*** (out of ****)
Starring Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross, Victor Wong, Bib Besch,and Reba McEntire
Directed by Ron Underwood & written by Underwood, S.S. Wilson, and Brent Maddock
1990
96 min PG13
“Tremors”—just say the word and people who have seen it get a far-off, goofy grin on their faces. A movie about how the podunk desert town of Perfection, Nevada is laid siege by four giant worms is absolutely and utterly absurd, yet the movie works because, in its strange way, it is both tongue-in-cheek and playing straight. This is mainstream Hollywood doing what it does best: a disposable entertainment in which likeable characters are beset by special effects, the whole thing kids itself just a little bit, and ninety-six minutes later, it’s over.
Monster movies mostly follow the same pattern, in which people and/or livestock start to disappear one-by-one, and only the hero (or in this case, heroes) can warn everyone. The less said about the giant worms, the better, except to say that they’re convincing and director Ron Underwood (“City Slickers”) is smart enough to keep them hidden and mysterious most of the time. Underwood made “Tremors” fourteen years ago, before the CG explosion, and the beasts are all done with practical effects, giving them a weight and presence that computer effects would have probably made laughable. The movie plays fair by gradually establishing what the beasts can and cannot do, and then sticking to those rules in several genuinely suspenseful scenes in which all the hicks are holed up for their lives in the general store, trying not to make a sound. The beasts burrow underground at tremendous speed and sense their prey through vibrations.
The movie also plays fair with the population of Perfection, comprised of about three dozen shit-kicking rednecks who are all funnier than they have any right to be. But they are all completely oblivious to how much they’re making us laugh. Someone trying to be funny never makes us laugh so much as someone who is funny without even knowing it. So they are all dead serious when they argue over what to call the monsters (“graboids” is finally decided upon), and they are dead serious when one of them says the monsters see the town as “one big smorgasboard.” The shop keeper is dead serious when he offers to buy one of the dead monsters for fifty bucks. And the survivalist couple with a basement full of guns is, that’s right, played absolutely deadpan. They don’t know they’re in a movie, and their discussions of where the monsters could have come from (no explanation is given, thank God) are just priceless.
The lead humans are played by Kevin Bacon (“Mystic River”) and Fred Ward (“Miami Blues”) as local handymen Val and Earl, who argue long and hard over what to have for breakfast, how many bulls make a stampede, how much beer they should charge clients, and whether or not running constitutes a plan, or just what you do when your plan fails. They are joined by a college science student (Finn Carter) who fills the Mr. Spock role of knowing everything useful about science. But most viewers remember the survivalist couple, played by Michael Gross and, yes, country singer Reba McEntire in a terrific performance smack dab in the spirit of things, who are in possibly the finest scene ever filmed in a basement. The cast is easygoing, natural, and direct, which is just what the movie needs. And nobody is particularly bright, and there’s even an annoying teenager that everyone keeps trying to find a way to sacrifice to the monsters so they can escape.
“Tremors” is, of course, a glorified, well-made B movie, a guilty pleasure, a stupidly good time in which yokels insult each other while hiding on a giant rock from a predatory earthworm. Students of film will recognize “Tremors’” fine lineage of schlock and know to appreciate its clichés rather than harp on them.. Multiple sequels have gone direct to video or TV and I haven’t bothered to watch any of them. The graboids are a fine creation, but only really able to carry the weight of one movie. How much fun are they? Well, in the words of Earl and Val:
“Have you ever seen anything like this before?”
“Oh, sure Earl. Everyone knows about them. We just didn't tell you.”
Finished February 12, 2004
Copyright © 2004 Friday & Saturday Night
Back to home.