Written by S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock
Directed by Ron Underwood
Starring Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross and Reba McEntire
USA, 1990
File TREMORS under “I feel like I’ve basically seen it but have I ever really sat down and paid attention from beginning to end?”
Well, now I have, and it’s no wonder everyone loves it. A small town comes together to combat a group of deadly subterranean sandworms. Attracted by movement on the surface, the worms destroy everything (and everyone) around them until the townspeople come up with creative ways to stay off the ground and kill them.
One of the strengths of the movie is the eclectic cast of characters, led by Kevin Bacon, but bolstered by TV’s greatest dad, Michael Gross, and Reba McEntire. This is both the tale of disparate people coming together to beat the odds while also not hitting that too heavily on the nose. The movie doesn’t waste time laying it on thick about how these people outright hate each other. They all get along okay in a weird little community. But it’s still fun when they pool their resources and get things done, and interesting to see the plans/solutions they come up with. This is a great example of a premise perfectly exploited for every scrap of imagination the screenwriters could scrape up, so kudos to them.
Like JAWS before it, TREMORS gets mileage from NOT showing the creatures, and then when they do show up, the effects are pretty great. This is a throwback to monster movise when absolutely no one was making monster movie (it predates JURASSIC PARK, even – btw, hi Ariana Richards).
Anyway, I’m sure this is coming off like, “Dude it turns out happiness is good!” Obvious, right? But… if there is even one person out there who has not seen TREMORS who reads this and goes, “Huh, maybe I’ll see that someday,” then it’s all worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment