Tremors: Review

"Underground Goddamn Monsters..."

I briefly expressed my love for this film in my post: "Best Worst Delivered Lines of All Time", but my god does does it deserve a review. Let's gloss over the fact that um...maybe I was on a Geography trip all of today and I don't have the time or energy to get together an actual post. So, yes, this film was released a long time ago. Nine years, give or take, before I was born, in 1990. But's it's relatively niche, a little bit of a cult favourite. Chances are, considering it only had a budget of $11000000, if you're a fan of B movies, you might be into it. And chances are, considering its stellar cast and great critical reception (including a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 88%) you've heard a little about it. But's here's my take on the (absolutely fabulous) piece of film.

So, first of all, what is it? I've heard it described as a "western monster film", and whilst it holds traits of other horror movies, I would not class it as scary. My brother (seven at the time he first saw it) absolutely loved it.  It also seems to run another storyline over the top - there is about as much rivalry between handymen Val and Earl, and a growing romance between Rhonda and Val as there seems to be people getting eaten by graboids. Starring Kevin Bacon as Val, Finn Carter as Rhonda and Fred Ward as Earl, we start the film in the incredibly quiet town of Perfection Valley (pop. 14). An outsider amongst the townspeople is graduate Rhonda, conducting seismology tests, who is the first to spot unusual occurrences when the ground begins to inexplicably shake. Dismissing the phenomena to unreported blasting, or drilling, the townspeople of Perfection are not disturbed.

Except when Val and Earl, the handymen become sick of the quiet life in which they wait on everyone hand and foot, and leave for neighbouring town Bixby, they discover that several people who live along the valley have been killed in strange, inexplicable and occasionally grisly ways. After finally discovering that the only road out of the otherwise isolated Perfection has been blocked, they return to town. Eventually, it transpires that the cause are these enormous worm-monsters, or graboids, that have absolutely no explanation; they travel under the ground at huge speeds, sensing vibrations and grabbing their prey.

And so the townspeople have to either fight back or escape - and it won't be easy, because the monsters are closing in.

When seen this way, it seems a little bit of tacky, but it's loveable science fiction film - the effects good only because the monsters (luckily) are completely subterranean so seldom have to be shown. It's also an amazing call back to 1950s B movies such as The Blob, They Came from Outer Space and Them! to name but a few.

When I first saw this film, I honestly thought it was quite sexist. I mean, the main character Val, when deciding what he wants Rhonda to be like dictates - "You will have long blonde hair, big blue eyes, world class breasts, ass that won't quit and legs that go all the way up", and is incredibly disappointed when he just finds a pretty, but relatively demure, bookish scientist - more interested in making sure she doesn't catch sunstroke while she figures out her data than lounging around a poolside trying to tan. However, the film was also a big "fuck you" to that trope. Whilst most B movies revolve around the male protagonist saving his love interest, this one didn't. Yes, Val did cut Rhonda loose from some barbed wire on one occasion, but Rhonda worked out their escape route off the rocks, worked out the route by which they could leave Perfection, distracted the graboid from eating Val, worked out how to escape the sunken trailer. For once, we had a film in which the girl had the answers, and wasn't afraid to get down and dirty to figure some things out. And ultimately, it transpired that instead of the film writers being sexist, it was the character Val who had misogynistic ideals - and in fact his similarly educated coworker Earl called him up on these on several occasions, eventually forcing him to confront them.

Don't get me wrong, this film plays up stereotypes. We have Melvin, the hopelessly cringey "teenage quota filler" with catchphrases such as "way to go duuuuuude," and whose only pastime seems to be pissing off the rest of the townsfolk. We have Heather and Burt, the survivalists who literally fill up every single stereotype in this category - a living room with a wall of guns, water filtration, an odd knowledge of how to make bombs, an eagerness for WWIII to launch just so that they can get to survive it. But ultimately, like with Val, this film exposes these people for being stereotypes, but also being relatively three dimensional - I explain how this is in this blog post. Essentially, whilst Melvin is an "ass-wipe" (what a good insult), he's also exposed as being incredibly afraid and hiding behind a tough guy persona. Heather and Burt are exposed as ultimately being by far the bravest characters in the film - "I'll let him take me down" and as having an incredibly sweet relationship aside from the guns and the radios - "I know, I know, he thinks he knows everything."

