Tremors **** (1990, Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross, Reba McEntire) – Classic Film Review 1402

Director Ron Underwood’s 1990 comedy horror thriller Tremors puts a great big smile on your face.

In Underwood’s, S S Wilson’s and Brent Maddock’s witty screenplay, there’s a bunch of pesky, always hungry monster worms terrorising the inhabitants of the small US Western desert town of Perfection, a normally quiet, desolate spot in Nevada, eating them up and dragging them and their cars into the earth.

Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward land great roles as the heroes, local workmen who fortunately have a few tricks up their sleeves too. They play Val McKee and Earl Basset, working as handymen at the isolated ex-mining settlement that, luckily for the budget, has only 14 residents.

Most important among the locals are general store owner Walter Chang (Victor Wong) and survivalist couple Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) and Heather Gummer (Reba McEntire), along with annoying brat Melvin Plug (Robert Jayne [Bobby Jacoby]), Nancy (Charlotte Stewart), Miguel (Tony Genaro), Mindy (Ariana Richards) and Nestor (Richard Marcus).

Finn Carter co-stars as new arrival Rhonda LeBeck, an eager graduate student conducting seismology tests, who finds that the monsters detect the humans by sound vibrations and that there are three of them.

It’s a hugely enjoyable monster movie in the 50s style, properly and scarily creepy but also deliciously and hilariously tongue-in-cheek, managing to make a huge virtue out of the ludicrously preposterous story and affectionately ridiculous, cheap-looking special effects.

There is a lot of energy from the unlikely, but ideally paired stars and dynamism from director Underwood, all combining to kick up a great deal of fun.

Though set in Arizona, it is filmed in Lone Pine, California, with the mountains seen in the background actually the Sierras. The creature designs are done by Amalgamated Dynamics. The full-scale graboid, that can be seen after Val digs it up, was made of foam. It was placed in a trench, buried and dug up again to achieve the proper effect.

Its popularity started a franchise. Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996), Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001) and a prequel Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004) followed, all made for video. Thirteen episodes of a TV show Tremors: The Series aired from March to July 2003.

Fred Ward (December 30, 1942 – May 8, 2022) enjoyed a long and diverse film career, including Escape from Alcatraz, Southern Comfort, The Right Stuff, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, Tremors and Tremors 2: Aftershocks, Henry & June, The Player, Swing Shift and Short Cuts.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1402

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more film reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/

Survivalist couple Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) and Heather Gummer (Reba McEntire).