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Tremors (1990)

post #1 of 47
9/15/08 at 1:16pm
Thread Starter 
I was suprised not to find a thread dedicated solely to this classic B-movie monster flick. It's been burning up the Encore channels for like two months now, so I've seen it a couple of times recently. It's aged remarkably well.

So many good things to love:

- The play between Bacon and Ward, who've got such great, unforced chemistry it seems like they've been busting each other's balls for years. I love how they're equal but not exactly equal (Earl being the older, more measured guy, Bacon being the younger buck). And of course they're ball busting makes the movie eminently quotable.

- Great fucking monsters. The practical effects are pretty wicked. Love the tongues.

- Just a master class on mixing tones. Manages to be hilariously funny without sacrificing some surprising brutality (Walter being dragged under the floor, or the attack on doc and his wife).

- Perfectly constructed screenplay. Pacing is flawless (having as much to do with the tone as the plot), and I love how the set ups pay off.

Question though: Is Melvin related to Nestor? He's a teenager, right? I figured he belongs to somebody, and he's shaken up once Nestor gets taken (though it might just be because he hadn't seen anyone die before).
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post #2 of 47
9/15/08 at 1:17pm
I absolutely adore this film. One of the my fondest childhood memories and even like the sequel to a certain extent.

Ward and Bacon are tremendous here.
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post #3 of 47
9/15/08 at 1:20pm
I've only seen this once, but rather enjoyed it. Ward elevates almost anything he's in.

I really need to see the sequel because I know Ward headlines it himself.
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post #4 of 47
9/15/08 at 1:43pm
Great fun. First time I ever heard the expression 'PARDON MY FRENCH'!! A lot.

The sequel is good fun.It misses Bacon, but still worth watching. Haven't seen parts 2 or 3, or the TV series.
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post #5 of 47
9/15/08 at 1:57pm
This is one of my all time favorites. Such a fun and well made monster movie. The second one is worth watching, but skip everything else.
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post #6 of 47
9/15/08 at 2:02pm
Banks, I always wondered why Melvin was wandering around all the time unsupervised. But wasn't it his place where they have the septic tank mishap? I always assumed his folks were at work. Or off drunk somewhere.

I remember seeing this in the theater, during one of those sneak preview things the weekend before its release. Besides me and my brother, there were maybe, maybe five other people in the auditorium. Such a shame.

Gotta throw some love out there for Chang, slick as snot.

Michael Gross and Reba rock the house, too.
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post #7 of 47
9/15/08 at 2:02pm
I'm also a huge fan of Michael Gross's "Burt Gummer". Next to Ward's character, Burt is my favorite.
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post #8 of 47
9/15/08 at 2:05pm


Get it. Love it.
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post #9 of 47
9/15/08 at 2:06pm
That pack is rather cheap, too.
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post #10 of 47
9/15/08 at 2:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith Fordyce View Post
That pack is rather cheap, too.
Truly. I've seen it for $9.99 in some places IIRC. That's $2.50 a flick. Why hasn't the TV show been released???

It's a crying shame that these kind of flicks don't make it to the theaters much anymore. The creature feature is all but segregated to DTV or the Sci Fi Channel. It's also a shame that there aren't many monster flicks these days that are as Saturday Matinee fun or utilize as much practical FX (besides GDT's output).

google located this thread and a few others: Tremors Discussion
And it was recently talked about in this thread: The Creature/Cryptid Movie Thread (Tremors, Piranha, Shark Attack, Leviathan etc.)
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post #11 of 47
9/15/08 at 2:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alex Riviello View Post


Grab it. Love it.
Fixed that for you.
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post #12 of 47
9/15/08 at 2:29pm
Darkmite, I think that a lot of it has to do with the mainstream audience's disdain for horror in general. Toss in some comedy and, unless it's Freddy Krueger or the Ghostbusters, the audience has no idea what to make of it. How did Eight Legged Freaks (which I thought was a blast) do at the box office? From what I can tell, not so good.