Ultimately, this film shows a lot about human spirit, survival and smarts - with a hilarious script, wonderfully acted roles and just enough special effects that you never know what is coming next. Tremors is a fabulous film that people of most ages (if they don't mind mild swear words - think "goddamn bastards" and "motherhumper") could enjoy. It's such a shame that all three sequels are absolutely pants.

Bella x

Rape Culture and Films

Some Startling Examples

I've spoken about rape culture before, and I've also touched on victim blaming - but I haven't really spoken all that much about how enforced rape culture is into our society. I thought, because there are so many places this occurs, I would split this up into films and books, also potentially songs as a separate post too.

I remembered just how rape-ey, lots of films are when I watched this video; and although it quickly descends into a piss-take and uses lots of made up lines that could endorse rape culture in Grease  after the beginning, it also shows just how messed up a genuine line from the film Grease is - "Did she put up a fight?" - you can watch the original song here, with the line still in.

Grease was released in 1978, and so, granted, it isn't the most modern example. But - Grease is a time honoured favourite - almost everybody I know, at least, has watched Grease. Most of them grew up watching Grease. And it's only when we're older that we realise things like this. It's like when you rewatch your favourite childhood show and realise all of the dirty jokes that were embedded in it. You only notice after you've been exposed.

So, let's all take a minute, and vow to ourselves that we will be on the look out for rape culture in films, and will seize the opportunity to expose it - because just because we've been exposed to it all doesn't mean other people can't experience things for the first time and work out how screwed up some of these things are.

It's no secret that I love the film "The Breakfast Club", and for a while I completely idolised John Hughes. It's only now when I watch "Sixteen Candles" by the same guy, that I realise the amount of messages that promote rape culture, and other, fucked up stuff. Remember when Jake Ryan gives his car, but more importantly - his girlfriend - to the Geek. She's passed out when Jake gives the Geek his exceedingly drunk girlfriend, with the now chilling words "have fun". The delivery makes it pretty certain that Jake is not implying that the Geek lie the girl down with a blanket, check she doesn't choke on her own vomit and in the morning offer her alka seltzer, to be honest. I mean, what a heart warming message. Not only does the movie protagonists' heartthrob endorse sex with unconscious girls, he treats his girlfriend as a possession he can pass to other people. *shudders*

Let's look at how rape culture does not only affect women. For instance the film "While You Were Sleeping", shows a woman, Lucy, who chooses a random but attractive man, Peter, off the street, rides with him to the hospital and, whilst he is comatose, pretends to be his fiancee to his family and friends, which completely disrespects them in a difficult time, whilst she is purely on a journey to get some. When he wakes up with wild amnesia, she continues the charade and they almost end up married. Because everything the man knows about her is false, it is difficult to say whether you would call any sexual activity entire consensual as she was taking advantage of a man going through a difficult time who was not informed about his situation. Either way, it's a little bit weird and is not a message that should be endorsed. There is also a scene in this film, when Peter's brother, Jack, is playing cards and says "high card gets to keep Lucy" even though all he knows at this point is that she is his brother's fiancee and he things she is sweet. It's more than a little fucked up that he things he can decide who gets to "possess" a woman without her opinion and using a completely arbitrary method to decide - again giving the idea that women are possessions to be owned. The film "Overboard" takes this amnesia idea again, with a man literally having sex with a woman under the pretense that they are married and have children. In "Revenge of the Nerds" the same thing happens, except the girl is fooled because the boy is wearing a mask.

A film that endorses rape culture does not have to contain actual sex. For example, in "This Means War", "Sleepless in Seattle" and "There's Something Wrong With Mary" to name a few all endorse stalking, and especially in the last two, because the protagonists are "nice" or "doofuses" it's acceptable. This not only endorses stalking, it gives an unrealistic view as to who rapists are, by implying it's okay if the person is nice. Considering most rapes are committed by people the victim knows this is an especially harmful message to give out. In "This Means War" the stalkers literally go so far as to film the protagonist having sex, which crosses a million boundaries.

