Broke into the wrong goddamn rec room, didn't ya you bastard!?
September 29, 2014 5:36 PM   Subscribe

Monster Legacy, a blog "trying to delve into the secrets of the making of Movie Monsters," presents Subterranean Terror, an in depth look at the creature effects of the greatest Precambrian sandworm horror-comedy franchise of all time.

Previously: 1 2 3

* General note: to avoid repeating the term 'Assblaster,' the article will mostly use abbreviations such as AB or Blaster.
posted by brundlefly (31 comments total) 23 users marked this as a favorite
 
I ... I had no idea there were sequels to "Tremors".

Excuse me - I just need to sit down for a minute.
posted by ryanshepard at 6:18 PM on September 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


They are... lesser.
posted by brundlefly at 6:20 PM on September 29, 2014 [7 favorites]


I ... I had no idea there were sequels to "Tremors".

Tune your expectations appropriately. The second movie explains away the absence of Kevin Bacon with a single line of dialogue: "We have already spoken to [Kevin Bacon's character]. He is unwilling to help us."
posted by compartment at 6:22 PM on September 29, 2014


"Universal executives were enthusiastic about the creature effects — to the point where they authorized an additional budget to increase the creature effects shots. "

That's gotta feel damn good to ADI who also did the effects on Alien 3 and made it look like a muscle monster
posted by Brainy at 6:28 PM on September 29, 2014


Broke into the wrong goddamn rec room, didn't you?
posted by gwint at 6:46 PM on September 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


Yes, that is the title of this FPP.
posted by entropicamericana at 6:49 PM on September 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


Aw hell. All you need for effects these days are regular big worms. And giant red leeches.
posted by kinnakeet at 6:50 PM on September 29, 2014 [3 favorites]


"Broke into the wrong goddamn rec room, didn't ya you bastard!?"

One of my dad's favorite things in whole world is the TV edit of that line. If it's on basic cable he will watch until that scene, quote along with “Broke into the wrong gall-darn rec room didn’t you, you big jerk," laugh like a hyena and change the channel.

Tremors was on basic cable a lot while I was growing up.
posted by MaritaCov at 6:50 PM on September 29, 2014 [7 favorites]


We plan ahead, that way, we don't do anything right now.
posted by gwint at 6:52 PM on September 29, 2014 [3 favorites]


"Please be advised: there are two more, repeat two more, mother-humpers."

I need to use this line more in client meetings.
posted by JohnFromGR at 6:57 PM on September 29, 2014 [4 favorites]


MaritaCov, I can't hear that line without hearing the cable version in my head.
posted by brundlefly at 7:12 PM on September 29, 2014


We too had a taped-off-the-tv version of Tremors, complete with all the dubbed in non-curses. My favorite was the emphatic "FOOOOOLED YOU!"
posted by silverstatue at 7:22 PM on September 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


"Here's some swiss cheese and some bullets"

I use this while packing for a trip of any length.
posted by ish__ at 7:38 PM on September 29, 2014 [2 favorites]


One of my dad's favorite things in whole world is the TV edit of that line. If it's on basic cable he will watch until that scene, quote along with “Broke into the wrong gall-darn rec room didn’t you, you big jerk," laugh like a hyena and change the channel.

Awesome. Just awesome. My personal favorite remains the famous dub from The Big Lebowski, where "This is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass!" becomes "This is what happens when you meet a stranger in the Alps!"

I like to yell that when pissed off. Weirdly satisfying.
posted by Harvey Jerkwater at 7:44 PM on September 29, 2014 [8 favorites]


I never really got into any of the sequels, but I'm a fan of Tremors. Reading that article, that's got to be one of the most complicated and well made stupid monster movies ever produced.
posted by ob1quixote at 7:51 PM on September 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


"We have already spoken to [Kevin Bacon's character]. He is unwilling to help us."

spice addiction is a horrible thing
posted by pyramid termite at 7:59 PM on September 29, 2014


"Tremors" was that wonderful thing, a movie I watched with a good friend while drunk, fully expecting it to be terrible and awful and suitable material for ribald mockery, and it turned out to be just huge, huge fun, actually amusing and genuinely tense.

