Tremors (1990 film)
| Tremors | |
|---|---|
| File:Tremors.jpg IMDB  7.0/10 (12,034) | |
| Directed by | Ron Underwood |
| Written by | S.S. Wilson |
| Produced by | Gale Anne Hurd S.S. Wilson Ron Underwood |
| Starring | Kevin Bacon Fred Ward Finn Carter Michael Gross Reba McEntire Victor Wong |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates | 19 January, 1990 (world premiere) |
Running time | 96 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | USD$11,000,000 (estimated) |
Tremors is a 1990 comedic monster movie about a group of people from a small Nevada town fighting subterranean worm-creatures dubbed "Graboids". It was directed by Ron Underwood, and stars Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward and Finn Carter.
Synopsis
The handyman team of Valentine McKee (Bacon} and Earl Bassett (Ward} live in Perfection, Nevada, a decaying ex-mining town with only a dozen or so other residents, among them Burt and Heather Gummer (a married pair of survivalists), and the namesake owner of Walter Chang's General Store. A new arrival is Rhonda LeBack (Carter) a college student conducting seismology tests around the town. After the two heroes meet Rhonda, Burt tries unsuccessfully to get Val interested in her, instead of the useless bimbos the younger man usually gravitates to.
After a day of particularly disgusting and backbreaking chores, Val and Earl finally become fed up with their hand-to-mouth existence and decide to move to the nearest "real" town and look for better employment. Unfortunately, each time they try to leave Perfection, they encounter another dead body. On their third try, now going for the police, they find the only road out of town blocked by a landslide at a road-construction site, and evidence of yet another death. Returning once again to Walter's store, it is pointed out to them they have something wrapped around the back axle of their truck: the severed body of a hideous creature the general size and shape of a python. They make a fourth attempt to leave town and get help, this time on horseback. Enroute, they learn the true magnitude of what they are facing when it erupts out of the ground in front of them: the "snake" is merely one of the three "tongues" employed by enormous burrowing worm-creatures, eventually dubbed Graboids. Thrown from their horses, the two of them run for their lives, jumping a concrete aqueduct which blocks their path. Their pursuer rams headlong into the aqueduct's wall, killing itself instantly. The duo's glee is short-lived when Rhonda joins them and realizes from her readings that there are three more of the creatures running around Perfection Valley. They try to get to Rhonda's truck, but another Graboid traps the trio on a boulder, and proves to be possessed of very keen hearing and infinite patience. After spending the night on their "island", Rhonda comes up with the clever idea of pole vaulting from boulder to boulder. They reach her truck and escape back to town, where they have trouble convincing the remaining residents of the danger.
This problem is unfortunately solved when the Graboids attack the town, picking off people one by one and eventually forcing everyone to climb up on their roofs. The Gummers return to their home from patrolling, unaware of what has happened, and are confronted by one of the creatures smashing its way into their underground bunker. They succeed in killing it with their vast arsenal of firearms, but another of the monsters destroys their four-wheel-drive vehicle, again leaving the humans no way to get out of town. Back at Chang's store, as the Graboids slowly but methodically dig the town out from under them, Val comes up with the idea of driving to solid rock on the enormous town bulldozer, dragging an old semi-trailer behind it. They collect everyone in town and the Gummers, and set out. Unfortunately, the Graboids are as adaptable and clever as humans, and dig a pit-trap in the bulldozer's path, wrecking it. The humans use some of Burt's home-made explosives to temporarily drive the noise-sensitive Graboids away, and make it to the relative safety of another boulder. After Val and Burt quarrel about their predicament, Val has another idea; luring the Graboids into swallowing one of Burt's bombs, thinking it is one of the humans walking on the surface. This works once, spectacularly, but on the second try, the last remaining Graboid spits the explosive back onto the boulder, forcing the humans to scatter. Val is left with one last bomb, and one last idea: he lets the Graboid chase him to the edge of a cliff, and "stampedes" it with the bomb, sending it roaring through the cliff-face and plummeting to its death. The group triumphantly returns to town, and a disgusted Burt finally pushes Val into approaching the clearly-interested Rhonda romantically. As the credits roll, they kiss.
Cast
- Valentine McKee (Kevin Bacon)
- Earl Bassett (Fred Ward)
- Rhonda LeBeck (Finn Carter)
- Burt Gummer (Michael Gross)
- Heather Gummer (Reba McEntire)
- Walter Chang (Victor Wong)
- Melvin Plug (Robert Jayne)
- Mindy Sterngood (Ariana Richards)
- Nancy Sterngood (Charlotte Stewart)
- Miguel (Tony Genaro)
- Nestor (Richard Marcus)
- Jim (Conrad Bachmann}
- Megan (Bibi Besch)
Titles in different languages
- Brazilian Portuguese: O Ataque dos Vermes Malditos (literally, Attack of the Cursed Worms)
Sequels
The film was followed by two sequels, a prequel and a TV series on the Sci-Fi Channel:
- Tremors (1990)
- Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996) (V)
- Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001) (V)
- Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004) (V)
- Tremors the television series
There is a rumor circulating that there is a finished screenplay for a fifth Tremors film, but whether or not this is true, and if it is, if Universal Studios will even greenlight another Tremors installment, is unknown.