Rape culture is rife within children's movies, especially Disney films. Granted, the original fairy tales were often worse - but then why would Disney choose tales like Sleeping Beauty in which the protagonist is literally raped to adapt for children. Sebastian endorses Eric making a move on Ariel with the words "it don't take a word" - Ariel is mute! Not incapable of understanding speech, and asking people who might struggle to give nonverbal forms of consent due to not being able to make any noises and not understanding the culture is a great time to ask someone. She can nod, you know. Sleeping Beauty is asleep. Snow White is dead. Neither can give any kind of consent and even though activities like kissing do not necessarily involve a question every time, it is pretty crucial the first few times, and is essential if the recipient is completely incapable of giving other forms of consent, such as reciprocating. In "The Little Mermaid", we know that the character literally has to kiss Eric or she will essentially die, and the fact that she passively waits for him to kiss her shows children that girls have to wait for boys to "do things to them" instead of being an active member in a sexual or romantic relationship - which teaches boys to objectify girls as things to kiss, things to have sex with, instead of people who can reciprocate.

"(500) Days of Summer" is meant to be a deconstruction of romantic comedies, but it falls into the same pitfalls that many of them do. Tom, for instance, is completely creepily crossing Summer's boundaries, despite the fact she has told him she does not want a romantic relationship with him or anyone else. When Summer literally says "We're just friends", Tom yells "Well, you're not the only one that gets a say in this! I say we're a couple, goddammit!". When they dance at a wedding, he assumes that to be them getting better, assuming that they are entitled to a relationship even when she is engaged to someone else. This film had the potential to be a massive "fuck you!" to rapey romantic comedies, but because the movie's focus is so much on Tom (there is not a single scene which involves Summer, when Tom is not also present), we obviously are expected to root for him. In fact, he finishes the movie with a new girl, Autumn, so we do not see a deconstruction and we never see it acknowledged that what he did was wrong, because he is ultimately rewarded. If you still believe it was a good deconstruction then do a little research and you discover that actor Zooey Deschannel received hatemail from people about how Summer treated Tom, despite the fact that Tom was obviously (in hindsight) in the wrong.

These films are not the only ones, by any means. In fact, many films seem to have at least one misogynistic reference. Scenes that involve rape do not necessarily endorse rape culture. Scenes that dismiss rape or show that rape is okay, scenes that make rape jokes with no one calling them out on it, where the good guys especially perform rape or sexual assault and are still considered good guys and girls. That endorses rape culture. If a film wants to talk about or show rape, it needs to show what a fucked up thing it is to do, how awful it is, why it is wrong. It should not gloss over it, because rape is too important to be glossed over.

Fictional Bands I Wish Were Real

And *coughcough* Cute Fictional Band Members...

If you've hung around on this blog for a while - if so, hey ;) How are you doing? - then you probably know about my obsession for music, in particular bands. I also love reading books and watching television shows with bands in (I'm living the dream in my head because no one in my friendship group likes the same music as me) and it's always really annoying when you discover that they aren't actually real. So here is a list of fictional bands I wish were real, and the reasons why.

Where's Fluffy, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist
If you're particularly careful at reading this blog, you might have noticed that - well, I've brought up the book/ very inferior but still enjoyable film "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" a few times. Namely here in which I discuss the playlist of the film briefly, and this one in which I did a short review. In the film, the characters are on a soul quest to find the elusive indie band, Where's Fluffy, but in the book the characters actually get to see the band play, (they're a punk band in the book) and we learn quite a bit about them. With songs like "Take Me Back, Bitch" and "You've Got That Just Fucked Look Yoko", they were named for "the fucking apathy of a xenophobic fucking nation oblivious to the fucking terror its leaders wreak on the rest of the world because they're too busy worrying if their cat might be stuck up a tree or something." Apparently they can actually "play instead of wail like fucking pop-punk goof offs." And they open their shows "pro-NRA, anti-choice, homophobic - to remind their listeners what's worth fighting for." They advertise their shows by scrawling graffiti in toilet stalls. I'm sorry, but tell me that you don't want them to exist. I dare you!

