Shrieker

American

The ***Shrieker*** (also referred to as ***"Screechers"*** by Nancy Sterngood or ***"Squealers"*** by Mindy Sterngood and George Meadows) is a fictional species in the *Tremors* series of films. Shriekers first appeared in *Tremors 2: Aftershocks*, where they served as the primary antagonists. Shriekers also appeared in *Tremors 3: Back to Perfection* and several episodes of *Tremors: The Series*. The Shrieker stage is the second life cycle stage of the creatures featured in the series; the Graboid being the first and the Ass Blaster being the next and final.

It reappear in Green Stripes: King of the Dimensions: The Flower's Cut that obeys Chimaura and later on, Green Stripes.

A pack of them appeared in Tremors: Shrieker Island.

## Name

The name "Shrieker" was given to the creature by the special effects crew of *Tremors 2* and later introduced to the audience in *Tremors 3*.

## Design

### American

Unlike their previous incarnations, the huge, subterranean and limbless Graboids, Shriekers live on the surface. Much smaller than Graboids, Shriekers are about 4 feet long and 3 feet tall with their jaws pieces about one and a half feet long. While Graboids are worm-like in shape, Shriekers slightly resemble dinosaurs or heavy ground-dwelling birds, having stout, three-toed legs and a compact body. They also have a short, stump-like tail. This tail, as well as some small bulges in the neck, has some orange coloring on it. While its function is unknown it could possibly be the early stage of the Ass Blaster tail and could have the chemicals already present in small quantities, or it could even be used in signaling other Shriekers. The one thing that shows Shriekers are related to Graboids is their skull - just like a Graboid's, it consists of a powerful, beak-like armored upper jaw and a much narrower lower jaw and the mandibles have sharp hooks and serration’s, ideal to hold prey. Inside the "beak" is a slightly prehensile tongue that they use to pick up smaller pieces of food or other edible material, they do this by dragging their tongue over the ground. Sometime during their twelve-hour molting it is believed that they lose the ability to duplicate and instead their bodies convert over to being able to lay eggs. After surviving for 24 hours, a Shrieker will molt into an Ass Blaster.

### Island (Tremors 7)

The island ones have the same body with two powerful legs to support its body. Their head have a bone like face with bone spines that goes from their head to their body. They have yellow spots and coral like heal sensor on the top of their heads. They have eye holes and a nose hole in their heads. They have a beak like the American incarnation and a spiked tongue used for tasting things. The way they see is a reference to Predator (1987).

### Portrayal

In Green Stripes: King of the Dimensions: The Flower's Cut, the Shrieker is portrayed by CGI. In the Tremors Franchise, it was a puppet.

### Roar

Shriekers mostly shriek or squeal when they notice someone.

## History

### Green Stripes: King of the Dimensions: The Flower's Cut

When Chimaura summon different monsters in different places around the world, a lone Shrieker was summon in Machu Picchu, Peru, and hunts with its new pack. After Amber used her device to call the monsters to Boston, the Shrieker does not make it in time to see Green Stripes become King of the Dimensions. It later on return to its dimension.

### Tremors: Shrieker Island

One Graboid and the same Graboid that Bill and the rest couldn't kill, gave birth to three Shriekers and they ran away. After Jasmine, Jimmy, and Ishimon discover the dead Graboid, they ran after heading something in the trees and two Shriekers attacked and killed Ishimon. After feasting on Ishimon and Bill's hunting group went back on the private island, the Shriekers spied on them for a bit before one tackled one of the men who was drinking before they moved on and revealed themselves after they notice they were missing someone. One used their Bioacoustics as a weapon to pin them down and attacked their men one at a time before the guy with the machine gun killed one and they used the Bioacoustics again on them before Burt Gummer, Freddie, and Jimmy showed up and burn them with flamethrowers. Burt said he count three still on the run. After they discover that the Shriekers grew in numbers and hid in a cave for shade, Burt and Freddie drove a boat there to deal with them, once and all and killed them all.

## Abilities

Shriekers are very dangerous in large packs that can be deadly to any prey.

* **Strength:**Their strength has shown by their powerful jaw to brake though car hood easily by shredding it. Their strength is strong enough to hold down humans.

* **Speed and Agility:**Their ability to move fast on their short legs to catch up to their prey such as humans and make quick turns as they are able to jump.

* **Hunting**: There can go up to six though 100 or even more to take down any prey.

* **Heat Sensor and Senses:**Since they went through the next phase this form has a heat sensor to replace the vibration detector. Their tong is also have strong sense of taste as it can be used to find food on the floor or use to help track prey as proven to taste the ladders that Earl and the rest had climb.

* **Intelligence:**Though they stay together in numbers for safety and took the amount of time to figuring way how to get prey from high ground by jumping on each other back to make a similar ladder of their own to reach their prey. One survivor was able to grip on to Burt's truck.

* **Endurance and Stamina:**Able to travel long distances without showing any sign of being exhausted just like their previous form of Graboid. Though their endurance is weaker then Graboids since losing tougher hide as they can be easily be killed by bullets.

* **Prehensile Tong:**Unlike their previous form they don't have Grabbers of snake-like tongs through their tong still can grab objects. Their tongues are the three tentacles fused together, as it can be seen that there are three "bump-like" protrusions at the tip.

* **Reproducing Growth Rate:**They can release one egg possible for a short period of time that can grown very fast to full size in minutes.

* **Heat Screeching Contacting:** They can release heat that can contact others of their kind by using a call.
* **Bioacoustics:** Not only they use Bioacoustics to speak to each other, they can also use it as a weapon to caused its prey pain and attack. It fades away after a short period of time.

## Trivia

* S.S. Wilson has named the Shriekers the single greatest threat in the Graboid life-cycle due to their reproductive abilities. Burt Gummer has argued that Ass Blasters are harder to fight than Shriekers, though Ass Blasters do not reproduce as rapidly as Shriekers do.
* While it is unknown who named the Shriekers, it is likely (given the franchises' tradition) that Grady Hoover named them.
* The African Graboids appear to have evolved to the point they straight up become African Ass Blasters; skipping the Shrieker phase altogether.