Back in the day I remember watching Tremors all the time. I adored this movie as a kid. What more could a ten year old boy want than giant man-eating worms that explode into orange goopy blood? Now usually when I revisit a film from my childhood I am just blown away by how bad it is and I can't ask myself enough, "Why did I think that was a good movie?" But amazingly enough it is different with Tremors. So many years later I still really enjoyed this movie. It has a certain light hearted screwball sci-fi action nuance to it that is undeniably enjoyable. The film is about the residents of the town of Perfection, Nevada who are being terrorized by giant worms that devour people. The worms can only detect people by vibrations in the ground, forcing the survivors to outsmart these creatures, doing whatever they can to survive. The film perfectly blends elements of sci-fi, horror, and even loads of comedy into one immensely enjoyable film.
As with any good horror movie, the creatures in this film are only slowly revealed. We know what is mysteriously killing off people at the beginning of the movie, but the characters themselves don't, only building our anticipation to the reveal of the monstrosities. And so after about thirty minutes of build up we are privileged to receive the reveal, and it is awesomely satisfying to see these menacing looking creatures in the flesh. The design of the creatures is excellent. These worms are almost like a more visceral and grotesque rendering of the sand worms from Dune. Thus, they are all the more threatening. It is truly awesome, and very exciting indeed.
The nice thing about this film is just how much it satisfies our lust for giant worm movies, assuming that is a lust some people have. But really, this movie utilizes the underground worm design excellently, basing all of the action of the last half of the film on trying to outsmart these worms. This sets up for a plethora of suspenseful situations as the characters play mind games with the worms involving rocks, tractors, and pipe bombs. All the while the worms try to tear apart the town from under these characters, making for some very cool building collapses. However, there is something a little too jolly and light hearted about the film that makes the suspenseful scenes less suspenseful, but still plenty of fun.
Tremors also features a great duo of protagonists, Val and Earl, played by Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward respectively. This pair of redneck goof balls provide some of the films most amusing moments that don't concern giant worms. These two have a solid relationship that we can buy into so that we actually care what happens to them. The rest of the characters, unfortunately, aren't quite as memorable, but they also aren't as developed and fleshed out as Val and Earl. It's nice when you can see how much fun a couple of actors are having while working on a film and I see that so clearly through Bacon and Ward. It's just a shame that Bacon didn't stick around for the sequels. Maybe then they would have been worthwhile. Eh... probably not.
Tremors has its fair share of plot holes and useless characters, but lets face it, we came here to see giant worms right? And that is just what we get. Plenty of giant worms eating people and blowing up in our faces, much to all of our delight. This movie has a premise that sets it up so well for disaster, but Tremors happily surprises us with its wit, class, and all around fun filled attitude. It is loads of fun for all that it is worth and come on, it's only ninety minutes so why wouldn't you just sit back and have a good time with this film?
As with any good horror movie, the creatures in this film are only slowly revealed. We know what is mysteriously killing off people at the beginning of the movie, but the characters themselves don't, only building our anticipation to the reveal of the monstrosities. And so after about thirty minutes of build up we are privileged to receive the reveal, and it is awesomely satisfying to see these menacing looking creatures in the flesh. The design of the creatures is excellent. These worms are almost like a more visceral and grotesque rendering of the sand worms from Dune. Thus, they are all the more threatening. It is truly awesome, and very exciting indeed.
The nice thing about this film is just how much it satisfies our lust for giant worm movies, assuming that is a lust some people have. But really, this movie utilizes the underground worm design excellently, basing all of the action of the last half of the film on trying to outsmart these worms. This sets up for a plethora of suspenseful situations as the characters play mind games with the worms involving rocks, tractors, and pipe bombs. All the while the worms try to tear apart the town from under these characters, making for some very cool building collapses. However, there is something a little too jolly and light hearted about the film that makes the suspenseful scenes less suspenseful, but still plenty of fun.
Tremors also features a great duo of protagonists, Val and Earl, played by Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward respectively. This pair of redneck goof balls provide some of the films most amusing moments that don't concern giant worms. These two have a solid relationship that we can buy into so that we actually care what happens to them. The rest of the characters, unfortunately, aren't quite as memorable, but they also aren't as developed and fleshed out as Val and Earl. It's nice when you can see how much fun a couple of actors are having while working on a film and I see that so clearly through Bacon and Ward. It's just a shame that Bacon didn't stick around for the sequels. Maybe then they would have been worthwhile. Eh... probably not.
Tremors has its fair share of plot holes and useless characters, but lets face it, we came here to see giant worms right? And that is just what we get. Plenty of giant worms eating people and blowing up in our faces, much to all of our delight. This movie has a premise that sets it up so well for disaster, but Tremors happily surprises us with its wit, class, and all around fun filled attitude. It is loads of fun for all that it is worth and come on, it's only ninety minutes so why wouldn't you just sit back and have a good time with this film?