ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - January 19th
"TREMORS" released in 1990
Don't miss out on future blogs, trailers, and clips IHdb has coming up
by Following IHdb's Facebook
by Following IHdb's Facebook
Valentine "Val" McKee and Earl Basset (Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward) work as handymen in Perfection, Nevada, an isolated ex-mining settlement in the high desert east of the Sierra Nevada mountains. They eventually tire of their jobs and decide to leave for Bixby, the nearest town. As they leave however, they discover the dead body of another resident, Edgar Deems, perched atop an electrical tower, still grasping the tower's crossbeams and his .30-30 Winchester rifle. Jim Wallace (Conrad Bachmann), the town doctor, determines that Edgar died of dehydration, apparently afraid for some reason to climb down for three days. Later on, an unknown force kills shepherd "Old Fred" and his flock of sheep, with his severed head discovered by Val and Earl. Val and Earl become convinced that a killer is on the loose; they head back to town to warn the other residents, passing two construction workers who ignore Val and Earl's warning and are killed by the same force, causing a rock slide. Val and Earl try to get help but find the phone lines are dead, and the only road out of town is completely blocked by the rock slide. Out of sight, a snake-like creature wraps itself around their truck's rear axle; the creature is torn apart when Val stomps on the gas pedal and drives away.
Val and Earl return to Perfection and borrow horses. They come upon Wallace and his wife's buried station wagon near their trailer, but the couple is missing (they were killed the previous night). As they press on, something suddenly erupts out of the ground, revealing the snake-like creature to be one of multiple tentacled "tongues" joined to an enormous burrowing worm-like creature (later named a "Graboid" by general store owner Walter Chang (Victor Wong)). Thrown from their horses, the two men run for their lives. The chase ends when the eyeless creature violently rams itself into the concrete wall of an aqueduct and dies from the impact. Rhonda LeBeck (Finn Carter), a graduate student conducting seismology tests in the area, stumbles onto the scene; she deduces from previous soundings that there are three other Graboids in the area. Rhonda, Val, and Earl become trapped overnight atop a cluster of boulders near one of the creatures. Rhonda has a brainstorm and grabs one of several left-behind fence poles; the three of them pole vault from each residual boulder to her truck, finally making their getaway when Rhonda hits the gas pedal.
After the people return to town, the Graboids attack, eventually killing Walter and forcing the other citizens - Nancy Sterngood and her daughter Mindy (Charlotte Stewart and Ariana Richards), teenager Melvin Plug (Bobby Jacoby), Miguel (Tony Genaro) and Nestor Cunningham (Richard Marcus) - to the town's rooftops. Meanwhile, nearby survivalist couple Burt and Heather Gummer (Michael Gross and Reba McEntire) manage to kill another one of the creatures after unknowingly luring it from town to their basement armory. In town the two remaining Graboids attack the building foundations, knocking over the trailer belonging to Nestor and dragging him under. Realizing they cannot stay any longer, Val and Earl hatch a plan to get the remaining survivors to the mountains, but the Graboids still have a trick or two waiting for them!
Val and Earl return to Perfection and borrow horses. They come upon Wallace and his wife's buried station wagon near their trailer, but the couple is missing (they were killed the previous night). As they press on, something suddenly erupts out of the ground, revealing the snake-like creature to be one of multiple tentacled "tongues" joined to an enormous burrowing worm-like creature (later named a "Graboid" by general store owner Walter Chang (Victor Wong)). Thrown from their horses, the two men run for their lives. The chase ends when the eyeless creature violently rams itself into the concrete wall of an aqueduct and dies from the impact. Rhonda LeBeck (Finn Carter), a graduate student conducting seismology tests in the area, stumbles onto the scene; she deduces from previous soundings that there are three other Graboids in the area. Rhonda, Val, and Earl become trapped overnight atop a cluster of boulders near one of the creatures. Rhonda has a brainstorm and grabs one of several left-behind fence poles; the three of them pole vault from each residual boulder to her truck, finally making their getaway when Rhonda hits the gas pedal.
