Tremors

Tremors is a 1990 dark comedy monster film about a group of people from the small town of Perfection, Nevada fighting subterranean worm-creatures dubbed "Graboids".


 * Directed by Ron Underwood. Written by Brent Maddock (screenplay) and S.S. Wilson (screenplay).

Valentine McKee

 * We plan ahead, that way we don't do anything right now, Earl explained it to me.
 * I can't believe we said no to free beer!
 * Good morning Mr. Bassett, this is your wake up call. Please move your ass.
 * [looking at Old Fred's messed-up corral with chunks of dead sheep lying on the ground] What the shit?
 * What the hell is going on? I mean what the hell is going on?!
 * [hearing music from below ground] So where the hell's that goddamn golden oldie comin' from?
 * Hey guys, I think I've found the ass end!
 * This valley is just one long smorgasbord.
 * [to Rhonda] GET OUT OF YOUR PANTS!
 * [to Earl] Who died and made you Einstein?
 * That's how they get ya. They're under the goddamned GROUND!
 * We decided to leave town just one damn day too late!
 * I've got a goddamn plan!
 * I'll tell you. Nobody handles garbage better than we do.

Earl Bassett

 * [repeated line] Pardon my French!
 * Damn it Valentine, you never plan ahead, you never take the long view, I mean here it is Monday and I'm already thinking of Wednesday... It is Monday right?
 * Well, there sure as hell ain't nothing to stop us now... everybody we know between here and Bixby's already dead.
 * [To Val] Here's the plan. We don't even stop. Ride like hell. Tonight we keep right on going. We'll walk the horses.
 * [To Melvin after he scares Earl by throwing his basketball at him] You little asswipe! You don't knock it off you're gonna be shittin' this basketball... pardon my French!
 * Melvin! One of these days someone's gonna kick your ass!
 * Run for it? Running's not a plan! Running's what you do once a plan fails!

Burt Gummer

 * No tracks, no sign, no spoor... you'd think after eating all those sheep they'd have to take a dump some place.
 * [Burt Gummer, with his wife Heather at his side, berates the dead monster fought off with their "family arsenal"] Broke into the wrong God damn rec room, didn't ya you bastard!
 * [Burt Gummer looks at his bomb shelter for perhaps the last time] Food for five years, a thousand gallons of gas, air filtration, water filtration, Geiger counter. Bomb shelter! (long sigh) ...underground. God damn monsters.
 * [handing out weapons and refusing to give Melvin one] I wouldn't give you a gun if it were World War Three!

Others

 * Rhonda LeBeck: Did you notice anything weird a minute ago?
 * Walter Chang: Earl. Here's some swiss cheese and some bullets.

Dialogue

 * Melvin Plug: [discovering the gun Burt gave him is empty] Burt, you asshole! There's no bullets in this gun!
 * Burt Gummer: [taking the gun back with a smile] Got you moving, didn't it?


 * Valentine McKee: STAMPEDE! Stampede, Earl! Get out of the way, get out of the way!
 * Earl Bassett: [waking up] You dumb shit. I was in a stampede once. Five hundred head, all hell-bent for the horizon.
 * Valentine McKee: Now, exactly how many cattle are required for a stampede, Earl? Is it three or more? Is there a minimum to 'pede?
 * Earl Bassett: I wish they'd stampede up your ass.


 * Earl Bassett: [pricks his hand while setting up a fence] I ask ya: Is this a job for an intelligent man?
 * Valentine McKee: Well, show me one. I'll ask him.


 * Earl Bassett: Dammit, Valentine! You never go for any girl unless she fits that stupid list of yours from top to bottom.
 * Valentine McKee: Well, sure.
 * Earl Bassett: Yeah, and it's dumber than my hind end! Like that Bobbie Lynn Dexter.
 * Valentine McKee: Tammy Lynn Baxter!
 * Earl Bassett: Doesn't matter. They're all the same: dead weight. "Ooh, I broke a nail!" Ugh! Makes my skin crawl.
 * Valentine McKee: I'm a victim of circumstance.
 * Earl Bassett: I thought you called it your pecker?


 * Earl Bassett: No breakfast?
 * Valentine McKee: I did it yesterday. It was baloney and beans.
 * Earl Bassett: No, it was eggs. I made eggs. Over easy.
 * Valentine McKee: The hell you did! Baloney and beans. It's your turn!
 * [they go through a quick game of rock-paper-scissors, which Valentine loses]
 * Valentine McKee: Well, I guess when I'm your age, I'll forget what I eat, too.


 * Earl Bassett: [Valentine has just freed the truck from a hangup, after a struggle] Y'know, that's a good way to break an axle.
 * Valentine McKee: Could you shut up?
 * Earl Bassett: Hey, I don't need to spend the night out here!
 * Valentine McKee: [long pause] Crybaby.


 * [ground starts to bulge]
 * Valentine McKee: Must be a million of them!
 * [Graboid breaks through the surface of the ground]
 * Earl Bassett: Nope, just one!


 * [Graboid slams into a concrete retaining wall]
 * Earl Bassett: Stupid son-of-a-bitch, knocked itself cold!
 * Valentine McKee: Cold, my ass, he's dead! We killed it. We killed it! FUUUUUUUUUUCK YOU!


