It is perfectly made by people who obviously know and love horror movies. The monsters are dole out slowly, first as a suggestion, then as glimpses, and finally reveal for the shock. There is top notch workmanship. Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward have great energy. They have the humor and the likability. More importantly, they have great chemistry together. Great actors in classic characters with a terrific premise, everything is there for a great movie. And the execution is perfect.

Loved the movie. How could you not? It has two lovably bumbling buddies, Val and Earl, played to perfection by Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward. It has a remarkably funny gun crazed survivalist couple played completely straight-faced by Michael Gross and Reba McEntire. It has a wonderfully batty bunch of "townsfolk," a winsome heroine and bad lot of underground drag racing worms looking to eat the characters mentioned above. The movie stands out from the "trapped and pursued" genre because it contains tongue-in-cheek humor, comedic escapes, inspired foreshadowing of doom and nutty monster mayhem. This is a delightful B monster movie that would best be watched with fellow funny movie buffs, popcorn and beer.

Under my current rating system, this ranks as a piece of brilliant stupidity. While the plot and the idea seem really stupid and moribund, the performances and collection of principle actors proved to be an excellent mix, creating a grab bag of humor and suspense. I especially loved Michael Gross and Reba McEntire's performances as the gun toting couple. Kevin Bacon may have a game named after him, but this is one of those little films which proved to be a stirring presentation of the persona he can project. This film was all about good fun, and it delivered.