Tremors (1990)
Giant worms descend on the small town of Perfection, Nevada.
Genre
Characters/Groups
Heather Gummer - Reba McEntire
Jim - The Doctor - Conrad Bachmann
Megan - The Doctor's Wife - Bibi Besch
Howard - Roadworker - John Goodwin
Carmine - Roadworker - John Pappas
Character thumbnails with links to profiles
Detailed Synopsis
Valentine McKee pees over the edge of a plateau while Earl Bass sleeps in the bed of their truck. Valentine spots some cows nearby and plays a prank on Earl by yelling stampede and shaking the truck. They trade each other a cigarette for a lighter and then play rock, paper, scissors to see who has to make breakfast. As they are nailing barbed wire to a fence, Earl talks about quitting their lives as handymen and finding other work. As they are driving towards town Valentine sees the new seismology graduate student's truck and veers off the road to meet her. He stops and Rhonda LeBeck greets them and asks them if they know if anyone has been drilling or blasting in the area and they tell her no. She tells them her seismographs have been picking up weird readings and they tell her they will ask around when they get into town. Earl tells maybe they should check on the seismographs for Rhonda and then chastises Valentine for not approaching women that don't match exactly what he is looking for. They drive into Perfection and stop at Walter Chang's Market. Earl warns Melvin Plug not to mess with their truck as he and Valentine walk into Walter's Market. Inside, Burt Gummer is arguing with Walter about the ammo he special ordered for him and Heather Gummer. Earl and Valentine grab a beer and tells Walter, Burt and Heather about the seismographs and Burt warns if Rhonda finds something then the Federal Government will come in and take over their land. As Rhonda is packing up for the day, a Graboid follows her and nearly gets her before she gets into her truck and drives away, oblivious to the Graboid. Valentine and Earl drop off Nestor's trash to the dump and Valentine tells Earl they need to set their sights higher. While they are pumping Melvin's septic system, raw sewage starts shooting out all over them from a loose hose. They go back to their trailer and shower and pack up their belongings in their truck and drive away. Nancy (Tremors)|Nancy flags them down and Earl asks Mindy how many hops she has continuously hopped on her pogo stick. Nancy offers to give them a months work in order to build her a kiln, but they continue on their way to Bixby. They see Edgar high up on a transmission tower. They stop and Valentine climbs up the tower to get Edgar down. He finds Edgar dead and Valentine and Earl put Edgar's body in their truck and bring it to Jim - The Doctor who tells them Edgar died of dehydration. Old Fred is tending his crops when his sheep start to spook. He is then suddenly pulled into the ground. Rhonda notices large spikes in her seismograph and checks to see if her equipment is damaged. Valentine and Earl speed past Howard - Roadworker and Carmine - Roadworker, but stop when they see Old Fred's sheep torn to bits. As they are looking for Old Fred, they find his head buried in the dirt. They drive back the way they came and tell Howard and Carmine there is a killer on the loose. Carmine doesn't believe them, but Howard grabs a crowbar. As Carmine is breaking up the road with a jackhammer, it impales into a Graboid which screams and quickly moves away, dragging Carmine with it and eventually pulling him underground. Howard goes to help Carmine and is killed by a rock slide. Miguel (Tremors)|Miguel tells Walter that some of his cattle are missing. Valentine and Earl walk into Walter's store while telling Melvin and Nestor about Edgar and Old Fred. Valentine tries to use Walter's phone, but the line is dead. Nestor tells Valentine that they have to go to Bixby to bring the police. Valentine and Earl drive back the way they came, but are forced to stop due to the rock slide. They get out of their truck and find a hard hat with brain matter inside. As they are trying to drive away, the truck gets stuck on something. Mindy sees Valentine and Earl drive back into town and they park their truck in front of Walter's store. Mindy sees something latched onto Valentine and Earl's truck. Burt uses a shovel to detach it and Walter haggles with Valentine and Earl for it. Burt tells the others he thinks there must be more somewhere. As Jim and Megan are finishing up working on their house for the night, their generator disappears. Jim starts to pull on the chord stuck in the ground and is then grabbed and killed by a Graboid. Megan runs to their car and the car is pulled underground along with Megan. The residents of Perfection have a meeting and Burt suggests they arm themselves and Miguel comes up with the idea for two people to take Walter's horses and ride to Bixby. Earl and Valentine are picked to go and as they are riding towards Bixby they stop by Jim and Megan's property and find the car buried in the ground. They ride away and the horses start to get spooked and buck them off. A Graboid pops out of the ground and starts to chase Earl and Valentine. They jump across a cement canal and the Graboid kills itself by ramming into the concrete. Rhonda walks up to them and asks them if they noticed anything weird a moment ago and sees the dead Graboid. They pry the Graboid into the canal and Rhonda has a theory on how it moves and tells them there are probably three more Graboids. As they are walking towards Rhonda's truck, they are chased by another Graboid and climb onto a large boulder. They try and wait out the Graboid, but it is waiting for them when they check to see if it is still there. Rhonda realizes the Graboids can sense seismic vibrations and they end up sleeping on the boulder overnight. Rhonda comes up with the idea to use a long stick to pole vault to her truck after they find the Graboid still waiting for them. They get into Rhonda's truck and drive back into town and tell the others about the Graboids. Valentine thinks they should leave, but most of the others think someone will come when they discover the phone lines are down. Outside of town, a Nev-Cal Tel truck sits abandoned near the buried body of two phone company workers. Valentine pulls off a map of Perfection Valley from the wall and points out that the Graboids are heading in the direction of the town. As they are talking, Walter comes up with the name Graboids.