After the people return to town, the Graboids attack, eventually killing Walter and forcing the other citizens - Nancy Sterngood and her daughter Mindy (Charlotte Stewart and Ariana Richards), teenager Melvin Plug (Bobby Jacoby), Miguel (Tony Genaro) and Nestor Cunningham (Richard Marcus) - to the town's rooftops. Meanwhile, nearby survivalist couple Burt and Heather Gummer (Michael Gross and Reba McEntire) manage to kill another one of the creatures after unknowingly luring it from town to their basement armory. In town the two remaining Graboids attack the building foundations, knocking over the trailer belonging to Nestor and dragging him under. Realizing they cannot stay any longer, Val and Earl hatch a plan to get the remaining survivors to the mountains, but the Graboids still have a trick or two waiting for them!
[trapped on top of a boulder by a Graboid, Val, Earl, and Rhonda are thinking of explanations for where the creatures came from]
Valentine McKee: [joking] They're mutations caused by radiation. No, wait; the government made 'em. "Big" surprise for the Russians.
Rhonda LeBeck: Well, there's nothing like them in the fossil record... Okay, so they predate the fossil record.
[not buying it herself]
Rhonda LeBeck: That'd make them a couple of billion years old... and we've just never seen one until now. Right.
Earl Bassett: I vote for outer space. No way these are local boys.
Top: Handymen Earl (Fred Ward) and Val (Kevin Bacon) decide to leave Perfection - with just one little thing standing in their way of leaving!;
Above: Seismology student Rhonda LeBeck (Finn Carter) stumbles across some strange readings under the ground
Writer/producer S.S. Wilson originally got the idea for Tremors while he was working for the US Navy in the California desert. While resting on a rock, he imagined what it might be like if something underground kept him from getting off the rock. Pitching the idea (which had various working titles, including Beneath Perfection, Dead Silence, and Land Sharks, before the filmmakers decided upon Tremors) to fellow producer Gale Anne Hurd (who had a production deal at the time with Universal Pictures), Wilson then hired director Ron Underwood to helm the picture. Underwood had previously made educational films, before established himself as a director when his animated special The Mouse and the Motorcycle won a Peabody Award, which was followed two years later by the sequel Runaway Ralph, for which he received a Daytime Emmy nomination. Tremors would be Underwood's directorial debut.
Stars Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward were the first to be cast as the film's heroes Val and Earl. Finn Carter - who had previously starred in the CBS daytime soap opera, As the World Turns, from 1985 to 1988 (and a short reprise in 1994) before making her big screen debut in How I Got Into College opposite Anthony Edwards - was cast as college student Rhonda LeBeck. Fellow TV star Michael Gross, playing the role of survivalist Burt Gummer, began filming one day after shooting the last episode of Family Ties. Country music singer Reba McEntire, playing Burt's wife Heather, made her screen debut with Tremors.
Stars Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward were the first to be cast as the film's heroes Val and Earl. Finn Carter - who had previously starred in the CBS daytime soap opera, As the World Turns, from 1985 to 1988 (and a short reprise in 1994) before making her big screen debut in How I Got Into College opposite Anthony Edwards - was cast as college student Rhonda LeBeck. Fellow TV star Michael Gross, playing the role of survivalist Burt Gummer, began filming one day after shooting the last episode of Family Ties. Country music singer Reba McEntire, playing Burt's wife Heather, made her screen debut with Tremors.
TRIVIA: On November 28, 2015, it was reported that Universal Television and Blumhouse Productions are developing a new Tremors TV series and that Kevin Bacon would reprise his role of Valentine McKee for the first time in the series since the first movie. It was also later announced the series was moving forward at Amazon.
Top: The townspeople of Perfection begin to realize the danger they are in;
Above: Survivalist Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) fights off one of the Graboids in his basement!
With principal photography beginning in May 1998, the entire town of Perfection was built over a two-month period outside Lone Pine, California. In fact, except for two interior sets (Walter's Store and Burt & Heather's basement), the rest of the film was shot outdoors.