 * [About the dead Graboid]
 * Earl Bassett: Hey, Rhonda. You ever seen anything like this before?
 * Valentine McKee: Oh, sure, Earl, everybody knows about them. We just didn't tell you. Hell, nobody ever saw anything like this! We're really onto something here!
 * Earl Bassett: I'll tell you one thing: Old Chang won't be getting his slick mitts on this for no measly 15 bucks!
 * Valentine McKee: You got that right!


 * [Earl suddenly has his entire leg drop into a hole]
 * Earl Bassett: [yelling] AHHH! AHHH!
 * Valentine McKee: What? What is it?
 * Earl Bassett: Damn prairie dog burrow.
 * Valentine McKee: Sons a bitches.


 * [trapped on top of a boulder by a Graboid, Val, Earl, and Rhonda are thinking of explanations for where the creatures came from]
 * Valentine McKee: [joking] I've got it: They're mutations caused by radiation. No, wait- the government made 'em. *Big* surprise for the Russians.
 * Rhonda LeBeck: Well, there's nothing like them in the fossil record. Okay, so they predate the fossil record. [not buying it herself] That'd make them a couple of billion years old, and we've just never seen one until now. Right.
 * Earl Bassett: I vote for outer space. No way these are local boys.


 * [after spending a night on a boulder due to being trapped by a Graboid]
 * Earl Bassett: They must be long gone by now.
 * Valentine McKee: Yeah. Hey, why don't you go take a little stroll and find out?


 * [Trying to escape from the rocks]
 * Earl Bassett: You know, we're gonna have to come up with some sort of plan, or he's just gonna wait us to death.
 * Valentine McKee: Well, why don't we just make a run for it? We outran 'em yesterday.
 * Earl Bassett: Run for it?! Runnin's not a plan- runnin's what you when a plan fails! Valentine, you're not even trying to think of a plan.
 * Valentine McKee: Well, it ain't like we got a hell of a lot of options.
 * Earl Bassett: Oh, there's always options. We just gotta think of 'em.
 * Valentine McKee: All right, why don't you start thinkin', then?
 * Earl Bassett: Why the hell do I always gotta do all the thinking?
 * Valentine McKee: Who died and made you Einstein?
 * Rhonda LeBeck: Hey, shut up!


 * Rhonda LeBeck: No, you don't understand, these creatures are absolutely unprecedented.
 * Nestor: Yeah, but where do they come from?


 * [unseen Melvin screams when a Graboid attacks, after having scared everyone moments ago]
 * Earl Bassett: Dammit, I'm gonna kick his ass!
 * Valentine McKee: I'm gonna help you.


 * Valentine McKee: [speaking to Burt over a radio and is trying to tell him about the Graboids] Burt, it's under the ground! It's an underground monster! Now get out! Hurry!
 * Burt Gummer: [over the radio, as a Graboid comes through his rec room wall] Jesus Chri...!
 * [transmission turns to static]


 * Burt Gummer: [over the radio] We killed it, you got that!? We killed that motherhumper, come back!
 * Valentine McKee: Roger that, Burt, and congratulations. Be advised, however, that there are two more, repeat, two more motherhumpers.

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 * [after Burt tries to shoot the Graboid with his elephant rifle]
 * Heather Gummer: You didn't﻿ get penetration even with the elephant gun?!
 * Burt Gummer: Shit!
 * Heather Gummer: Good lord!

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 * [as the Graboid feels at the building]
 * Valentine McKee: What's it doing, Rhonda?
 * Rhonda LeBeck: Why do you keep asking me?

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 * Rhonda LeBeck: They only respond to vibration, right? Couldn't we distract them somehow?
 * Valentine McKee: Yeah, something to keep 'em busy, like a- like a decoy!
 * Earl Bassett: Hey Melvin, wanna make a buck?
 * [Melvin flips him off]

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 * [Earl and Val argues who will run to the bulldozer in spite of the Graboids]
 * Earl Bassett: Damn it, listen to me. I'm older and wiser.
 * Valentine McKee: Yeah, well, you're half right.

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 * [After Burt scares away the Graboids with his home-made dynamite]
 * Valentine McKee: What the hell's in those things, Burt?
 * Burt Gummer: A few household chemicals in the proper proportions.

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 * Valentine McKee: We can't hold still long! These things are damn smart! They're getting smarter by the minute!
 * Burt Gummer: That's fine! [Holds up a stick of dynamite] We got some new things to teach 'em!

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 * Rhonda LeBeck: I think I have a plan. Why don't we throw a bomb the way we want to go, and then when it goes off, we run like goddamn bastards!
 * [Everyone looks at her]
 * Rhonda LeBeck: Pardon my French.

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 * [Burt cuts off a piece of fuse for a bomb for Earl]
 * Earl Bassett: What kind of fuse is that?
 * Burt Gummer: Cannon fuse.
 * Earl Bassett: What the hell do you use it for?
 * Burt Gummer: My cannon!

About

 * I broke down and fell to the sidewalk, screaming to my pregnant wife, 'I can't believe I'm doing a movie about underground worms!
 * Kevin Bacon Kevin Bacon interview for The Following". The Telegraph. 22 January 2013.

Cast

 * Kevin Bacon - Valentine "Val" McKee
 * Fred Ward - Earl Bassett
 * Finn Carter - Rhonda LeBeck
 * Michael Gross - Burt Gummer
 * Victor Wong as Walter Chang
 * Robert Jayne (credited as "Bobby Jacoby") as Melvin Plug
 * Richard Marcus as Nestor Cunningham

Taglines

 * They say there's nothing new under the sun. But under the ground...