What would a film world without B movies be like? A bummer, that’s what. No Them! No Tarantula. No The Blob. No The Thing From Another World. Not a film world that I would want to live in, I’ll tell ya’ that.
It would be like a real world without soft serve ice cream. Without flamin’ hot Cheetos, funnel cake or Krystals (the southern equivalent of White Castle sliders).
Some folks would be fine with that. Some might even think it would be a better place without these things. Not me. I’m a most–not all, but most— things in moderation person.
And that’s exactly why I like director Ron Underwood’s Tremors so much. It’s a straight up creature feature, a ‘Katy bar the door’ B movie and a comedy to boot–one that actually makes me laugh. And that’s a win, win, WIN in my book.
Ahem…
Tremors begins irreverently and, under the circumstances, perfectly with Val (Kevin Bacon) relieving himself off a cliff into a canyon’s abyss. It’s funny. It shows us, in a tiny capsule, who Val is and what we are in store for.
While Val zips up, his older, chiseled pal Earl (Fred Ware) snores inside a sleeping bag in the back of his pickup. He shares the back of his pick up with lawn tools and junk. This shows us a lot about who Earl is.
From their boots and rugged but perfectly fitting Wrangler jeans, we gather that Val and Earl are cowboys–and they are. On good days. On most days they are handymen in a spot in the desert town of Perfection, Nevada.
Perfection is anything but perfection. And it’s not a town either. It’s a forlorn village (population 14) with not a single tree in sight, deteriorating trailers–not mobile homes–and a sprinkling of shotgun shacks. The center of town is Chang’s general store.
Understandably, Val and Earl long to leave Perfection for the greener pastures of Bixby, (Ahem…) a town some thirty miles down the road with roads that are actually paved, only every time they gather enough gumption they are waylaid by a local yokel with a chore, a fifty dollar bill and a twelve pack of beer. And so it goes until one day a very unpleasant encounter with a septic tank inspires them. They throw their belongings in Earl’s truck with plans to get the heck out of…Perfection.
On their way to Bixby they pass a transmission tower and notice ‘ole’ Fred, the village drunk, perched atop of it. Thinking ‘ole’ Fred must be on a hardcore bender, they play rock, paper, scissors to determine who will climb the tower and bring him down. Val looses and climbs, only to discover that ‘ole’ Fred isn’t on a bender after all. He’s dead.
They take Fred to the village doctor (yeah, I know, a town with pop. 14 that has a homeless drunk and a doctor… Ahem…). He tells them that Fred died of dehydration and most likely had been on the tower for about three days.
Something must have chased ‘ole’ Fred up the tower and kept him up there they surmise, but what? It doesn’t matter cause Val and Earl are still leaving. If anything, they are even more determined. But their escape is foiled when they are waylaid yet again at a sheep herder’s shack after discovering a pen full of mutilated sheep and the severed head of the herder in what looks to be a giant doodlebug hole.
Val and Earl may be beautiful losers, but they do have morals. Thinking a maniacal serial killer is on the loose, they put Bixby on the back burner and hightail it back to Perfection. On the way they stop to warn a road crew and in a panic–it appears–Val hangs up the back bumper of the truck, spinning the tires like crazy before he finally breaks free. This pisses Earl off.
Back at Perfection they round up the residents and hold an emergency town meeting at Chang’s. While the townsfolk are sorting out what to do, Melvin, the resident smart alec teenager, (Bobby Jacoby) discovers what appears to be a huge prehistoric snake attached to the axle of Earl’s truck. It has been pulled apart–that’s what caused the spinning tires–and it stinks to high heaven.
Obviously, it is also what has made waste of at least two of Perfection’s residents and several of its sheep–or so it seems. Only it’s worse.The huge prehistoric snake thing is just an appendage (one of three said appendages, actually) that flicks out of the mouth of a ginormous prehistoric earth worm thing that kind of resembles the flesh eating plant from Roger Corman’s Little Shop of Horrors.
