Tremors

It’s not too often that comedy can be successfully integrated into a creature feature, but Tremors is a great example of having pulled it off. Two decades have passed since this movie came out in 1990, and still, each fresh viewing seems like a new one and it’s just as fun to watch it over and over again. Not a feat many such movies are able to accomplish.

Now we’ve to keep in mind here that this is an entirely fun movie, it doesn’t take itself seriously at any point. So we’re in for some corny stuff, like corny acting, and hammy dialogues which have been used quite a few times in the past, albeit still hilarious to listen to. This is a film only to be watched if you don’t put too much emphasis on the plot, acting, and whatnot, and are able to appreciate an entertaining movie which doesn’t require a whole lot of intelligence.

The movie starts off right away introducing us to the two main characters, Val (Kevin Bacon) and Earl (Fred Ward), a couple of handymen. They’re tired of working menial tasks for loose change, at a little town called “Perfection”, an almost isolated place that apparently was used for mining purposes, with a population of 14, which leads them to leave for the nearest town, Bixby. However on the way, they discover this dead old man, up on an electric tower, who seemed to have passed away from dehydration. A few more deaths follow. Sure enough, they finally discover who (or rather, what) is responsible for these chaos. Some underground wormlike creatures, which have snake like tentacles for their tongues, prey on humans by the help of the sounds and vibrations that the people make while moving. Named Graboids by a character in the movie, these creatures are hell bent on devouring the whole town. Val and Earl, with the help of Burt and Heather, a survivalist couple who’ve stacked up on weapons enough for an entire battlefield, a graduate student called Rhonda who came over to conduct seismology tests, and a few other residents, team up to kill the monsters. Hilarious dialogue and lots of chaos, along with some monster blood and guts, follow.

This is a B movie through and through, but it doesn’t entirely seem so, with the presence of not-so-small-name-actors like Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward. And it’s not even an “it’s so bad that it’s good” movie; it’s genuinely good, fun to watch for anyone who doesn’t mind a good monster comedy flick. It’s a pity that the sequels weren’t as good as the first one, but still worth a watch for anyone who’s interested. All in all, a very good movie, one I’d watch repeatedly without once getting bored.