Movies
Tremors
“What really makes Tremors work are the characters: all of them come across as real people trapped in an insane situation. The interplay of the stars is brilliant to watch and listen to. This partnered with a cheek full of tongue make Tremors one of the most enjoyable monster movies of the 90s, if not of all time.”
In the tradition of Them! and The Giant Spider Invasion, Ron Underwood’s directing debut Tremors is a horror-comedy with 50’s B-movie panache. We’ve had giant ants, we’ve had giant spiders; hell, we’ve even had giant rabbits. Now, in this addition to the ever-popular creature-feature genre, we are blessed with giant worms. It is a hilarious homage to the drive-in horror movies of yesteryear.
Starring Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward, Tremors features the sleepy Nevada town Perfection undergo attack from giant man-eating creatures that live bellow the ground (dubbed ‘Graboids’). Val McKee (Bacon) and Earl Basset (Ward), with the help of a shapely seismology student, have to lead a cast of zany characters to safety from monstrous creatures reminiscent of the Sandworms in Dune.
Despite being released in 1990 Tremors has a distinct 80s feel to it, which, with Underwood’s use of more traditional special effects and puppetry, gives the film a much more homely feel, taking you back to a time when CGI shocks and scares weren’t needed to provide an entertaining horror movie.
Tremors plays itself as more of a comedy, preferring laughs over scares; a wise decision since if the film took itself too seriously it would have been a major drawback. It acts as a blueprint for how to do projects like this successfully: care about your material but don’t lose your sense of humour.
What really makes Tremors work are the characters: all of them come across as real people trapped in an insane situation. The interplay of the stars is brilliant to watch and listen to. This partnered with a cheek full of tongue make Tremors one of the most enjoyable monster movies of the 90s, if not of all time.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallis.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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