I have long avoided the sequels because I have... heard things. And I don't want to ruin the dumb glory of the original.
posted by Decani at 8:12 PM on September 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


There has been no love for Reba McEntire yet, so I will say that she is good in this. Also she shoots guns.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 8:34 PM on September 29, 2014 [7 favorites]


It's the kid's make-pretend game of "Hot Lava!" redone as a movie for adults, staring Alex Keaton's dad as one of the best-armed gun-nuts in hollywood history, and there have been plenty. This movie is lovable top to bottom.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:51 PM on September 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


There has been no love for Reba McEntire yet, so I will say that she is good in this. 

Things just weren't the same after the fall of the Soviet Union.
posted by the man of twists and turns at 9:22 PM on September 29, 2014 [2 favorites]


Forget you, you slug in a ditch!
posted by boofidies at 9:33 PM on September 29, 2014 [2 favorites]


I will second the Reba McEntire love, she was perfect. I saw her on Broadway in 'Annie Get Your Gun' - she was just so…lovable. I can't remember if it was her last night in the show or her birthday, but, they surprised her at curtain call by having the audience join the cast in singing 'There's No Business Like Show Business' with the lyrics changed to 'There's no Reba like our Reba' (I think there was a note in the Playbill with the lyrics for us to sing) and by bringing her parents onstage when she hadn't known they were in the the audience the whole show, and it was just so sweet.

Tremors is great. Tremors 2 is not great, though I do remember that scene when Earl figures out that he remembers Kate from her centerfold picture being kind of adorable. Don't think I've ever seen any of the other sequels, and I think I'll keep it that way.
posted by oh yeah! at 9:46 PM on September 29, 2014 [2 favorites]


Yes, that is the title of this FPP.

Guess we can't make fun of your lifestyle anymore.
posted by MartinWisse at 10:24 PM on September 29, 2014 [2 favorites]


Big hair Reba in the basement recreation room. There will never be enough love.
posted by breadbox at 10:46 PM on September 29, 2014 [1 favorite]


I'd never heard of Tremors IV before. Was that actually John Bly in it?
posted by heathkit at 11:41 PM on September 29, 2014


Yes, "you slug in a ditch" from The Hard Way will forever be my favorite TV dub. I use it to this day, along with (not a dub), "the deuce you say" in my best Buckaroo Banzai voice.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 5:21 AM on September 30, 2014


My second-favorite line is of course Bacon's delivery of "What the hell is going on? I mean what the hell is goin' on!?"

My favorite line, sadly not on YouTube, is this exchange:
Val: What's it doing, Rhonda?
Rhonda: Why do you keep asking me?
Her exasperated delivery is really funny, but there's also something sweet about how much he respects her intelligence and constantly looks to her for explanations.

As mainstream films of that time period go, Rhonda actually comes off really well: she's brave, she's the smartest person in the group (and isn't mocked for it), she saves the day more than once, and she isn't just there to give the men motivation.

Okay, sure, there's the part where she has to strip down to her underwear to get away from the worm. I'm not going to defend that as anything other than what it is, but to the film's credit it's not played salaciously and she isn't portrayed as being humiliated by it. It's treated in a very utilitarian way, with no lingering shots: her pants are caught on barbed wire and she has to get way from the worm, and the best solution is to get out of the pants and run for safety. If that scene had to be in there, I think this was the best possible version of it.
posted by Ian A.T. at 6:25 AM on September 30, 2014 [2 favorites]


Love these TV characters' names: Cletus Poffenberger and Harlowe Winnemucca
posted by lathrop at 7:07 AM on September 30, 2014


My favorite safe-for-TV dub, from Repo Man:

"Flip you, you flippin' melon farmer!"
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 8:48 AM on September 30, 2014 [2 favorites]


It's treated in a very utilitarian way, with no lingering shots: her pants are caught on barbed wire and she has to get way from the worm, and the best solution is to get out of the pants and run for safety. If that scene had to be in there, I think this was the best possible version of it.

Also, she is wearing totally un-sexy, underwear - your basic white cotton high-waist brief that you'd get at Kmart/Walmart/Target/etc, not some cute bikini-cut lingerie.
posted by oh yeah! at 8:53 AM on September 30, 2014


I loved this movie as a kid in part because of Reba. Also it was like a zombie movie before there were all these zombie movies. A prepper, sound-attracted monsters, desert...
posted by IndigoRain at 5:49 PM on September 30, 2014


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