Sex Bob-Omb, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World
Technically, this fictional indie rock band recorded some songs as part of the film based on the graphic novels, but that doesn't stop me wishing they actually existed. With a great semi-nerdy name like "Sex Bob-Omb", a badass female drummer Kim Pine, Scott Pilgrim on bass, Young Neil (as biggest fan and understudy bass), and Stephen Stills - vocals and guitar; I can totally see why Knives loves them. Who cares if we know from the novels that they are "average" and that Ramona, Wallace and Julie hate them. My love for this band has (cough) nothing (cough) with my out of control crush on both Scott and Young Neil. No sir. With songs like LaunchPad McQuack, Erasmus the Enchanter and Herself the Elf, I can completely sold! They have to exist! In volume three, Kim says "We are here to make you think about death and get sad and stuff!!" and as a bit of an emo, to be honest, this is sometimes just what I want in a band.

Dingoes Ate My Baby, Buffy The Vampire Slayer
The music of Dingoes Ate My Baby was actually composed and performed by real life band, Four Star Mary; but the songs are mostly backing - we don't see that much of the band. I don't see why though, because what we do hear of the rock back is great, and with a logo and name as snazzy as theirs is, I don't see why they can't come to my hometown, and um, live there. If they weren't fictional, of course. And yes, I know they broke up because Oz left to go be a werewolf elsewhere, and I know that the only formal review they got wasn't great - but Willow loved them and I completely trust her judgement. I also think that Oz was one of the best characters - "I mock you with my monkey pants" and he knew a lot about amps, so he must have been good at bass, right?

Big Fun, Heathers

Sure, it was all a ploy for JD to mass murder everyone in school. But hey, they have a good name, and the song "Teenage Suicide, Don't Do It," well the title at least shares good messages right? Okay, I lied, maybe I don't wish this one was real...

The Weird Sisters, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
With songs like "Do the Hippogriff" and "Magic Works" (no shit, Sherlock), these guys were good enough that Dumbledore hired them, and I like to imagine that Dumbledore had pretty awesome taste in music. Right? Right. Among the band's instruments were a set of drums, several guitars, a cello, a lute, a double bass and some bag pipes. When performing in Hogwarts during the Yule Ball, they performed on a magically-appearing stage, which, puh-lease, I totally need that kind of the technology. They were all very hairy, apparently and wore "artfully torn" black robes - which makes them sound all kinds of awesome. To be honest, I was sold when I learnt that they played the bag pipes and the lute. Who doesn't want a sassy band like that?

Dr Teeth and The Electric Mayhem, The Muppets

God, I love The Muppets. This band debuted in The Muppets: Sex and Violence, and that pretty much sums up just how edgy this band - the band with the world's best band name - really is, despite the furriness of the players. With Dr Teeth on keyboard and lead vocals, Animal on drums (god, I love you Animal!), Sgt Floyd Pepper - the original hipster - on bass, the sexy sexy Janice on lead guitar, Zoot on saxophone and occasionally Lips playing the trumpet, this is one band I completely want to get in on. There's a reason "Muppets Treasure Island" may well be my favourite film, and it is largely due to these players.

I suppose I'll just have to continue loving these bands in my imagination...*wipes away a solitary tear*

See you later

Bella

How Music Affects Film

And Television...And Real-Life

I only really noticed this when I was sitting doing homework and Spotify was dying on my computer. The lack of the music that I have normally throughout most of my life was disconcerting at best. Thoughts of exam halls, of silent work in classrooms, or scarier things like being in an empty house after dark filled my mind, and I couldn't quell the feeling, until I had made a slap-dash playlist on Youtube and I could resume to annotating my Art GCSE work.