Directly on point (and so as not to derail further): Tremors = Good. Also, per the box set cover, I don't remember the Graboids having big sharp teeth. Was that a sequel I missed?
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post #13 of 47
9/15/08 at 2:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mattioli View Post
Also, per the box set cover, I don't remember the Graboids having big sharp teeth. Was that a sequel I missed?
Nah. The original poster had that misrepresentation as well.
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post #14 of 47
9/15/08 at 2:45pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith Fordyce View Post
Banks, I always wondered why Melvin was wandering around all the time unsupervised. But wasn't it his place where they have the septic tank mishap? I always assumed his folks were at work. Or off drunk somewhere.
Yeah, that was definitely his house, but it was hard to tell if anyone lived there with him. Since he's not old enough to buy liquor and is called pizza face and such, I always figured he was just a kid and therefore didn't live by himself.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DARKMITE8 View Post
google located this thread and a few others: Tremors Discussion
And it was recently talked about in this thread: The Creature/Cryptid Movie Thread (Tremors, Piranha, Shark Attack, Leviathan etc.)
Saw that creature thread but not the first one. How do you search for threads in google? I usually just go through the archive pages but haven't found a time-efficient way to do it.
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post #15 of 47
9/15/08 at 2:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonathan Banks is my hero View Post
How do you search for threads in google? I usually just go through the archive pages but haven't found a time-efficient way to do it.
In google, I typed "Tremors", and then in the Advanced Search options under "Search within a site or domain:", I typed "chud.com". Some of the results were old threads. This does not always work for me BTW.
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post #16 of 47
9/15/08 at 3:01pm
Quick google tip: type any word and then "site:website.com" and you'll search that site. For example, "Tremors site:chud.com" without the quotes to see every reference of Tremors on the site. Just easier than click through all the options.
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post #17 of 47
9/15/08 at 3:09pm
Dre and I could go on and on about the genius of this screenplay, but you mere mortals aren't up for that kind of intense discussion.

I will say that the movie has the single best and most irreverent attempt at establishing geography ever:

A guy pissing off a cliff.
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post #18 of 47
9/15/08 at 3:32pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean Bateman View Post
Dre and I could go on and on about the genius of this screenplay, but you mere mortals aren't up for that kind of intense discussion.
I wouldn't have brought it up if I were gonna get all shrinking violet about it.
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post #19 of 47
9/15/08 at 3:33pm
Not to mention this was the first movie in which I saw a truck have a toilet rattling around in its bed.

But man do I need to revisit this.
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post #20 of 47
9/15/08 at 5:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean Bateman View Post
Dre and I could go on and on about the genius of this screenplay, but you mere mortals aren't up for that kind of intense discussion.
Bring it.

Maybe it'll inspire me to break out my dvd like the GHOSTBUSTERS appreciation thread did recently.
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post #21 of 47
9/15/08 at 6:15pm
TREMORS is one of those films I never get tired watching. I've seen it over a dozen of times and it never gets old. The Graboid attack on Perfection is chock full of excitement. Furthermore Bacon and Ward have great chemistry together.

Saw the TV Series as well. Nice to see they got so many of the original cast back. Including Mindy the little girl.
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post #22 of 47
9/18/08 at 10:55am
Cool thread. I caught this a week or so ago and was wondering the same thing about Melvin. Guess we'll never know.

Fun, fun, fun movie. The Graboids are a great concept and the cast is uniformly excellent for this type of flick.

I've seen parts 2 and 4, but never 3. I might have to scoop that pack up if it's that cheap...
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post #23 of 47
9/18/08 at 11:22am
A friend got me the attack pack as a goof. I was very happy becasue i love the first film. the second one is worthwhile. The rest don't work that well but should be given some credit. They do reinvent the graboids each time and at least try to come up with something unique. The pack is worth getting if you just love the first one since you basically get a ton of other stuff free when you consider how cheap it is.
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post #24 of 47
9/18/08 at 11:29am
FYI, this is available on Comcast's ON DEMAND service in HD right now.
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post #25 of 47
9/18/08 at 3:47pm
SUNDAY IN NYC- HUNT GRABOIDS WITH CHUD!
Stuck here in Orlando, I'm jealous.
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post #26 of 47
9/18/08 at 4:11pm
I just right now realized that the poster is a spoof of the Jaws poster.
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post #27 of 47
9/18/08 at 4:56pm
Just noticed on wikipedia that Melvin and Nestor share the same last name [Plug], so they are most likely related.

