Directed by Ron Underwood.
Starring Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Reba McEntire, Michael Gross and Victor Wong.
SYNOPSIS:
Powerful, subterranean creatures threaten a small, isolated mining town.
One of the most basic rules of screenwriting is to place your protagonist in the place they least want to be. It could be a relationship, a profession. Or Perfection Valley, Nevada.
Valentine McKee (Kevin Bacon) and Earl Bassett (Fred Ward) are handymen in the isolated desert town, population: 14 rednecks. Val thinks about things in the short term, those ‘things’ being girls with “long blonde hair, big green eyes, world class breasts, ass that won’t quit and legs that go all the way up.” Earl always takes the long-term viewpoint. “I mean here it is, Monday, and I’m already thinking of Wednesday…it is Monday, right?”
Nevertheless, even their short-term preoccupations show them that Perfection Valley ain’t no good. They could be earning serious money in somewhere much more exciting, not cleaning out the Plugs’ sanitary system. But strange happenings prevent them from leaving.
They find a dead man high up an electricity pylon. He died of dehydration, clinging to the pole. How long does it take a man to die of dehydration? He sure weren’t too keen on the ground. Later they pass Old Fred’s dismembered herd of sheep, with Old Fred’s disembodied head close by.
A University student, Rhonda LeBeck (Finn Carter), is getting strange readings from her seismology tests on the plains. Val is excited to meet her until he sees her brunette hair and sunscreen-covered nose. He can be so picky. She warns of powerful tremors occurring just below the ground’s surface, but even curiosity cannot stop Val and Earl’s desire to depart. A rockslide on the only safe road out of there, however, can.
Eventually Val, Earl, Rhonda and the other still-alive members of Perfection Valley discover the source of these odd occurrences – three enormous worm-like creatures that burrow underground, with three snake tongues on the head of each. Graboids, Walter Chang (Victor Wong), the owner of the general store, christens them, and then quickly goes about making money off of them by charging for photos with one of the severed tongues.
The Graboids are very sensitive to vibrations and have tracked down the group to Perfection Valley. The phone lines are severed; the only safe road out of there is blocked. The little town in the middle of nowhere suddenly seems very isolated.
The Graboids are rarely shown. Instead, characters remark on the god-awful smell in the air, or pools of water are shown to ripple Jurassic Park-style, to convey their presence. The old point-of-view shot, low on the ground with a slight Dutch angle, is also employed. It’s as if the Graboids have their own periscope as they tunnel towards their next victim.
They’re smart bastards, too. Just when Val or Earl reckon they’ve outsmarted the blasted things, by standing on the general store’s roof, the Graboids will start compromising the building’s foundations. The gang use a bulldozer; the Graboids dig a bulldozer trap. It’s a battle of wits to the very end.
Val and Earl are incredibly endearing figures. They’re perfect anti-heroes, wanting to be either opportunistic or to run away, but finding themselves shackled to Perfection Valley by their good nature. They can’t just leave their quirky supporting cast there to die.
Tremors is a homage to the science fiction, B-movie monster flicks that were so rampant in the 50s, and then destined for an eternity of black and white repeats on the small screen during Saturday afternoons. The film’s tongue may be in its cheek, but its heart is in the right place. And with such warmth towards its own characters and the pictures that inspired them, how could Tremors ever be anything but a cult classic?
RATING ***
Oli Davis
365 Days, 100 Films
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