History Film / Tremors

* {{Irony}}: The very man who thinks up the Graboids' name ends up their next victim.

** The refrigerator in Walter Chang's shop that occasionally squeals due to a bad bearing. It happens again later on, when everybody is trying to be silent to remain undetected by the Graboids.

** Two scenes later, Nancy offers Val and Earl pay and free beer if they deliver something for her, just as they're leaving Perfection. They (much to their own surprise) reject her offer.

* ChekhovsGun:

* SteelEarDrums: Averted, kinda. Neither of the Gummers seems to suffer any hearing loss while firing hundreds of rounds into a Graboid while underground in a cramped rec room, but Heather noticeably ''drops'' the guns she's holding to cover her ears when Earl brings out the [[{{BFG} elephant gun]]...

''Tremors'' is a 1990 horror comedy film about subterranean monsters. It is considered a CultClassic for the way it plays with the typical monster movie tropes. In the first movie, the citizens of the isolated desert town of Perfection, Nevada find themselves under siege by "Graboids" (as they name them): massive, subterranean worm monsters who hunt prey by sensing ground-vibrations. It falls to two redneck handymen, Val and Earl (Creator/KevinBacon and Fred Ward, respectively), to save the town.

** One where the citizens of Perfection cheered as Burt and Heather slaughtered the Graboid that invaded their basement.
** The next was after feeding a Graboid with a bomb, the survivors cheered at its death, even though its blood splattered all over.
** The final time was when Val tricked the last Graboid, the aptly named Stumpy, into falling to its death off the side of the cliff in the opening scene.

* AtomicFBomb: Val, right after he and Earl accidentally fooled the first Graboid encountered into slamming its head on a concrete wall.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Amusingly subverted: our first view of Rhonda is with a glob of unflattering sunscreen covering her nose. Later she frankly admits that she needs to "take care of some business" along with the two men.
* {{BFG}}: The "Elephant Gun". It was actually an 8-gauge side by side shotgun. In case you were wondering, that means the barrel has an inside diameter of 0.835 inch. Let's just say Michael Gross, the actor playing Burt, was lucky he was firing blanks. Had he been holding the gun below his shoulder like that, he would have likely broken his wrist or at least had the gun launch out of his hands.

** The film starts with Valentine waking up Earl near the edge of a cliff by pretending that there's a stampede. The movie ends with Valentine stampeding the last graboid over said cliff to its death with a bomb.

* ClosedCircle: Happens on a large scale. The movie takes place within a large, open valley in Nevada, but it's a valley no one can leave. The telephone lines have gone down, the only road in or out has been destroyed by a landslide, and every attempt to leave via another route is blocked by the Graboids. No one can get in either - at one point someone does try to check on the people of Perfection, Nevada, only to be killed by the Graboids as well. As Burt points out, this is the whole reason he and Heather decided to live there, "geographic isolation", as he calls it.
* ContinuityNod: Heather's guns are missing from Burt's WallOfWeapons in the sequels.

** After what happened the first time around, Burt's new house is built on a graboid-proof 6-foot-thick reinforced concrete foundation.
* CryingWolf: The boy Melvin Plug repeatedly plays pranks on Earl and Valentine, including wrapping a Graboid tentacle around his head and pretending it's attacking him. Finally he starts yelling and Earl, thinking he's still joking, says he's going to kick Melvin's ass. When they go outside, they see Melvin cowering on top of a metal pole -- making them realize that this time he isn't kidding -- the Graboids are here. [[spoiler: You'd likely expect a jerk like Melvin to be counted among the victims in a film like this, but ironically, he survives.]]
* CuteBookworm: The LoveInterests for the first two movies are both geologists.

* DeathByTransceiver: Subverted. The other survivors are talking with Burt and Heather Gummer over a CB radio when a Graboid breaks into the Gummers' basement and attacks them. Burt yells "Jesus Christ!" into the radio and the other survivors look at each other sadly, believing that they're as good as dead. Then they hear gunfire coming from the Gummers' house, and we see them blow the Graboid away with high power firearms.

* FeedItABomb: This works the first time they try it, but not Stumpy because it spits the bomb back at them (which unfortunately lands on the other unlit bombs). After this, Burt switches to remote detonation, since they'll always bite.