IMDB, however, does not list surnames. So it might be incorrect, but there you go.
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post #28 of 47
9/18/08 at 9:41pm
They are father and son, I haven't watched the movie in a while though. But I'm pretty sure that it's mentioned.
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post #29 of 47
9/18/08 at 10:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sean Bateman View Post
Dre and I could go on and on about the genius of this screenplay, but you mere mortals aren't up for that kind of intense discussion.

I will say that the movie has the single best and most irreverent attempt at establishing geography ever:

A guy pissing off a cliff.
Tell me more, sir. I always thought that whole "Stampede! Stampede, Earl!" bit at the start was a nifty piece of foreshadowing but you're clearly working on a whole other level. Give it up, Bateman!

And Bacon and Ward coulda been the blue-collar, monster-slaying Hope and Crosby for our generation.

Man, I love me some TREMORS.
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post #30 of 47
9/18/08 at 11:03pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tommy five-tone View Post
Tell me more, sir. I always thought that whole "Stampede! Stampede, Earl!" bit at the start was a nifty piece of foreshadowing but you're clearly working on a whole other level. Give it up, Bateman!
That's actually a nifty example of the screenplay's tight symmetry as well. The final sequence happens on the same cliff where the film opens. Not only is Bacon playing on the "Stampede!" bit, but if you really get into it, the film opens with Val and Earl's conversation about intelligent men ("I tell ya, is this a job for intelligent men?" "Show me one and I'll ask him.") and ends with Val basically asserting his intelligence ("This bastard ain't smarter than us.")
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post #31 of 47
9/19/08 at 1:12am
It's on TV so I'm watching it, and I looked it up on imdb. The writers write shit when they aren't writing Tremors, like major shit.

By the way, this is the closest my cat's watched the television in a long time.
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post #32 of 47
9/19/08 at 10:22am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gabe Powers View Post
It's on TV so I'm watching it, and I looked it up on imdb. The writers write shit when they aren't writing Tremors, like major shit.
Hey, didn't they write SHORT CIRCUIT?

I was watching as well, and I noticed two lines that never really struck me funny, but cracked me up:

- When Val and Earl are readying the saddle horses to ride to Bixby, Walter comes up and says, "Hey Earl, here's some swiss cheese and some bullets." This absolutely killed me. The more you think about it the more brilliant it gets.

- After the guys kill the first graboid they're walking along and Earl screams bloody murder when he falls into a hole in the ground. He gets up and says, "Damn prairie dog burrow." Right on top of it Val responds, dead serious, "Sons of bitches." So. Fucking. Funny.
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post #33 of 47
9/19/08 at 10:25am
Also that pole vaulting scene is hilarious fun to watch. That accompaning music is just perfect for that sequence.
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post #34 of 47
9/19/08 at 10:30am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by felix natalya View Post
Also that pole vaulting scene is hilarious fun to watch. That accompaning music is just perfect for that sequence.
Speaking of the music, just for the one or two people interested in this sort of thing, Ernest Troost gets screen credit for the score, but underused journeyman Robert Folk wrote a big chunk of it.
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post #35 of 47
9/19/08 at 3:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonathan Banks is my hero View Post
Hey, didn't they write SHORT CIRCUIT?
Yes, yes they did. Your point?

The Prairy Dog Burrow bit was something I'd constantly pull when walking in the desert with friends. They never got it.
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post #36 of 47
9/19/08 at 4:28pm
The first movie I saw that was both terrfying and absolutely hilarious at the same time. There are two scenes I think of right off the bat that still freak me out: when the old man tending sheep gets grabbed and the scene in which the grabboid takes down that station wagon. Scared the crap out of me when I was a kid, creeps me out 15 years later.

I also love this Bacon line: "You will have long blonde hair, big green eyes, world class breasts, ass that won't quit and legs that go all the way up."

The way he emphasizes the "legs that go allllll the way up" puts a smile on my face every time, and it's the quote I remembered the clearest after watching the movie for the first time.
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post #37 of 47
9/19/08 at 4:36pm
I had a friend who was SO royally pissed that they removed 'motherfucker ' and replaced it with 'motherhumper' when he saw it on the tube.

As in..."Roger that Burt, and congratulations. Be advised, however, that there are two more, repeat, two more motherhumpers. "

I tried to explain that that was exactly the line I heard when I saw it at the cinema in England, it perfectly fit the charactor and it made me grin...His response was to viciously verbally attack the BBFC (British Board of Fucking Cunts, according to him) who [allegedly] is entirely composed of 'blue-rinse grandmas' and 'mommies-boy retards' whose sole purpose is to 'ruin the film-going experience' and that the edit obviously happened in the theatrical release as well.

