Tremors (1990)

Written by CaseyReese on February 5, 2023

Tremors is a fun homage to '50s horror movies. It has some monstrous critters wreaking havoc in the heartland of America. It takes place in a valley that is cut off from any outsiders who might be able to help. It shows us a group of characters with different backgrounds who will, probably, work out how to deal with the situation through teamwork, persistence, and courage. Unlike many of its predecessors, however, its humor is intentional.

Of course, this film wasn't made in the '50s, so the inquisitive kid turns out to be something of a brat, the helpless little girl can't hear warning shouts because she's listening to the latest boy-band with her headphones, and the town's residents include a couple of survivalists who know their ammo better than a Green Beret.

The film mainly follows a couple of handymen, who believe that thinking ahead to Wednesday constitutes planning, and a geology student from a nearby university, who's noticed that something's wrong out there in the desert. The interplay between the two handymen provides most of the film's fun. They poke and prod at each other's psyches much the way two people who've spent way too much time together might, especially if they lived in a town where everyone figures that the best way to handle minor disputes is by playing rock-paper-scissors.

Tremors doesn't neglect suspense in favor of chuckles, though. This film knows when to show the audience information the characters haven't seen yet, when to keep some characters from learning about things that other characters have figured out, and when to allow the audience to discover things at the same time as the astonished characters. And, none of us will notice exactly how cunning the monsters are till the end of the film.

Refreshingly, the end of the movie isn't a cop-out that relies on some weird-science solution, or a plucky, last-man-standing victory. Instead, the conflict turns into a battle of wits between the townsmen and the giant beasties. That's fitting for a film that's a little more clever that it initially seems.