* FreeRangeChildren: Melvin, the teen boy, seems to have no parents. When "everyone in town" is escaping no mention of his parents is even brought up. Apparently it's explained in the original script that Melvin's parents were away in Vegas at the time, vacationing without him, something they apparently did quite often which [[FridgeBrilliance probably explains why]] [[FreudianExcuse Melvin's such an asshole.]]

* ForeShadowing: Early in the Movie, Val and Earl discover the Edgar, the town drunk, clinging to the top of a power pylon. Assuming him to simply be plastered, they climb up to get him; only to discover that he has died from dehydration after sitting up there for three days, confusing them both. It's later revealed that if one of the Graboids has you trapped somewhere, they'll wait for days until they assume you are dead.

** In an early scene, Val and Earl are bulldozing trash, Val using an old toilet to keep beer in. Val complains how "low" their job is, and Earl says they have to set their sights higher. The next scene, they're working on Melvin's septic tank. When the hose ruptures, they ''finally'' decide to leave town for good.)

* ImmuneToBullets: Subverted. The Graboid that breaks into Burt's rec room at first appears to be immune to bullets, but Burt and Heather are very persistent and VERY well armed. After [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome taking sustained fire from ever-larger guns for two solid minutes of screentime]], the Graboid finally goes down. Worth noting that Burt and Heather were also directing a good chunk of their firepower [[AttackItsWeakPoint into the monster's mouth]], its likely most vulnerable spot.

* ImprovisedWeapon: The pipe bombs in the first and third movies, and the fire arrow shooting potato gun in the third movie.

* ItCanThink: The Graboids learn at a pretty alarming rate. Shriekers and Ass-Blasters likewise. Not only are they intelligent, but they're incredibly ''patient'', too. When Val and Earl find that the town drunk Edgar died of dehydration after being stuck on a tower for three days, Earl skeptically asks "What'd they do, [[ForeShadowing just camp out below him and just wait for him to die?]]" As it turns out, that is ''exactly'' what the Graboids did.
* ItOnlyWorksOnce: The Graboids have a tendency to find ways to work around the humans' counter-attacks before very long. In the second movie, one of the more successful methods of destroying the Graboids (tricking them into eating explosives) is used, but is adjusted a bit via radio-controlled detonation to prevent the Graboids from having a chance to spit the bombs back out (as had happened in the first film). So far, they haven't gotten smart enough to know when there's a bomb near them.

* TheLoad: Melvin and Mindy, though to be fair, they're still just kids. Earl also describes all of Val's [[IBrokeANail previous girlfriends]] as being this.

* OneBuwwetWeft: One pipe-bomb left that Val used against Stumpy. Also, the "Grizzly" anti-tank rifle only carries one bullet.
* OnlyShopInTown: In most of the movies, Perfection, Nevada is served only by Chang's General Store.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping: It's frequently obvious in the first movie that Finn Carter is actively suppressing her Mississippi drawl.
* ParentalAbandonment: While many viewers of the original film assumed that Melvin was Nestor's son, [[spoiler: and had actually witnessed his own father's death]], [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental material]] reveals that his parents lived in Perfection, but were unsurprisingly in the habit of running off to Vegas and leaving him behind.

-->'''Burt''': Food for five years. Air filtration, water filtration, fallout shelter, giger counter. . . (beat) Underground ''goddamn'' monsters.

* RockPaperScissors: Val and Earl argue a lot, using this method to resolve most everything, such as who makes breakfast. Notably, Val never wins. At the climax, they use it to decide who will make a dangerous heroic dash to save everyone. (Later becomes a BrickJoke in the second film.)

* TongueTrauma: One of Stumpy's grasping-tongues gets torn off when it tries to eat Val and Earl's pickup. When it's found, Burt speculates that it's a mutant snake, and Walter buys it off the guys for $15. Heather blows apart another gripping-tongue when the Graboid that breaks into the Gummers' cellar drags Burt off his feet.

* TheLoad: Melvin. Earl also describes all of Val's [[IBrokeANail previous girlfriends]] as being this.

* ItCanThink: The Graboids learn at a pretty alarming rate. Shriekers and Ass-Blasters likewise.

