Now Over 5500 Reviews and (near) Daily Updates!

WELCOME! Use the search engines on this site (or your own off-site engine of choice) to gain easy access to the complete MAKSQUIBS Archive; more than 5500 posts and counting. (New posts added every day or so.)

You can check on all our titles by typing the Title, Director, Actor or 'Keyword' you're looking for in the Search Engine of your choice (include the phrase MAKSQUIBS) or just use the BLOGSPOT.com Search Box at the top left corner of the page.

Feel free to place comments directly on any of the film posts and to test your film knowledge with the CONTESTS scattered here & there. (Hey! No Googling allowed. They're pretty easy.)

Send E-mails to MAKSQUIBS@yahoo.com . (Let us know if the TRANSLATE WIDGET works!) Or use the Profile Page or Comments link for contact.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday, May 17, 2022

TREMORS (1990)

Mentioned near the top in recent obits for undersung actor Fred Ward, I’d not been aware of missing this sharp goof of a horror pic.  (Had I confused it with HOLES/’03?*)  A modest performer initially, it became a monster hit in home video, generating many poorly rated sequels.  But the original is a paradigm for this type of silly/scary night-at-the-movies fun, with everyone bringing their best to the survival game tropes as huge blind underground wormy beasts attack a small southwest desert community.  Director Ron Underwood, with stinkers like THE ADVENTURES OF PLUTO NASH/’02 to look forward to, is on top of every piece of business, either pushing or lying low as needed while getting strong eccentric perfs out of a pitch-perfect cast.  Ward’s co-stars, Kevin Bacon & the less well known Finn Carter, take charge trying to out think the fast evolving creatures, with a fine company of eccentrics joining battle.  Gung-ho survivalist gun-nuts Reba McEntire & Michael Gross are particularly winning & funny.  And now the film has acquired as extra layer of wit as prescient parody of A QUIET PLACE/’18 using the same gimmick of noise-activated attacks . . . but with more laughs.  And a bright, sunny look rather than the usual modern murk doesn’t hurt either.  The film is almost too much fun.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: You know you’re in a '90s pic with an opening shot that spots Bacon from the back as he shakes off a pee before giving his ass a scratch.  (It’s okay, he keeps his jeans up.)  Had to let the kids know they were seeing something they couldn’t get for free on NBC at home.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *Here’s a link to HOLES which turns out to have little in common with TREMORS.   https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2008/05/holes-2003.html

And to QUIET PLACE which has rather more.   https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2019/01/a-quiet-place-2018.html

No comments: