History Film / Tremors2Aftershocks

* ItCanThink: Double-subverted horribly. Initially everyone is convinced that the Shriekers are highly intelligent and coordinated, only to find out that all they're doing is just attacking anything warm that they see on their infrared vision, which includes car engines and electronics. This leads to everyone concluding that the Shriekers are really just stupid animals [[spoiler: right up until the Shriekers start forming a living ladder to get up on top of the tower Grady, Earl and Kate are hiding on, and later immediately locate the refinery's large food stores when they get locked inside the garage and begin spawning huge numbers to break out through brute force]].

** Acts like attacking the truck and disabling the radio tower initially make it seem like the Shriekers are just as intelligent as the Graboids they spawned from. As the characters learn later, rather than hunt by sound like Graboids, the Shriekers hunt by heat and were only attacking those things because they were hot.

** Later on, it turns out that the Shriekers actually ''are'' capable of [[ItCanThink surprisingly concrete problem-solving]] despite their apparent stupidity, as they [[spoiler: begin forming a living ladder to get at Earl and Kate on top of the tower]].

** On the other hand, since the Mexican government ended up giving Burt an ENTIRE truck worth of explosives, they are well aware of his presence, and we can also assume that Earl notified Ortega they were being overwhelmed, and got permission from Ortega to get Burt hired with the same financial arrangement as a third contractor to assist them. It's more likely that Grady's irritated reaction to Burt killing the radio Graboid is because it specifically took them for a ride, and he and Earl wanted to have a face-off and take down with it similar to the way Val stated that "Stumpy" was his to kill, and he ended up doing so in the first film.

** The subversion is when the heroes flee the site of an impending explosion and take cover behind a wooden shack, and then Burt runs past them, yelling "Keep going! It's going to be ''big''!" Then that little shack they wanted to hide behind is Blasted to splinters!
** The justification is that the bomb takes a bit longer to go off than they expected, giving them just enough time to get out of the considerable blast radius.

* TemptingFate: The heroes flee the site of an impending explosion and take cover behind a wooden shack... then Burt runs past them, yelling "Keep going! It's going to be ''big''!" Regarding the [[OutrunTheFireball soon-to-be fireball]]:
-->"Is it going to be ''today''?"\\
'''''*[[BlownAcrossTheRoom BOOM]]*'''''[[note]]That little shack they wanted to hide behind... Blasted to splinters![[/note]]

-->'''Earl:''' Ugh. This tastes like toilet paper!
-->'''Grady''' (sounding amused): Earl, that ''is'' the toilet paper.

-->'''Earl''': Sure is the middle of nowhere.
-->'''Grady''': Of course, stuff like this only happens in the middle of nowhere!

-->'''Grady:''' Burt, you scum! That one was ours!
-->'''Burt:''' Oh yeah, son!? I didn't see your name on it!

-->'''Burt:''' That's two and half tons of high explosives, Earl!
-->'''Earl:''' You mean [[ComicallyMissingThePoint that's not enough]]? Oh Burt, don't tell me it's not enough!
-->'''Burt:''' ''Not enou...'' [[DontAskJustRun Never mind, just run]]! ''Run!''

--->'''Grady:''' You mean they're acting so smart because they're so ''stupid?!''

* RedShirt: Kate's assistant, Pedro, does very little before getting eaten by a shrieker.

* WrongGenreSavvy: The characters are prepared for Graboids and stock up accordingly, and actually do a pretty good job at dealing with them early in the film. But then they're dealt heat-seeking, topside-dwelling, self-reproducing Shriekers that completely change the ballgame. Even Burt can barely keep up.

* DroneDeployer: Earl and Grady's initial strategy for hunting Graboids: Lure them in with some noisy scrap metal chained to the back of his truck, then when some Graboids appear on the [[BuffySpeak seismojigger]], kill the engine and send out [[ActionBomb a remote-controlled toy truck rigged with remote explosives]]. Graboid takes the bait, hit the switch, and [[StuffBlowingUp payday]]. (Just don't forget your umbrella to deal with the [[LudicrousGibs next bit]].) Burt's attempts to replicate this strategy involve a toy ''tank'' [[UpToEleven loaded with C4 instead of dynamite]].