The creature for Tremors would be designed by Amalgamated Dynamics. One idea by the special effects crew was for the worms to have an outer shell, but when above the dirt, the shell would retract to reveal a slimier 'inner worm'. However, many production members started to giggle at the 'phallic' resemblance it had with a foreskin, so this was changed to the big worm sprouting several smaller worms from its mouth. These "snake-tongues" were supposed to be completely dry, not slimy, but was changed when it was remarked that the gloss paint effect made them look like they were covered in nail varnish. The full-scale Graboid seen after being dug up by Val was cast in lightweight foam, and was placed in a trench, then buried, and dug up again to achieve the desired "used" effect.
The creature for Tremors would be designed by Amalgamated Dynamics. One idea by the special effects crew was for the worms to have an outer shell, but when above the dirt, the shell would retract to reveal a slimier 'inner worm'. However, many production members started to giggle at the 'phallic' resemblance it had with a foreskin, so this was changed to the big worm sprouting several smaller worms from its mouth. These "snake-tongues" were supposed to be completely dry, not slimy, but was changed when it was remarked that the gloss paint effect made them look like they were covered in nail varnish. The full-scale Graboid seen after being dug up by Val was cast in lightweight foam, and was placed in a trench, then buried, and dug up again to achieve the desired "used" effect.
[Monster slams into a concrete retaining wall]
Earl Bassett: Stupid son-of-a-bitch, knocked itself cold!
[One of the snake-tongues flop lifelessly out of the hole]
Valentine McKee: Cold, my ass, he's dead. We killed it. We killed it! FUCK YOU!
Top: The miniature crew films the Grabiods puppet;
Above: Director Ron Underwood (center) with stars Kevin bacon and Fred Ward
Tremors was initially given an "R" rating by the MPAA not for violence but for language; the film included as many as 20 f-bombs. As an appeal, producers removed all utterances of the "f" word, with the exception of only two. Many of the swears were dubbed over with other words, including "can you fly you sucker?", "we killed that motherhumper," and "what the s***" when Val is overlooking the dead sheep. Composer Robert Folk was brought in at the very last minute to re-score the film. This was due to the original score composed by credited composer Ernest Troost was lacking the punch that it needed for the film musically. Approximately thirty minutes or more was written by Folk and strangely goes uncredited in the film's credits. Oddly enough, both scores are used in the film; Troost's score is more westernly and country-like with the usage of guitars and harmonicas and is mostly used in softer moments, whereas Folk's score is more epic and uses more trumpets, violins, and big instruments, and is used more closer to the climax and in more intense moments.
Although Tremors was not a big hit during its theatrical run (grossing a little over $16 million against a $11 million production budget), the film became a runaway smash in the home video market, and ultimately tripled its original box office gross with VHS sales and rentals. With the success on video, four more Tremors sequels were produced direct-to-video/DVD, including Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996), Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001), Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004), and Tremors 5: Bloodlines (2015). Original creator S.S. Wilson would produce parts 2 through 4, as well as directing Tremors 2 and 4. Fred Ward and Michael Gross both returned for Tremors 2, but since then Gross has been the only actor to appear in every Tremors movie in the franchise as Burt Gummer (and his ancestor Hiram Gummer). On September 20, 2016, Gross announced on his official Facebook page that a sixth film was in the works, with his Tremors 5 co-star Jamie Kennedy expected to return along with director Don Michael Paul, with filming expected to commence on Tremors 6 in late January 2017.
Although Tremors was not a big hit during its theatrical run (grossing a little over $16 million against a $11 million production budget), the film became a runaway smash in the home video market, and ultimately tripled its original box office gross with VHS sales and rentals. With the success on video, four more Tremors sequels were produced direct-to-video/DVD, including Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996), Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001), Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004), and Tremors 5: Bloodlines (2015). Original creator S.S. Wilson would produce parts 2 through 4, as well as directing Tremors 2 and 4. Fred Ward and Michael Gross both returned for Tremors 2, but since then Gross has been the only actor to appear in every Tremors movie in the franchise as Burt Gummer (and his ancestor Hiram Gummer). On September 20, 2016, Gross announced on his official Facebook page that a sixth film was in the works, with his Tremors 5 co-star Jamie Kennedy expected to return along with director Don Michael Paul, with filming expected to commence on Tremors 6 in late January 2017.
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 85%
______________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment