Tremors (1990).

Review #2286: Tremors (1990).

Cast: 

Kevin Bacon (Val McKee), Fred Ward (Earl Bassett), Finn Carter (Rhonda LeBeck), Michael Gross (Burt Gummer), Reba McEntire (Heather Gummer), Bobby Jacoby (Melvin Plug), Charlotte Stewart (Nancy Sterngood), Ariana Richards (Mindy Sterngood), Tony Genaro (Miguel), Richard Marcus (Nestor Cunningham), Víctor Wong (Walter Chang), and Bibi Besch (Megan Wallace) Directed by Ron Underwood (#808 - City Slickers and #1930 - The Adventures of Pluto Nash)

Review: 

I'm surprised that I hadn't encountered Tremors before, but then again you never know how many monster comedies will come your way in the horror season. The original idea for the film came from S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, a writing duo that had first met when studying at the University of Southern California. After years of doing shorts, the two had their big break in writing and selling what became Short Circuit (1986), complete with a subsequent sequel in 1988. They wanted to break into producing alongside writing, and one idea that their agent Nancy Roberts liked involved inspiration from days spent hiking on a Navy base and wondering what would happen if there was something under a rock that meant they couldn't get off. They worked with Ron Underwood on outlining it in considerable detail before going through the trudge of trying to sell their script, which slowly but surely ended up with distribution by Universal Pictures. This was the debut feature film for Underwood (also a USC attendee), who had worked for several years in a variety of positions for films and TV, such as an adaptation of "The Mouse and the Motorcycle". The screenplay (as originally known as "Beneath Perfection") was originally finished in 1988 and the movie was shot over the course of nearly two months in 1989. The end result was a mild success (being released in January 1990 after all) with audiences that ended up spawning a certain kind of audience curiosity in six further Tremors films (1996, 2001, 2004, 2015, 2018, 2020), with Wilson and Maddock being involved in the first three sequels (complete with each directing a film); Michael Gross appeared in each one of the films, which had varying levels of success on home video. There also was a television series that briefly ran in 2003 that had involvement from Wilson and Maddock.

Well, you do get your monster worm with tentacles, with a mix of those effects being through puppets and wire (Tom Woodruff Jr and Alec Gillis were behind the creature design). People that had fun with say, Piranha (1978), will have a ball with this film for 96 minutes (well, they both involve shark-like monsters). This is mostly because it manages to generate plenty of warmth in its harkening back to some of the familiar beats of the old creature feature without having the aura of being beneath it. One doesn't have a weak link among the actors when it comes to commitment of timing to go with a quality creature look (referred to as "Graboids") to fulfill the basic needs one would like from a horror movie that likes to have a chuckle with its viewer. Bacon and Ward make for quite a fun pair to lead the way that one would almost assume they were playing brothers (interestingly enough, it took a while for Bacon to warm to the film beyond calling it one done for the money) with how they pair off each other in shades of the everyman. It probably works best that Carter just rolls along with only some of the cliches that come with science babble or in monster-peddling, mostly because the film elects to just let the monster origin just go by the wayside (the studio actually wanted an explanation for the monsters and even compelled the filmmakers to do a scene; the scene, involving earthquakes and a dead coyote, did not fare well in testing and was deleted). Gross and McEntire (a debut performance for the noted singer) makes for quite the pairing in offbeat enjoyment to round out the general curiosity. You don't get too many desert-bound horror movies, but this one makes the best of it in maintaining curiosity for its apparent threat and why we grow to care about what happens around this small town, regardless of how the body count goes. Cheesy with pride and clearly committed, Tremors is a delight for all who enter its range of curiosity.

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Eraserhead.

Review #937: Eraserhead.

Cast:
Jack Nance (Henry Spencer), Charlotte Stewart (Mary X), Allen Joseph (Mr. X), Jeanne Bates (Mrs. X), Judith Roberts (Beautiful Girl Across the Hall), Laurel Near (Lady in the Radiator), Jack Fisk (Man in the Planet), and Jean Lange (Grandmother) Directed by David Lynch.

Review:
What can I really say about Eraserhead? Fittingly, this is the first film featured on here directed by David Lynch, who also wrote the film along with doing the music, editing, special effects and other technical aspects in a movie that served as his directorial debut. He described the film (released 40 years ago on March 19, 1977 at the Filmex film festival) as "A dream of dark and troubling things"; to try and interpret the movie would be pretty fruitless along with missing the point of these reviews: seeing if this serves as quality entertainment. For me, it is a fairly interesting movie worth looking at, though it may not be for everyone. Nance is our every-man that we follow through the movie, and it is his expressions and actions in this strange world Lynch has crafted that we get to see amidst all of the imagery and sounds. He is the only one who is given significant time to be seen throughout a movie that expresses a surreal kind of horror that preys on one watching closely. The rest of the cast isn't as prevalent in presence, but they certainly are noteworthy, such as Near and Fisk. The black-and-white look of the film is also key in how it works in capturing this strange little world, making for a unique crisp experience. The baby is easiest the most horrifying thing to look at, and the way that it sounds is especially horrifying. Any scene involving it is disturbing, but the whole movie has other moments of gore and weird elements; even something like chicken for dinner is creepy. At 89 minutes, this is a movie that runs at a fair pace in that it never seems to drag itself too much in pretentiousness because there is usually something to look at coming around the corner, with an ending that is like the film itself: flowing at its own pace and on its own terms. Is it a good movie or is a great movie? It definitely excels on establishing atmosphere (along with effects), but for me it operates as a movie that tells its story with a type of unique energy to it that clicks more often than not. When it comes to putting a label on a movie like this, "cult film" likely works best. To try and talk about this movie at a greater length would be hiding the main point: See the movie for yourself and hopefully it gives you some entertainment.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.