But it got me thinking, about why it is that I now feel that music is the soundtrack to my life. It doesn't really matter what type it is. Of course I have preferences. When I write my novel (80802 words and counting!) I like having relatively plain music, such as film scores. Right now I like the "How to Train Your Dragon" playlist by John Powell, but when I started the book, I found the fast paced guitar chords of Blue Skies songs a good way of making myself writing quicker. When I play Tetris, I listen to heavy metal, or occasionally Falling in Reverse. When I am just browsing, I put my entire playlist on shuffle. When I walk across the heath, often on my way to acting I like listening to the Blink-182 album "Take Off Your Pants and Jacket", because I feel like I'm in the opening credits of a teenage coming of age film. Think Breakfast Club. But even without the music I prefer, I always want there to be music. I'd rather have anything, from deathmetal, to bubblegum pop, to baroque (and I hate baroque music) than silence.

In fact, I often use music to write entire film scripts. I used to do it with playlists. I would take characters and make playlists of songs that would play while their story evolved. Then I would sit and listen, editing and watching the characters like my own personal movie. Now I am more likely to direct music videos. I have the most in depth ideas for the songs "Bulletproof Heart" and "The Only Hope for Me is You" by My Chemical Romance, with ideas blooming for "S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W". The nerdiest part is that the plotlines are entirely original with both canon and alternative characters, but also work as a canon prequel to both the music videos and the comic books. So far, they also do a pretty good job of explaining things.

My question is why I feel the need to fill my life with music in this way, to the extent that it feels eerie without it. Whilst it probably has something to do with my undying unhealthy love for music, it's probably been influenced by the media that I surround myself by. The majority of this is film and television, and if you notice, everything shown on the television is wrapped in swathes of music.

Whether it be a film with a majorly hyped up soundtrack - "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist", a musical - "Miss Saigon", or just clever use of music in the background - "The Amazing Spider-Man" practically everything shown to us on screen uses music of some kind.

I think it was knocked home to me the most when I watched the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "The Body". This episode used no music at all, to attempt to weird the audience out. "Music comforts an audience," proclaimed writer Joss Whedon, and he was right. The lack of music made the episode chilling, stilted and awkward - which perfectly summed up the emotions that the plotline evoked. However, it also proves that essentially music is necessary, if we do not want our films to come across as jarring and strange.

Most of us assume that film is mostly visual, but this could not be further from the truth! We do get a visual experience, yes, but much of the emotion is communicated via music. Films are our fantasies, and fantasies defy logic and reality. Even if a film is not "fantasy", the dialogue is polished, the events more extraordinary than your average day. They conspire with your imagination, working with the unconcious mind to give you an entire experience of illusion, which alters our emotions. Because so much of the experience does not happen in our concious mind - instead we receive a feeling in our concious mind - we often do not notice the soundtrack to a film unless it is a breakaway hit, such as Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic. If I were to say to you - hum the background music from your favourite film - no matter how familiar you were with it, you would probably struggle to recall more than a few phrases.

Nino Rota wrote the score for The Godfather, and used a lack of music to heighten intensity in the scene when Michael Corleone shoots his father's enemy. Instead we heighten panic by using the device of hearing a train screech to a halt outside. But whilst we have already established that a lack of music can be jarring, so too can cleverly composed scores. Hitchcock originally decided that his iconic shower scene in Psycho would have no music. However, a, Bernard Herrmann wrote a composition of jabbing, jarring notes which reminded listeners of dying animals. Hitchcock used the score to great success.

Sometimes, we use science to ensure music really has the effect we want it to. Films such as Irreversible used infrasound, which has been demonstrated to cause anxiety, extreme sorrow, heart palpitations and uncontrollable shivering. Infrasound has been noticed naturally occuring around areas of "supernatural activity", and is also produced prior to major storms and earthquakes. The infrasound caused the audience to feel "disorientated and physically ill", and was used in parts of the film prior to the main shocking visual sequence.

Aside from soundtracks, some movies use songs to promote a certain era, setting or clique. For instance, in the film "The Perks of Being a Wallflower", music such as "Asleep" by The Smiths shows Charlie's depression and mental health issues, whereas songs such as "Heroes" by David Bowie show how he is happier with his friends, and has ultimately grown as a person.

If you still do not believe that music affects how we view cinema, then watch this ingenious clip in which a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean which has no speech has different styles of music played over it, inducing very different emotions and feelings to the film in each one.