But wait…It get’s worse. There are four of these ginormous prehistoric earth worms counting the one who lost an appendage on Earl’s axle. It’s still alive and Earl admiringly, if not begrudgingly, nicknames it Stubby.
Stubby and his cohorts have knocked down telephone lines and because of the geography, Val, Earl and company are incommunicado with the outside world even with CB radios. (Before you go Ahem… remember it’s the early 90s.)
Tremors is a profoundly, unabashedly 100% pure B movie. And like any good B movie–or otherwise–it has it’s fair share of bloopers and blunders, e.g., exposed wires, cables and boom mics and visible crew members. There are also liberal continuity mistakes like the sky going from cloudy to cloudless in what is supposed to be an uninterrupted film sequence. According to http://www.moviemistakes.com there are a whopping 46 such errors in the film.
But hey, Tremors is an ambitious, special effect dependent project on a very modest budget. As such, director Ron Underwood relies on a great cast (Fred Ward is his usual, gruff, terrific self, Kevin Bacon wears his Wrangler’s really, really well and Michael Gross is wonderful as a lovable right wing gun nut) pulling off an affectionate, charming homage to the creature feature of yesteryear–and bodacious directors who do more than they should with more than they have. If that’s not Hollywood and the future of filmmaking, i.e., YouTube, I don’t know what is.
The Tremor series is truly a guilty pleasure and I’m proud to admit that the cheetah and I own every film in the series except for the last one which we’ll be getting soon. And we can thank Michael Gross for this because he loves playing Burt Gummer.
The first film is really a lot of fun with the whole cast seemingly just having a hoot with the idea of huge worms under their feet. The chemistry between Ward and Bacon is outstanding as is it also between Reba and Gross. What a great review!!
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Thanks Michael. I’ve only seen the first one. Yes, Ward and Bacon have great chemistry. Fred Ward is one of my favorite “rugged” actors. He always establishes great chemistry with the cast. Thanks for reading.
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I always thought if they had played Remo Williams straight instead of trying to make it a action-comedy movie,Fred would have been a huge star.
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I can see that. I have to confess, though, that I really like Remo Williams. I am one of the few.
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I used to read The Destroyer novels when I younger,they were pretty action packed and violent for its day. The movie went for a lighter tone for a bigger audience and it just didn’t work. I think the movie is out of print now…..
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They run it on cable from time to time. When I run into it, I usually drop in on it.
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I will say without shame…I have watched this movie at least 5 times…and probably will again. A fun movie.
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Yeah, it’s a great film to drop in on. It’s fun and good natured.
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Sounds fun!
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It is, Lily. Check it out when you are in the mood for something lighthearted and tongue in cheek.
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Great post 🙂 I thought that Tremors was a very good creature feature. Laughs, shocks everything. Speaking of Fred Ward, did you ever see Henry & June from that same year (i.e. 1990) where he plays novelist Henry Miller? Fantastic film. As for Michael Gross, he was the only actor in this film to appear in all of the sequels. In many ways, it actually makes sense because his character being gun nut would often be looked upon as the hero killing the baddies type kind of guy (i.e. Bruce Willis in Die Hard). I am a huge fan of Michael Gross, he often comes off as just a real nice guy. He is from my state of Illinois 🙂 He received his drama degree at The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He was also wonderful as the father on the 80’s sitcom Family Ties. Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂
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No I haven’t seen Henry & June. I’ll definitely give it a watch. I really have a soft spot for Ward. I think I read that he was a pro football player prior to his acting career. I liked Michael Gross a lot in this movie. I also saw him in a Law & Order episode, he played the bad guy and he was very good.
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“I liked Michael Gross a lot in this movie. I also saw him in a Law & Order episode, he played the bad guy and he was very good.”
