Even an extreme (to a comical degree) distrust of his own govt is relatable. I just kind of think Tremors’ rep is more a product of the same studio that created and buried Jaws. They tricked themselves into thinking anything like Jaws was dead so they chucked Tremors out there to fend for itself.

I suspect you're pretty close, if not right, about the truth of the matter. It is also worth noting that its syfy channel sequels color the memory of the original. The sequels are fun but so different! The OG is a great look at small towns and being trapped with your neighbors

The film was considered a minor hit but at number crunching the studio decided it didn’t do well enough to warrant any sequel with close to the same budget. So they created a Straight To Video division (Universal 1440) to relegate its sequels with diminishing budgets. The budgets kept shrinking but

Still made money. Still had the original writers, producers and effects team attached to the series at least until the fifth film. SyFy was also owned by Universal, so after the movies hit the market, they’d eventually dump them there for regular TV showings.

It’s a film chock full of underdog characters, and so much that the film itself is an underdog. And we love a good underdog. There’s nothing to not love about it, except that Universal didn’t give Tremors the real shot it deserved.

Agreed! Burt gummer becomes the breakout, but no one talks about Reba McEntire or Victor Wong absolutely KILLING it.

And Victor Wong is always welcome. Ever since his days with John Carpenter anyway.

Oh I remember reconsidering my general loathing of country music JUST because Reba was so good. It’s a shame they couldn’t entice her back to the sequels, but she felt like she was just experimenting with acting and her true love was music so she never came back.