'Tremors' is again a film I've grown up being very aware of, yet had no desire whatsoever to give any of my time to. Add to that the ever grown list of dreadful straight to video sequels that have been released over the years, it is not hard to see why this is a franchise that has been avoided.
Kevin Bacon is at the forefront of this film and is an actor I have always been a fan of, even given his rather exaggerated performance here. In all fairness though, I feel that is in part due to the scrambled tone and direction of the film. Bacon shares the lead role status with Fred Ward, an actor I'm not too familiar with. Although I'm not entirely sure of the on screen relationship between Bacon and Ward, there is no denying their chemistry is impeccable and very entertaining to watch. The remaining cast are very much bit players with limited screen, and they're there to fill out the small population of the town, aptly named 'Perfection'.
The gore and practical effects work here is a lot more graphic than I expected it to be, considering this falls under a 12a rating. And, although we never really see anyone get massacred by the creatures (Graboid) on screen, the aftermath scenes feature some pretty bloody and well done effects that I'm not sure I would feel comfortable enough to show to a 12 year old. The puppetry and creature design was really creative and genuinely quite impressive. If I didn't know better I would have sworn 'The Jim Henson Company' had involvement in bringing these creatures to life.
I was never bored by this film but for one reason or another it just seemed to suffer with pacing. I felt I was constantly time watching and found myself amazed that there were still 40 minutes to go at one point. It was as though we had reached the penultimate moment in the film only for me to find we still had half way to go. Crazily enough though, I actually enjoyed this film more than I maybe should have. It is littered with problems from start to finish, yet holds a certain charm about it that that I couldn't help but love. I can imagine that if I grew up with this film, it would be on a regular rotation for me.
💀💀💀1/2
Read Marc's full review here
Listen to the You Run Podcast Episode here
Check out Dewey Pod-Monster's episode heeeere