Product: Tremors (1990)
Rating: 5.0
What a hoot!
What a hoot! A great cast that plays this crazy story perfectly straight. They get us to buy into every bit of the story no matter how wrong every "scientific" premise of the story is. Each of the characters is colorful and we root for them in the way they individually deal with the crisis of these "new" creatures attacking their valley home.Valentine McKee (Kevin Bacon) and Earl Bassett (Fred Ward) are the closest thing to heroes and normal among the males in the movie. They become the leaders and the ones the plot leans on. The most colorful characters are Burt and Heather Gummer (Michael Gross and Reba McEntire) as the survivalist couple with enough food storage and weaponry to stand for five years against an invading army. The Michael Gross character is the one who is in all four movies and a few episodes of the TV series based on the movies. Although, a few others lasted through one or more of the sequels (think of Tony Genaro's Miguel). However, this is the best of the series.Victor Wong, whom we greatly miss, is terrific as the local shop owner, Walter Chang. In every role I have seen him play, I enjoy his presence and think he makes the movie better.I guess the whole "Dune" series made the idea of large worms that could move through dirt as easily as a fish through water more believable. And the monsters in this movie are quite good. Because they are underground we believe that all the moving dirt, floors, walls, and machines to be the results of those things being down there and threatening not only the characters, but us! We don't want to get eaten by them any more than they people inhabiting the movie.And while things get worse and worse for the cast, we still enjoy their inventiveness in trying to get out. That worms are as intelligent as these seem to be does require another leap of faith. But we are willing to make it for this story.Lots of fun!