I will have to check that out 🙂
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You have picked one of my personal favourites here, Pam. It could have been awful, but instead it is just brilliant fun. I think that’s down to the casting, as they are all just perfect, and seem to enjoy themselves in every scene. I have watched it maybe four times, and would be happy to see it again. (Like you, I have only watched the original)
And Ward is always good, so do check out Henry and June. Maria de Madieros is superb as Anais Nin in that film.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Thank you Pete. It’s a true cult classic and much loved many–with good reason.
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It’s strange. I know I saw this film but cannot remember a thing about it. I don’t know whether that means I found it wanting or I am getting old and forgetful! Personally, I am betting on the latter. 🙂 BTW you mentioned Tarantula which along with Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Incredible Shrinking Man are my favorites Sci-Fi flicks from the 50’s.
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Yeah, I love The Incredible Shrinking Man and Invasion of the Body Snatchers too. Great films. If you get the chance–and I’m sure you will, they run Tremors frequently on cable–watch it again. It’s a lot of fun. Thanks for reading John.
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I love this movie! It’s so B-movie it hurts and I think the cast does a great job top to bottom of selling it. This was the perfect late-night TV movie back when I had cable!
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It really is perfect in it’s Bness. I’m old and old school so I still have cable and presume everyone else does. Ha!
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Hey Pam, I just had to come back on here because you talked about an underrated actor in the guise of Fred Ward. I too want to talk about one of many Hollywood celebrities who are underrated. Today, I want to pick Christine Lahti. Since you are a huge fan of Sidney Lumet, you may have noticed her as the mother of River Phoenix’s character in Running on Empty. Also, she made her onscreen debut (at least I think it was this film) in 1979 as the love interest of Al Pacino’s character in Norman Jewison’s …And Justice for All. I also loved her on the show Chicago Hope (1994-2000) in which she played Dr. Kathryn Austin (for she was Emmy and Golden Globe nominated for). I think she won for one or both of the two. I just felt inspired by your Fred Ward comment and I felt like adding in my two cents as well 🙂 Anyway, keep those comments coming 🙂
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I agree. She’s a very strong actor. Her distinctive looks–striking but not conventionally beautiful, along with her height–probably held back her career a bit. She’s not really ingenue material–and I mean that as a compliment. She’s not Anne Archer, who was the ingenue in demand at that period. (I’m not disparaging Anne Archer either–she’s a very good actor who was typecast because of her looks.) Anyway, Lahti found a home and a place to champion her talent on television where she’s had a prolific career.
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A top-drawer joy ride of a fun buddy movie that just keeps the smiles coming. Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon are just so perfect as the bantering best buddies. Haha yes indeed Michael Gross and his wife are so funny as the armageddon preppers, all their christmases came at once when they get to use their hardware.
Super read Pam I too have as much love for this cult classic as you do from your excellent review.
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Yes! Michael Gross and Reba McEntire (she’s a big Country singer over here, remarkable debut acting, I think) are wonderful. That scene where they are giving the graboid what for with their arsenal–pitching guns and ammo to each other– is hilarious. Definitely a case of be careful of what you wish for…it just may come true.
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No way I didn’t realise she was a singer or that it was her debut. Yes she fitted into the role perfectly. Haha yes that scene is absolutely hilarious. I had the joy of introducing it to my two kids last year and it went down a storm. 🙂
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Yep, She actually had a TV show, called Reba. I liked it. It was successful. Her timing is spot on. She’s a natural–like Dolly Parton.
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You really captured this film, in all its triumphs and flaws. I have to tell you that I loved it. My husband and I saw this years ago and I still remember how hard we laughed. The creatures’ gargantuan size and the gun slinging war they launched against them was hilarious. You are right, it may have been a B movie, but we thought it was a good one!
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Hello Melissa. Nice to hear from you. I hope things are going well for you and that your husband is progressing physically. You have been in my thoughts and prayers.
Yes, I have an affection for Tremors. It’s a delightful little film. That sounds condescending, but I mean it sincerely. No, it doesn’t have perfect pitch, but it hits all the high notes.
–Pam
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