TREMORS (1990)

TREMORS (1990)

Tagline: They say there's nothing new under the sun. But under the ground...

(Horror, Sci-Fi, Comedy) [PG-13]

Earl. Here's some Swiss cheese and some bullets.

Most ’80s and '90s horror flicks had pretty freakin simple plots, TREMORS is no exception. In this one, the small town of Perfection encounters large underground burrowing creatures called graboids that look like worms with jacked-out teeth. It’s up to the close nit town to work together to overcome the threat as they all begin to be eaten one by one…

One thing that is pretty nuts about this film is that it’s essentially a b-movie with a ton of great stars from the ’80s. My favorite is probably Victor Wong who is best known for playing Egg Shen in BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA which came out 4 years earlier. We also get a heavy dose of Kevin Bacon as a cynical handyman who really just wants to leave town. Kevin Bacon apparently lamented even being part of this movie before filming, but afterward said it was the most fun he’d ever had shooting a movie. Ariana Richards who plays Mindy, but is best known for her role as the young girl in JURASSIC PARK is also in this. Reba McEntire is featured quite a bit as are a few of her songs. Michael Gross is also awesome in this movie and the entire 7 movie series. If you don’t know who Michael Gross is, he’s the dad from the Family Ties TV show. 

I remember when TREMORS came out my Junior year of high school, but I actually didn’t watch it back then. In fact, I think it’s possible I never saw the movie until I rented it at Blockbuster probably around 1993. At that time I might have just been too focused on spectacle to enjoy the witty dialog. I do remember seeing part of one of the other movies in the series, but that was about it till I was able to check out all of them recently. 

One of the strong points of TREMORS is that it has some pretty solid writing and really captures how something as outlandish as this might really go down in a small town. The other thing is that we get nothing but practical effects. This adds to the campiness, but also kept this thing feeling very down to earth as well. A lot of people say this is essentially JAWS on land, but effects-wise this movie is far superior. The entire movie takes place in a fictional town built by the studio in 2 months. 

There are not a whole lot of things I don’t love about this movie outside of some of the rough acting from the lesser-known actors. They could have cut out several of the scenes where they are using "gd" like the writer doesn't understand how people really talk and instantly improved this damn thing. Having said that it’s pretty goofy and fun throughout. I should note that it was billed as a bit of a horror flick, but there are zero night scenes and really zero scares overall. It more closely resembles a sci-fi monster flick that could have come out in the ’50s and it might have even been pretty rad if they had released a black and white version. 

Overall this thing does fit into the “cool” cult flick category separating itself from the mountains of horror flicks that came out in the ’90s with a slight edge in the language department but very little gore. For me, this is a 5 out of 7. It’s very fun, but I enjoyed other movies that came out around this time even more.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY. 

Please check out the link below by clicking on the picture. Because no one should die buttonless.