2001-11-12 - 1:39 a.m.

Most people wouldn't think this was true, but I wasn't always that big on movies. This probably comes from the fact that most of the movies my parents (or mainly my dad, I'm guessing) rented when I was a kid were bad actions movies and horror films. And considering when I was really young I was scared by "Ghostbusters," the latter half of those movies was pretty well unwatchable for me. So for years, I didn't really watch many movies that weren't played on one of the network channels.

Then one day, with one movie, that all changed. In the camp on Smith Pond where I used to live, there was no door between my room and the living room, just a curtain. And one summer morning I was woken up by the sounds of some movie my dad had rented playing from the living room. I thought nothing of it, rolled over, and went back to sleep. Minutes later my dad is in the room, waking me up, and telling me and my brother that I *had* to come out and watch this movie. Blinking, still stupidly blurry from having just woken up, I stumbled into the living room. And watching this movie, I loved it. It changed my perspective on movies completely.

One might think that this movie must have been something revolutionary, like "Schindler's List" or something like that. But it wasn't. It wasn't anything most people would call even a good movie. The movie?

"Tremors"

That's right. "Tremors" changed my whole view of movies. Starring an actor I'd later discover to be the Center of the Universe, Kevin Bacon, this movie was like nothing I'd seen before. Funny, scary, stupid, with its fair share of heroic moments, in general, it was just a really fun movie to watch. I don't know why I loved the movie, it was so silly, the plot wasn't anything more than any other stupid horror movie, but it just… somehow made some connection with me in its nonchalant take on movies. Not trying too hard to be serious about itself, it kind of helped me realise that horror movies really were nothing but movies. With a bunch of desert dwellers pole vaulting rock-to-rock for miles, using the supplies of a pair of seemingly psychotic survivalists, played by Reba McEntire and Michael Gross (the dad from "Family Ties"), trying to blast apart a group of underground, man-eating, prehistoric (or so we learn in the sequel) worms with home-made pipe bombs, this movie struck a wonderfully silly chord with me and has held a special place in my heart ever since.

Every time the movie comes on USA, I have to watch it. When I see it in movie rental places, I get this warm feeling. I've never actually rented it myself, because I've seen it so much on TV, but some day I plan to own it.

A few years ago, there was a sequel. "Tremors 2: Aftershocks." In it, the worms, dubbed Graboids by the half-blind Chinese man who ran the store in the first movie before being eaten by the very creatures he planned to capitalize on, mutated into smaller creatures, later referred to as Shriekers, that walked on land and hunted by heat instead of sound, as the Graboids did. Once again, survivalist Burt Gummer is called on the scene with his incredible collection of weapons and once again they manage to destroy these creatures with plenty of sticky orange entrails.

And now, eleven years after the original film (as the characters are sure to tell us fairly often), everyone's guard is down, so it's a perfect time for the Graboids to return. The only person still on his guard is, of course, Burt. And so, with his help, they are once again these people are left to battle the Graboids, who have evolved once again.

What I found most impressive about these movies is, they don't lose anything by the third one. Every character who has survived all three films was played by the same actors as the original. The writers are the same. The director is the same. Everything about the production of this movie is the same as the original. This isn't very common in movies like this, with a marginable profit, usually it'll come out lower-grade, cheaper, campier, with worse actors, lighting, editing, everything. But this does not happen in "Tremors 3." I was most impressed with that, even if, overall, the movie wouldn't be anything special to most people. Still, somewhere in my heart, I will always get a silly fuzzy feeling whenever I see a copy of any of these movies sitting in a Movie Gallery somewhere.

And now, because I promised I'd write about it, and because I haven't been updating as much recently, I've been given the idea of possibly having people do guest entries every once in a while. The idea came to me from Sarah, who's going to be the first one to do it. Originally I was iffy about the idea, not sure what people would write about or for me, but then I realized, I don't really care. I think it would be fun, actually. I don't know if they'd write about me, or try to write like me, or what they'd do, but really, that's the fun part, right? So be on the lookout. Soon there will be an update on here from Sarah, then who knows who else? We'll see. Should be a fun ride, I think. Until then…