Cody's Top 30 Favorite Movies of All-Time: #19 - Tremors

Continuing onward into the top 20. As Han Solo would say "This is where the fun begins".

Tremors is a 50's science-fiction B movie made in 1990. It takes place rural Nevada, in a town of approximately twelve people, called "Perfection". Tremors follows the story of two handymen-for-hire, Valentine "Val" McKee (Kevin Bacon) and Earl Bassett (Fred Ward). They frequently do business with and have idle chit-chats every day with fellow Perfection residents; Miguel (Tony Genaro), Nancy Sterngood (Charlotte Stewart) and her daughter Mindy (Ariana Richards), teenage village idiot Melvin (Bobby Jacoby), Nestor Cunningham (Richard Marcus), shop owner Walter Chang (Victor Wong) and the most badass couple ever put on film, Burt and Heather Gummer (Michael Gross & Reba McEntire). On their way into town, Val and Earl meet Rhonda LeBeck (Finn Carter), a graduate assistant studying seismology in Perfection Valley, whom Val develops an interest in.

After a septic tank sprays them with fecal matter, Val and Earl snap and vote to leave Perfection for Bixby, the supposed "bigger city" that's thirty-eight miles away. On their way out of town, they come across a man strapped to the top of an electrical tower, a man named Edgar. They find that Edgar's dead, clutching the tower and his Winchester rifle. Jim Wallace, the town doctor, tells them that Edgar died of dehydration, afraid to climb down off the tower for an unknown reason. At that same moment, another unseen force kills "Old Fred" and his flock of sheep. On their second attempt to flee Perfection, Val and Earl come across this and find Fred's face sticking out of the dirt. They race back to Perfection, bypassing two road construction workers who are also attacked and killed by an unseen underground force, causing a rockslide that blocks the only road out of town. Val and Earl return to town, find the phones are down because of the construction, and the come across the blocked road. Isolated from the rest of the world, the residents of Perfection realize that they're own their own.

Val and Earl borrow Walter's horses and decide to ride to Bixby across the country. They find the doctor's house abandoned and his car buried in the sand, both his wife and him eaten by the underground monsters. On their way to Bixby, Val and Earl's horses throw them and then are overtaken and eaten by the monsters. They each make a run for it, failing to leap a dry canal all the way. The underground monster crashes into the wall and kills itself. They find Rhonda, with whom they dig up the carcass of the creature and learn it's sheer size. Rhonda learns there are at least three more monsters in the valley, based on her seismograph readings. Another one appears and chases them up onto a rock. They spend the night on the rock, still unable to climb down since the creature can hear seismic vibrations and detect where humans are through sound.

Val, Earl & Rhonda escape through pole-vaulting across boulders to her truck and race back to town. Soon, the group explains their findings to the rest of the townsfolk, who all agree to get out and get to Bixby. Melvin and Walter agree to call them "Graboids" because of how they grab people underground. All hell breaks loose when all three Graboids converge on Perfection and start picking people off one by one. With various distractions and diversions, all the residents of town end up on their roofs. Val runs across town and hijacks the old bulldozer to drag a semi trailer with all the residents in it out of town. Burt kills one that breaks into his basement with his powerful guns and agrees they should all flee the town before the other two can kill them.

When one of the Graboids digs a trap and crashes the bulldozer, the residents flee across the desert onto a collection of rocks. Sitting on the rocks, they decide to start using pebbles as bait to entice a Graboid to come to the surface, then throwing a stick of dynamite out so the Graboid takes it down. One of them falls for it and explodes, leaving only one Graboid left in the valley. The last Graboid doesn't fall for it and spits the dynamite out. It lands on the other dynamite and explodes, leaving Val, Earl & Rhonda with one stick of dynamite left. Val uses himself as a distraction and runs off, allowing the Graboid to chase him. The Graboid runs at Val, who's on a cliff. Not recognizing where the underground ends, the Grabiod breaks through the cliff wall and plummets down to the cavern below, exploding on impact. With no Graboids left, the people of Perfection return to town in peace

So what is Tremors since it's not really a masterpiece? It's a goofy, 50's B movie tribute that pays homage to the crazy monster movies of old. It has the look and feel of being from the 50's but was made in the 90's. It's got goofy dialogue, awesome characters, and a story that's actually really intriguing. Believe it or not, I used to be afraid of this movie when I was really young, but growing up I realized the hilarity of it. It's a horror-comedy. I love this movie quite a lot. It may not be Oscar-worthy, but it is a ton of fun.