"Tremors" - Film Review

Tremors is initially a film that feels like it has no business being labeled a horror movie. It's a little loopy and colorful and it seems as if there's a pretty bad movie in there somewhere that's a lighter, more mocking version of Deliverance. And I was about to write it off early on, but then the film starts to pick up some action at which point the film really starts to become pretty fun.

It dawned on me that Tremors works as well as it does because it doesn't come off entirely like a horror movie. Its like Alien in that on the surface it doesn't exactly fit the typical mold of horror. While it's nowhere near as intense or creepy as Alien (really, what could be?), its desert locale provides it with a unique flavor that the script by Brent Maddock, S.S. Wilson, and Ron Underwood seem to take a lot of pleasure in milking for all its worth, and the slug-like monsters are a surprisingly interesting, singular monster.

Tremors has a big budget film quality with low budget creative sensibilities. The film finds clever ways to raise the tension of the situation. Watching dirt be upended with only occasional hints of what lies beneath is a smart way of telling the story and creating suspense. Making vibrations be what the creatures respond to allows for the film to find inventive ways for the grabboids to kill and be outsmarted by the protagonists.

It also rather nicely takes advantage of its desert locale, allowing for some pretty beautiful location shots and horror conflicts incredibly specific to this geography. Part of the joy of Tremors is watching a film find ways to write-up the rules for a peerless horror monster and location.

There's also some pretty great special effects for the monsters, especially when they spill their guts out but also when their weird tongues come after characters.

Tremors is a very fun horror film with a lot of character and a lot of creativity.

Stray Thoughts:

-Oh, yea, Kevin Bacon starred in it. He's pretty funny too. So is much of the rest of the cast including Fred Ward and Finn Carter.
-Who doesn't want to pole vault as a form of escape?
-The death of the old couple ends on the perfect note with the car's head lights beaming up into the sky.
-The death of the final grabboid is a glorious horror setpiece.
-In premise it should be a bad B-movie, but it transcends its simple, campy concept. 

Grade: B+