* HopeSpot: Inverted twice. Burt and Heather unknowingly attract a graboid to their basement, and it bursts through the wall. The last thing his friends hear on the radio is Burt yelling, "God almighty!" and they all hang their heads, thinking that's it for the Gummers...and then they start hearing gunfire. Then it pulls it again a few seconds later, when Burt and Heather run out of ammo for the rifles they were holding...and the camera pulls back to show the WallOfWeapons, which up to this point had never been shown or hinted at.

* AtomicFBomb: Val, right after accidentally killing the first Graboid.

* BookEnds

* CryingWolf: The boy Melvin Plug repeatedly plays pranks on Earl and Valentine, including wrapping a Graboid tentacle around his head and pretending it's attacking him. Finally he starts yelling and Earl, thinking he's still joking, says he's going to kick Melvin's ass. When they go outside, they see Melvin cowering on top of a metal pole -- making them realize that this time he isn't kidding -- the Graboids are here. [[spoiler: (You'd likely expect a jerk like Melvin to be counted among the victims in a film like this, but ironically, he survives.]]

* EvilDetectingDog
** Farmer Fred notices his sheep acting skittish, but thinks nothing of it. [[GenreBlindness That's his mistake]]. A minute later he's dead, killed by a graboid.

--->"They got wind of something they don't like."

* FeedItABomb: This works the first time they try it, but not the second, when Stumpy spits the bomb back at them (which unfortunately lands on the other unlit bombs). After this, Burt switches to remote detonation, since they'll always bite.

* ForeShadowing: Early in the Movie, Val and Earl discover the Edgar, the town drunk, clinging to the top of a power pylon. Assuming him to simply be plastered, they climb up to get him; only to discover that he has died from dehydration after sitting up there for three days, confusing them both. It's later revealed that if one of the Graboids has you trapped somewhere, they'll wait for days until they assume you to be dead.

* FoodAsBribe: In an early scene], Val and Earl decide to leave Perfection for good, but are stopped by Nancy, who offers them work with free lunches and beer. In the next scene, they're on their way out of town, hardly able to believe they turned the offer down.

%%* LivingMotionDetector: The Graboids.

* OneBuwwetWeft: One pipe-bomb left. Also, the "Grizzly" anti-tank rifle only carries one bullet.

* ShoutOut: When Chang is partially swallowed by the Graboid, it swerves back and forth before drawing back under the ground. It's almost identical to the scene near the end of ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' where Quint slides into the mouth of the giant shark and it swings back and forth with him in its mouth before sliding back into the water.

* TemptingFate

** It doesn't work with the last Graboid, Stumpy. As Val realizes, "This one's not falling for it."

''Tremors'' is a 1990 horror comedy film about subterranean monsters. It is considered a CultClassic for the way it plays with the typical monster movie tropes. In the first movie, the citizens of the isolated desert town of Perfection, Nevada find themselves under siege by "Graboids" (as they name them) massive subterranean worm-monsters who hunt prey by sensing ground-vibrations. It falls to two redneck handymen, Val and Earl (Creator/KevinBacon and Fred Ward), to save the town.

* AskAStupidQuestion: In reference to a dead Graboid.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Burt was angry at Val and Earl for getting them stuck on a huge boulder while on their way to the mountains. A Graboid set a trap while the survivors were riding on a heavy truck.

-->'''Burt:''' I wish you had! Who the hell put you two in charge anyway?!

--->'''Val:''' "That's why Edgar never got down off of that damn tower"

** Melvin's reaction to Nestor's death can give some viewers the impression that the two are related, but this is never given any other indication in the movie.

* Foreshadowing: Early in the Movie, Vale and Earl discover the Edgar, the town drunk, clinging to the top of a power pylon. Assuming him to simply be plastered, they climb up to get him; only to discover that he has died from dehydration after sitting up there for three days, confusing them both. It's later revealed that if one of the Graboids has you trapped somewhere, they'll wait for days until they assume you to be dead.
'''Val:''' "That's why Edgar never got down off of that damn tower"

* FoodAsBribe: In an early scene, Val and Earl decide to leave Perfection for good, but are stopped by Nancy, who offers them work with free lunches and beer. In the next scene, they're on their way out of town, hardly able to believe they turned the offer down.

* CryingWolf: Melvin Plug.

-->'''Valentihttp://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Tremors?action=editne:''' What do you think it's trying to do?