Like I said, I HAD a friend...
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post #38 of 47
9/19/08 at 6:29pm
"Who died and made you Einstein?"

Such a great little creature feature. Never fails to work for me. Like the Joe Dante movie, Joe Dante never made. (Controversially, put this on or above same level as GREMLINS) Someone called the screenplay "genius". Hard to call that an over-statement.

Valentine & Earl feel like old friends. How many movies can you say that about the main characters? Revisiting always puts a smile on my face.

(Thanks to this thread, watching this weekend)
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post #39 of 47
9/20/08 at 12:42pm
"I'm older and I'm wiser!"
"Yeah well, you're half right..."
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post #40 of 47
9/20/08 at 1:31pm
Great movie, one of the first that after I watched it, had everyone else watch it with me that same weekend.

I also mentioned it in the other thread, I have the movie poster on my wall, and it was years later that i realized "hey wait a sec..graboids aint got teeth" coruse that could just be another incarnation/evolution for a fifth movie.
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post #41 of 47
9/20/08 at 8:37pm
Bacon's delivery of "Fuck you!" after they kill the first graboid has to my favorite delivery of that line ever. I've been yelling "fuuuuuuuuck yoooouu!" ever since. I've also been known to say "screeeeeeww yoooouu!" taking after the great tv dub of the movie.

Yeah, I'm weird.
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post #42 of 47
9/25/08 at 3:47am
Tremors is indeed brilliant stuff. Love the aforementioned prairie dog burrow response ("Sons of bitches." and the scene with the old goat herder getting yanked under the ground.

As for the sequels, 2 was fantastic and 4 was fun times. I don't remember enough of 3 to comment on it, though I do recall liking the winged Graboids.
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post #43 of 47
9/25/08 at 2:49pm
One of the things I like about this franchise is they're not just a giant known animal (like snakes or earthworms, etc). Those kind of flicks are fun and have their place, but I love the mystery of the unknown... some creature that keeps you on your toes... something strange you might find in a D&D manual.



EDIT: Here's an interesting cocktail party physics discussion on TREMORS (and the scientific method, panspermia, etc). Found the link to it here.

Anyone see the 1981 giant killer sand worm flick, BLOOD BEACH (with Burt "Paulie" Young and John Saxon)? Worth tracking down?

EDIT 2: there's also a Tremors wiki, apparently.

Watch episodes of the series here on hulu.
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post #44 of 47
10/1/08 at 5:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DARKMITE8 View Post
One of the things I like about this franchise is they're not just a giant known animal (like snakes or earthworms, etc). Those kind of flicks are fun and have their place, but I love the mystery of the unknown... some creature that keeps you on your toes... something strange you might find in a D&D manual.



EDIT: Here's an interesting cocktail party physics discussion on TREMORS (and the scientific method, panspermia, etc). Found the link to it here.

Anyone see the 1981 giant killer sand worm flick, BLOOD BEACH (with Burt "Paulie" Young and John Saxon)? Worth tracking down?

EDIT 2: there's also a Tremors wiki, apparently.

Watch episodes of the series here on hulu.
Saw BLOOD BEACH years ago, it was at best ok, I don't know if I would work at looking for it.
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post #45 of 47
12/21/11 at 5:37pm

I've seen Blood Beach, Tremors is far more superior to it. It's so bad, it's good so if thats what you like then yeah it's worth tracking down.

 

Tremors is my all favorite time movie. I can't count how many hours I have wasted watching Valentine & Earl chasing graboids around.

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post #46 of 47
12/22/11 at 7:09pm

Man, that article made me realize: I love when science and science fiction aren't at odds. Are they unknown mystery creatures? Yes - but rules are established, and the creatures don't deviate from the rules unless the rule was initially wrong/ I mean, I know they eventually get on land and fly in the series, but they don't do that in the course of a movie. They're established as underground mammoth people eating worm things. They stay mammoth people eating worm things. 

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post #47 of 47
12/22/11 at 7:29pm

Pencil me in as a fan of Tremors. I wish Kevin Bacon could have been in the second one. I thought 2 was okay, but it could have used some Bacon.

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