** While hunting the Graboids, Earl and Grady run afoul of one particular specimen that takes them for a ride and eats their radio which gives it a distinguishing feature not unlike Stumpy, making one think it will be the last Graboid faced. Nope, Burt kills it off screen and makes Grady feel cheated.

* DeadlyRemoteControlToy: Weaponized RC cars are used to deal with the [[SandWorm Graboids]]. As Graboids hunts by detecting motion, the protagonists uses RC cars strapped with dynamite to trick Graboids into ascending out of the earth and swallowing the cars, and then remotely detonating the dynamite seconds later. At least 30 Graboids ends up blown to bits onscreen via this method.

-->'''Burt''': Memo: two pounds of C4 may be a bit... ''excessive''.

* ItCanThink: Double-subverted horribly. Initially everyone is convinced that the Shriekers are highly intelligent and coordinated, only to find out that all they're doing is just attacking anything warm that they see on their infrared vision, which includes car engines and electronics. This leads to everyone concluding that the Shriekers are really just stupid animals [[spoiler: right up until the Shriekers start forming a living ladder to get up on top of the tower Burt and Kate are hiding on, and later immediately locate the refinery's large food stores when they get locked inside the garage and begin spawning huge numbers to break out through brute force]].

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: "Man, Burt, you put a whole new shine on the word 'overkill'." Said about the ginormous truck full of what must be at least half a ton of high explosives when Burt first shows it off. Turns out to be {{Foreshadowing}}.

* EveryCarIsAPinto: Averted. A car takes a {{BFG}}'s bullet to the engine without exploding ([[RealityEnsues the bullet still wrecks the engine, leaving the car undrivable, it just doesn't explode]]). When Burt's truck explodes, it's because it was stuffed full of high explosives.

* RealityEnsues:
** Burt coming [[{{BFG}} loaded for bear]] becomes a liability after the wolf pack appears, as it were, and he ends up expending almost all of his ammunition in his first real fight with them.
** Burt manages to take out a shrieker with the only weapon he has, a [[{{BFG}} .50 caliber rifle]] he brought along to kill graboids with. It ''obliterates'' the shrieker, but then proceeds to punch through everything behind it, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero including the engine block of the one working vehicle several yards behind it]].
** Earl tries to pull off an Franchise/IndianaJones-style swing to escape from the shriekers with a hanging lamp, but his weight immediately yanks the wiring down from the ceiling and drops him on the ground.
** When Earl sets all of Burt's explosives to blow, the group initially tries to hide behind a nearby structure. However, this isn't nearly far enough, forcing them to hunker down in a ditch further way.

** In an early example, Burt hands Earl an elephant gun, having first checked to make sure that it was unloaded. After receiving it, Earl then ''immediately'' checks for himself. '''THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO WHEN YOU PICK UP A GUN!'''
** A minor example when Burt shoots a Shrieker with his anti-tank rifle. He kills it, but the very high powered bullet continues through a brick wall, several oil barrels, and right into the engine block of the truck they were going to use to escape. General rule #4 of shooting is "be sure of your target and '''what's behind it'''.

* DeadlyRemoteControlToy: Weaponized RC cars are used to deal with the [[SandWorm Graboids]]. As Graboids hunts by detecting motion, the protagonists uses RC cars strapped with C4 to trick Graboids into ascending out of the earth and swallowing the cars, and then remotely detonating the C4 seconds later. At least 30 Graboids ends up blown to bits onscreen via this method.

--->'''Grady:''' You mean they're acting so smart... because they're so ''[[TooDumbToFool stupid]]?!''

--->'''Grady:''' [[AchievementsInIgnorance You mean they've been acting so smart 'cuz they're so ''stupid'']]?

