History Film / Tremors1

* WeJustNeedToWaitForRescue: It's suggested that the town could simply wait for rescue, since someone is bound to notice that the lines are down and the road is out. Cut to said damaged road and phone lines where a phone company car is, and its occupant was clearly eaten by the Graboids.

* TongueTrauma: One of Stumpy's grasping-tongues gets torn off after it latches onto the axle of Val and Earl's pickup (which is what prompts the nickname). When it's found, Burt speculates that it's a mutant snake, and Walter buys it off the guys for $15. Later, Heather blows apart another gripping-tongue when the Graboid that breaks into the Gummers' cellar drags Burt off his feet.

* ArchEnemy: Downplayed given that the graboid in question is still an animal and incapable of hate (no matter how smart it might be), but Val clearly regards "Stumpy" as such gven its persistent attempts to kill him and his friends.

** Two scenes later, Nancy offers Val and Earl free beer and lunches (on top of their wages) if they stick around for a months worth of work, just as they're leaving Perfection. They (much to their own surprise) reject her offer.

* 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, "Jesus Christ!" 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.

* LivingMotionDetector: The Graboids can hear even the slightest noise.

* SuperPersistentPredator: The Graboids. They don't give up, and anything which drives them away does so only temporarily. Meanwhile they can soak up a huge amount of punishment before succumbing. Most notably, if they pursue prey to a place they cannot access or easily undermine (such as up an electrical tower or on top of a large rock), a Graboid won't just leave... it'll wait and listen for the prey to come within striking distance again. Apparently, their senses are keen enough to detect such isolated prey so long as they're alive, and the Graboid won't leave until the prey is dead.

* AmbiguousSyntax: With ''RockPaperScissors'', of all things- [[spoiler: Earl claims that since he won, he should be the one to [[HeroicSacrifice distract the Graboid while the others flee]], while Val argues that since he lost, ''he'' should act as the distraction.]]

* ArchEnemy: Downplayed given that the graboid in question is still an animal and incapable of hate (no matter how smart it might be), but Val clearly regards "stumpy" as such gven its persistent attempts to kill him and his friends.

* 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 real 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 aforementioned lines 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.

* FocusGroupEnding: The movie originally ended with [[spoiler:Val and Rhonda saying awkward goodbyes to each other and Val driving away, only for his friend Earl to change Val's mind halfway through and turn back for the Girl after all. Cue credits. The test audience however started chanting "Kiss Her!" during the awkward goodbye scene and so a new ending was shot, with a BigDamnKiss and a RelationshipUpgrade while credits start to roll. The original ending can can be seen on the DVD.]]

* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: [[ShownTheirWork Averted]] by Burt Gummer, who shows proper gun-handling technique at all times, and occasionally chastises other characters for not doing so. He gives an idiot a revolver to get him to cooperate - an ''unloaded'' revolver. After he takes it back, he pops the cylinder just to make sure it's unloaded. '''This is what you are supposed to do anytime you pick up a firearm, just so you do not Shoot Someone In The Face'''. Oddly, it's also waived somewhat in the rec room scene, where the flare gun already has a chambered round when it's taken from the wall. Also, a minor one, but Burt fails to put the elephant gun against his shoulder when firing it. An 8-guage shotgun firing live rounds would likely break your wrists or fly wildly out of your hands when fired like that.

** (Another - Val's "two more - repeat - two more motherhumpers"- was rather obviously dubbed over.)

* TongueTrauma: One of Stumpy's grasping-tongues gets torn off after it latches onto the axle of 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.

* WallOfWeapons: The Gummer residence.

It was directed by Ron Underwood and eventually [[Film/{{Tremors}} spawned a franchise]] with six sequel movies, a prequel movie, and a short-lived TV series:

* ProperlyParanoid: Though [[RightForTheWrongReasons not a straight example]], having an underground shelter with a WallOfWeapons and ammo, supplies and power generator in case of WorldWarIII served Burt well when his town got attacked by large subterranean carnivorous reptiles.
-->'''Earl:''' Guess we don't get to make fun of Burt's lifestyle anymore.