I hope this has been interesting or enlightening. What do you think? Can you name songs from your favourite film? I'd love to know.

Bella
@ThatBellaFern

Things I Wear #3

"I Don't Think We're In Kansas The 1950s Anymore" 

This look was inspired by Dorothy, hence the name - "I Don't Think We're in Kansas the 1950s Anymore", due to the fifties twist in the polka dots. The dress is a purply blue with white spots, I bought it and had to dig out my red shoes to give this a go. I love emulating film characters - not quite cosplay, but a little more than just stealing their style.

Polka dot blue cotton dress, Primark - I tend to not own things from Primark, but I saw this yesterday and I thought it was lovely. The cut is like my favourite denim smock, but it is blue with white polka dots, and I thought it was cute modern take on retro. I might have to invest in a detachable peter pan collar...Polka dots hearken to the 1950s, summing up the best of Mad Men-era America: optimistic, prosperous, ostensibly prim, but also dizzyingly energetic, the atomic age dissolving into particles before our eyes. Most clearly, polka dots suggest simplicity, fun, childhood (with a bent towards girlishness), which is adorable and makes an otherwise plain dress pretty cute. I rolled up the sleeves because they were quite long on my short arms, as it's a size too big, which gave them a little poof! Dorothy wore a blue dress over a white blouse in the film, The Wizard of Oz.

Blue bow hairband, Claire's - The bow has thin blue stripes on white, and also has the occasional pink flower pattern. Hair bows have been prominent since the Victorian era, and were dubbed Alice bands after Alice was seen wearing them in Through the Looking Glass. They have long been a symbol of femininity. Dorothy herself wore her hair plaited and tied with two bows similar to this - my hair is too layered to plait in this way, so I had to approximate.

White Socks with Red Bows, Partica - These socks came as part of a costume from Partica, assuming from where I found them in my room (in the dressing up box in a Partica bag?) These silk white ankle socks give the whole outfit a very childlike appearance, whilst tights would give the opposite effect. The large frill and the red ribbon give them a goofy, geeky effect which matches the shoes.

Red Martie T-bar Mary Janes, Topshop - The red shoes are the statement of this look. They, in truth are relatively dark, almost a burgundy outside of sunlight, but outside they sparkle almost like Dorothy's. Although less popular than in the past, T-bars remain a timeless classic of children's fashion and, for many people, a symbol of childhood. I used to wear shoes like this to school (in black) and used to hate how hopelessly babyish they were, but now they come across to me as quirky and sweet.

 

Best Worst Delivered Lines of All Time

Best Worst Delivered Lines of All Time

In my deep and dark heart, I love B movies. Not Bee Movie, but B movies. Films made on an incredibly low budget, often where you find the hidden gems of actors just beginning their careers, or perhaps whose careers have now waned away. Some of these movies are fabulous. Yes, I'm looking at you Tremors and I'm looking at you The Blob. And I was watching another set of these films and thinking about how variable the acting is. You have everything from truly heart wrenching stuff, to...well, the terrible.

Not all of these lines are from B movies. Some are from television series, and even films made on a much larger budget. But all of them are both terribly and hilariously delivered. Enjoy!

Mommie Dearest. I'm sorry, but how can she have such a strong opinion on wire hangers? What? Weird line, weird delivery.

Mortal Kombat: Annihilation was a sequel which should probably not have existed, right? Wrong. This line, so sensitively delivered is a reminder to all who wish to seek a career in the performing arts, of the standard that they must attain.

Doctor Who, a wonderful and beautiful thing. But really? No, not the mind probe!

Troll 2 is a film not exactly renowned for its Oscar winning acting performances. But this particular scene? The delivery was just right.

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is an...interesting program. The only way I can think of, that this line could be a good idea, is if he accidently read the stage directions. Funny, though.

Taffin. Mr Brosnan, there is a lot to be said for shouting. In moderation. Wow. Um. Okay.

The Room cannot be omitted from this list. It's the grandfather of all terrible acting. But this line is the one we all mock and we all love to mock.

Any glaringly obvious omissions from the list? Let me know :) Bella x