Review of Tremors (1990) by Maureen K — 05 Sep 2009

As a fan of monster movies, I find this one to be terrific and really fun. The premise is pretty simple and good, which is exactly what this kind of movie needs, and yet the plot has twists and turns that make the movie unpredictable and thoroughly interesting throughout. The monsters (called "graboids") are well-designed and fascinating. I particularly like how the movie gave the audience plenty of details about the creatures, both by actually showing them (as opposed to dully trying to play up fears by constantly hiding them from view) and by showing us some aspects of their biology, behavior and capabilities. I also love how this movie doesn't try to be some stupid horror film where the killer monster is huge and invincible - while the graboids are large and threatening, those aspects are restrained enough so as to actually make them somewhat plausible, as if such creatures really could exist in real life. And, in contrast to many monster movies, not only are they mortal, but the humans, particularly the hilarious duo Burt and Heather, are actually armed and prepared, and fight back against them.

Like many monster movies, the monsters do require some suspension of belief. Like, how did they suddenly show up out of nowhere? The graboids don't appear to have any sense of satiety either, vigorously pursuing prey even after having just fed. Also, why do they so doggedly pursue a handful of humans instead of eating other animals (that are much easier to catch and that don't fight back with guns and explosives) or just leaving the valley altogether (via the sole road going out) and gorging themselves in Bixby or Las Vegas or something? I suspect these questions are answered in the sequels, which I haven't seen yet as of this writing, and they're not a big enough deal to keep this movie from being a fun and exciting one.