* TooDumbToFool: While the Graboids and Shriekers have some capacity for problem-solving, it turns out that for the most part they are just {{SuperPersistentPredator}}s that attack anything they perceive as food, and in doing so just happen to tear apart anything that humans are using for shelter, distractions, weapons or methods to try to communicate or run away.
-->'''Grady''': So you're telling me that they're acting smart because they are ''stupid''?

* ZergRush: The Shriekers are smaller and considerably more fragile than the Graboids they hatched from, and are easier to fire at since they're on the ground. However, they're also far more numerous and, in that particular situation, Burt had stocked up on low ammo, high impact weapons expecting to deal with Graboids, which results in him burning through his ammo rather quickly once the Shriekers show up. Notably, Shriekers seem to be a combination of both remarkably stupid yet incredibly smart. They attack anything that's hot enough to be alive, resulting in them assaulting a radio tower and shredding the electronics within, as well as ripping up the engines of cars. In Grady's own words, "You mean they've been acting so smart because they're so stupid?" At the same time, they're clever enough to prepare ambushes like the one that Burt stumbled into (and apparently the one that killed Pedro) and they formed a living ladder to get to the humans on top of the oil tower.

-->'''Burt:''' I am ''completely'' out of ammo. ''[{{beat}}]'' [[OOCIsSerousBusiness That's never happened to me before.]]

* DroneDeployer: Earl and Grady's initial strategy for hunting Graboids: Lure them in with some noisy scrap metal chained to the back of his truck, then when some Graboids appear on the [[BuffySpeak seismojigger]], kill the engine and send out [[ActionBomb a remote-controlled toy truck rigged with explosives]]. Graboid takes the bait, hit the switch, and [[StuffBlowingUp payday]]. (Just don't forget your umbrella to deal with the [[LudicrousGibs next bit]].) Burt's attempts to replicate this strategy involve a toy ''tank'' [[UpToEleven loaded with C4 instead of dynamite]].

* CripplingOverspecialization: Burt is expecting to fight [[MightyGlacier Graboids]] when he is brought into the hunt, so he brings lots of {{BFG}}s that sacrifice ammo and fire rate for damage and penetration. Unfortunately, he is soon pitted against [[ZergRush Shriekers]], who are able to chew through all of his ammo through sheer numbers.
-->'''Burt:''' I am ''completely'' out of ammo. ''[{{beat}}]'' That's never happened to me before.

* DidntSeeThatComing: Burt Gummer came prepared to fight giant subterrean worms. But really, no one saw it coming because they hadn't been around Graboids long enough to know that they could hatch multiple smaller terranean Shriekers.

* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Subverted when Burt takes out the Graboid that terrorized Earl and Grady.

-->'''Burt:''' What? I didn't know! How could I've known?! We're supposed to be up against Graboids! I wanted maximum penetration!
-->'''Earl:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Well, you got it]].

* ImprobableCover: Subverted when Earl sets Burt's whole truck--packed with explosives--to explode. When the others hide behind a nearby building, Burt shouts at them to "Keep running!". They look at Earl, who replies "Burt knows his bombs". After quite a bit more running, they find a ditch, which, combined with the distance, provides sufficient cover

* Wrong Genre Savvy: The characters are prepared for Graboids and stock up accordingly, and actually do a pretty good job at dealing with them early in the film. But then they're dealt heat-seeking, topside-dwelling, self-reproducing Shriekers that completely change the ballgame. Even Burt can barely keep up.

* CrazyPrepared: This is played around with Burt. He's prepared extensively for Graboids, and kills loads when he comes to help Grady and Earl. Then they transform into Shriekers, and his tactics are suddenly completely ineffective. While he's able to kill the initial horde, it takes him every bullet he has, and he's as stuck as the others when [[ZergRush their ability to multiply]] kicks in.

* CripplingOverspecialization: Burt is expecting to fight [[MightyGlacier Graboids]] when he is brought into the hunt, so he brings lots of {{BFG}}s that sacrifice ammo and fire rate for damage and penetration. Unfortunately, he is soon pitted against [[ZergRush Shriekers]], who are able to chew through all of his ammo through sheer numbers.