Tremors (1990) Review

No monster movie month would be complete without a review/look back at Tremors, as a kid this was one of the coolest films I ever watched and it still remains that way today over 25 years later. I’d be very surprised if there’s anyone who hasn’t seen this and better still Kevin Bacon is being linked to a new Tremors TV show after all these years. Hopefully it will make up for the lackluster sequels that it’s spawned, anyway on to the film at hand…..

Director: Ron Underwood

Writers: S.S. Wilson (story), Brent Maddock (story)

Stars: Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter

Run Time: 96 minutes

Budget: $11,000,000 (estimated)

Trivia – Although Tremors (1990) was not a big hit during its theatrical run, the film became a runaway smash in the home video market, and ultimately tripled its original box office gross with VHS sales and rentals.

Trivia – S.S. Wilson said that he got the idea for the film while he was working for the US Navy in the California desert. While resting on a rock, he imagined what it might be like if something underground kept him from getting off the rock.

Tag Lines

• The monster movie that breaks new ground.
• They say there’s nothing new under the sun. But under the ground…
• The ultimate underground movie. It will leave you legless!

Burt inspects the first glimpse our main characters get of a “Grabiod”

Although most people will know the story of Tremors and if they’re anything like me they’ll know it off by heart after all the years of repeat watching. Anyway the film follows Earl and Val two handy men stuck in the small town of Perfection during their rounds they also bump into Rhonda the seismologist who is studying equipment that is giving off some strange readings despite there being no earthquakes in the area.

Val and Earl decide to leave town and find somewhere bigger to work, unfortunately that way out of town is blocked after an attack by the “grabiods” Val and Earl don’t know about the creatures and drive off back into town after their truck got stuck. Turns out some sort of snake beast had a hold of it, which they find tangled in the axle of the truck.

Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward as Val and Earl as well as the lovely Finn Carter as Rhonda

It’s here we start to meets some of the colourful characters that make up the rest of the cast, probably most peoples favourites being a husband and wife team of complete gun nuts.

After some encounters with the beast which include pole vaulting, blowing one to pieces when it crashes into the wrong basement and hiding on the roof of the local store after the creatures attack from under the ground they need a plan to get away. The answer would be to head for the mountains where the creatures cannot burrow and get them, with this being a monster movie things don’t really go according to plan.

They really are some big ugly bastards

The film really excels towards the end as our beloved survivors try to take out the creatures and escape from the town of Perfection. It all leads to Val, Earl and Rhonda saving the day.

The Good

• The characters, everyone from the main three Val, Earl and Rhonda to the side characters and the gun nuts Burt and Heather Gummer are great and never annoying, apart from Melvin who is supposed to be annoying.
• One of my many teenage crushes Rhonda deserves a special mention.
• The effects are still not bad to this day.
• The action and chase scenes are really well done considering the creatures are not really on view most of the time.
• Even a few of the victims have slight stories given to them rather than just being victims.
• The hinted romance between Rhonda and Val is really well done and so is the tension between Burt and Val adding a bit more to the basic storyline.

Eventually everyone contributes to the survival of the group!

The Bad

• I honestly can’t think of anything bad about this film.

I absolutely love this film and whilst sure there might be other films I’ve reviewed with better direction, storyline and acting I don’t think I enjoyed any more than this one. I’m sure people will disagree but this movie is so much fun that it’s going to score extremely high, if you’ve not seen it where have you been?

Overall Rating – 9.5/10