Tremors (1990)

Tremors is a classic B-movie monster movie, and one of my all-time favourite films. Set in a small Nevada town called perfection, the film mostly revolves around to local handymen, Valentine McGee (Kevin Bacon) and Earl Bassett (Fred Ward). The two soon realize that the residents of the small are not alone in the baron dessert valley, when they discover a giant thirty-foot-long underground worm.

Ward and Bacon suit their characters perfectly, Ward being the grumpy old red-neck and Bacon the cocky young cowboy wannabe. My favorite character, however, has always been Burt Gummer (Micheal Gross). A local gun enthusiast who had previously been mocked by the towns folk for his lifestyle, soon becomes their lifeline. My favorite scene of the whole film is the one when one of the Graboids breaks into Burt's basement, and he, and his wife Heather kill it with a hail of bullets from their sizable gun collection, with Burt eventually finishing the creature off with two blast of his Elephant Gun.

Broke into the wrong wreck room....

The practical special effects in the film were groundbreaking at the time and still look convincing to this day. You won't see any CGI in this film, which is a refreshing change, there's nothing like good honest practical effects. The only film that I can really compare it to in terms of practical effects is The Thing (1982). 

The film is a mix of comedy, monster movie, and western. - an unlikely mix of genres that works perfectly in this case. The comedy in the film comes from Val and Earls constant wisecracking, and also the over-the-top reactions and statements of the crazy gun-nut Burt. As well as comedy, the film has some genuine 'make you jump' moments - which are well-timed and put together. Everything happens at a brisk pace, maintaining the tension throughout - hence the 90 minute running time. 

Tremors is a quick, fun, action comedy horror, which has cemented its place as one the best monster movies ever made (in my opinion).

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Arachnophibia (1990)

As an arachnophobe myself this film always used to give the creeps. I'd always be looking around checking for spiders in the house after watching it.

Starring Jeff Daniels as a doctor who moves from the city to a small country town to take a job as the towns doctor. Soon after his arrival he learns that one of the locals was recently killed during a south American rain Forrest expedition, and the body has been returned home for the funeral - accompanied by a nasty hitchhiker.

The spider soon starts reproducing, and its offspring start killing the towns folk. After an elderly resident is killed, an exterminator is called in - Delbert McClintock (John Goodman).

Delbert is a comic relief of the film. He's a bubbling oaf who sees himself  as some kind of insect expert. He is soon accompanied by a professor and his assistant, who together try to prevent the spread of the infestation, and the search for the spider's nest. The film is a fun comedy creature flick, with colorful characters and a solid script.

The death scenes are really creepy and involve the spiders entering the bodies and draining the blood of their victims, and the biggest of the spiders is huge and give me the chills.

The only weakness in the film is the acting from some of the minor characters, and the special effects are looking a bit dated now. That said, Arachnophobia is a classic, and will remain one of my all time favorite b-movie horrors.

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Phantoms (1998)

Part of the 90's teen horror fad, Phantoms is one of the best teen horrors released in that decade. Starring a young Ben Affleck,  Liev Schreiber, and Joanna Going. The film is set in a small mountain town in Colorado. 150 of the towns folk are dead and 350 are missing. Joanna Going and her sister return to the small town (their home town) to find the place deserted. They soon find Ben Affleck (the towns sheriff) and Liev Schreiber his deputy.

The group roam around the small town trying to figure out has happened to its population. The film reminds me a bit of The Andromeda Strain -- with the eery , dark atmosphere of the deserted town. Strange things start happening to the group of survivors, they start finding piles of jewelry that appear from no where, receive strange phone calls, and a giant bat-like creature attacks them. 

Eventually the army arrives, along with Peter O'Toole. O'Toole is a journalist and paranormal investigator of sorts, he believes the town is infected by an ancient evil for that has existed inside the earth for million of years . 

O'Tooles performance, as always, out classes the rest of the cast. Affleck is good as well, and Phantoms remains my favorite Affleck performance. The army send a team of scientists and marines in to try and kill the creature. Things soon go wrong and the creature starts to infect the scientists by injecting them with a  black oil like goo that turns them into pawns of the giant melevilent creature. 

The special effects are quiet good, with some decent CGI for the time. The script was original and the acting from all is very good (for a teen horror anyway) O'Toole eventually comes up with a scientific method of killing the creature. It's a race against time for the few remaining survivors to kill the creature before the it escapes the town and spreads.

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