Tremors was a movie that I watched way more than I probably should have when I was growing up. It was one of the rotation of movies on the USA Network in the 90s that was being shown on an almost constant loop. That’s one of the main reasons that I was so surprised when I recently learned that it was a box office bomb. I thought it was the opposite of that for basically my entire life up until a couple of years ago. Tremors is still one of those movies that I’ll watch if I see it on or if I know where to watch it.
The story of the movie draws people in with ease. The story concept was originally by Brent Maddock, S.S. Wilson, and Ron Underwood. Maddock and Wilson would go on to write the script with Underwood taking on the role of director. All three of them made a movie that has so much charm and is so fun to watch you can’t help but be drawn into it. That also works with the cast that they got to play such likable characters.
Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward lead the cast but aren’t the only ones playing likable and memorable characters. Finn Carter, Michael Gross, and Reba McEntire are some of the biggest names in the cast. Gross was playing against his most well-known role from Family Ties and how he plays his role of Burt is probably the main reason that he’s the most enduring character of the series. The relationship between Bacon and Ward works incredibly well throughout the movie and it feels like they’re really friends and have been so for a long time. This was also McEntire’s first acting role and she plays off of everyone really well.
This is an effects movie and it was reliant on how those effects work. Not only did they work in the movie, but they still hold up well over 30 years later. The company Amalgamated Dynamics were behind the design of the graboids as well as making them for the movie. The music by Ernest Troost is a lot of fun. His score has a fun western feel to it which fits right in with the setting.
Tremors is an incredibly fun monster movie that is endlessly watchable. This would end up spawning a long running franchise. I’ve not watched past the third movie, which I’m planning on remedying as I watch through all of them. You can currently stream Tremors on Starz. I give Tremors 9.5 seismographs out of 10