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

* SuperPersistentPredator: The Graboids. They don't give up, and anything which drives them away does so only temporarily. Meanwhile they can soak up a huge amount of punishment before succumbing. Most notably, if they pursue prey to a place they cannot access (such as up an electrical tower or on top of a large rock), a Graboid won't just leave. . . it'll wait and listen for the prey to come within striking distance again. Apparently, their senses are keen enough to detect such isolated prey so long as they're alive, and the Graboid won't leave until the prey is dead.

-->'''Val:''' Who cares, as long as they’re doing it way over there!\\

* TooDumbToLive: Melvin. When the other residents are on edge from the discovery of one of the Graboid's tongues, [[JerkAss this punk]] decides to wrap said tongue around his neck and run out of the store screaming. Need you be reminded that one of those residents is [[GunNut Burt Gummer]]? Burt ends Melvin's kick by making it clear how close he came to getting shot. Even later, when everyone else is up on the roof, Melvin decides that he doesn't want to join in until one Graboid rocks his shack. [[spoiler: He survives.]]
** Nestor, who decides to hide on a large tire after falling off his trailer. [[spoiler: He gets eaten.]]
*** Though to be fair to Nestor, it wasn't like he had a lot of better options anywhere he could get to in a hurry.

--->'''Val:''' What do you use that for?\\

* AskAStupidQuestion: In reference to the first dead Graboid.
-->'''Earl:''' Hey, Rhonda, you ever seen anything like this before?
-->'''Val:''' Oh, sure, Earl! Everybody knows about 'em, we just didn't tell ''you!''

''Tremors'' is a 1990 HorrorComedy film about subterranean monsters. It is considered a CultClassic for the way it plays with the typical monster movie tropes. The citizens of the isolated desert town of Perfection, Nevada find themselves under siege by "Graboids" (as they name them): massive, [[SandWorm 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.

''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. The citizens of the isolated desert town of Perfection, Nevada find themselves under siege by "Graboids" (as they name them): massive, [[SandWorm 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.

** (Another - Val's "two more - repeat - two more motherhumpers"- was rather obviously dubbed over)

* 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. No one has any back-up plans. Burt believes they could have stood their ground back in town since they had food, water and supplies. Subverted, in that Earl points out (and the movie shows) that this siege mentality is hopeless against graboids, due to their ability to wait out their isolated victims, and the inability of even Burt and Hheather's strongest weapons to hurt them while they're underground.

** Nester, who decides to hide on a large tire after falling off his trailer. [[spoiler: He gets eaten.]]

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: Shortly after Val and Earl encounter the [[spoiler: dead construction workers]] Earl loads a revolver in the passenger seat of the truck and spends several seconds holding it pointed dangerously close to Val in the driver's seat.

* ArtisticLicense-GunSafety: Shortly after Val and Earl encounter the [[spoiler: dead construction workers]] Earl loads a revolver in the passenger seat of the truck and spends several seconds holding it pointed dangerously close to Val in the driver's seat.

* RealityEnsues:
** While the Graboid does eventually die, a big, bulky animal with thick hide can take a ''lot'' of punishment to finally put down if you don't know where to aim for an instant kill or have the right weapon, such as the elephant gun Burt uses to finish it off.
** While not immune to gun fire, the Graboids spend most of their time underground, and earth is hard to shoot through.

** Everyone assumes that Burt and Heather are done for when they hear the Graboid crash into their basement. Unfortunately for the Graboid, that's exactly where all they keep all their guns...

'''Burt:''' [[CrazyAwesome For my]] [[CaptainObvious cannon]].

''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. 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.

* IronicDeath: Walter Chang, the man who though of the Graboids' name, ends up as their next victim.

* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: [[ShownTheirWork Averted]] by Burt Gummer, who shows proper gun-handling technique at all times, and occasionally chastises other characters for not doing so. He gives an idiot a revolver to get him to cooperate - an ''unloaded'' revolver. After he takes it back, he pops the cylinder just to make sure it's unloaded. '''This is what you are supposed to do anytime you pick up a firearm, just so you do not Shoot Someone In The Face'''. Oddly, it's also waived somewhat in the rec room scene, where the flare gun already has a chambered round when it's taken from the wall.

It was directed by Ron Underwood and eventually [[Film/{{Tremors}} spawned a franchise]] with five sequel movies, a prequel movie, and a short-lived TV series: