Kevin Baconmay be heading back to Perfection as originalTremorswriter S.S. Wilson has revealed that he and Stampede Entertainment are looking to revive the franchise with a new legacy sequel.The new project would ignore the previous sequels in a similar way to David Gordon Green’sHalloweentrilogy, picking up decades after the original story. For fans of Bacon – and there are many – this would be a return to a franchise that many horror fans hold dear and would be more than happy to see get another run out with its original star.
TheTremorsfranchise began as a classic B-movie creature-feature homagethat saw mutant sandworms called Grabboids invading a small town and munching their way through livestock and residents alike. Bacon starred in the original movie alongside Fred Ward, Michael Gross, and Reba McEntire, and although Ward returned forTremors 2: Aftershocks, and Gross appeared in many of the six subsequent films, Bacon’s return to the franchise in a planned (second) TV spin-off was canceled when, shockingly, no one picked up the pilot.
Now, during an appearance at the 2nd annual Tremors Fest in New Mexico, Wilson shared an unexpected update on the franchise, which could now bring back several of its remaining original cast to tell a new direct follow-up to the 1990 original. ViaJoBlo, Wilson said:
“What we have now, just got, are the rights to our original screenplay. That’s good, we can remake (Tremors) if we want to. We don’t have the rights to Shriekers, we don’t have the rights to Ass Blasters, we don’t have the rights to Tremors 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. Stampede has zero intention to do a remake of the first movie. They’re most likely going to try to make a sequel that’s set in Perfection, Nevada with the remaining cast and crew and another Graboid threat. Marc Toberoff would love for them to pull a Prey-style approach to a sequel film. Stampede doesn’t have the foreign distribution rights, so they still have to go to the table for negotiations with Universal about selling outside of America.”
Kevin Bacon’s Return Could Be Great for Tremors
While there are many reasons why a movie franchise with multiple sequels should just lay down and die at some point, legacy sequels that bring back old cast members have seen some big nostalgia-driven wins. The fact that Kevin Bacon was not only willing to consider returning for the abandoned 2018 TV series, but actually did return and record the pilot episode, suggests thathe would be more than happy to reprise his role as Valif the new movie comes to fruition.
Bacon is one of those actors who is universally loved in whatever he does. His appearance as a cultural icon – aka himself – in Marvel’sGuardians of the Galaxy Holiday Specialwas a testament to his incredible popularity, and there has been outcry from his fan base overthe delayed release of the remake ofThe Toxic Avenger, in which Bacon stars as the villain alongside Elijah Wood and Peter Dinklage.
Why Tremors Is a Perfect B-Horror Movie
We owe Tremors' success to the acting talent, clever use of practical effects, and the quick pacing that doesn’t leave us wondering.
Although other stars, such as Gross, would also be likely to return – considering he has appeared in even the panned 2020 movieTremors: Shrieker Island– the death of Fred Ward, who played Earl in the original movie, would leave a gap in the line-up. However, that aside, the biggest challenge of a new movie would be to navigate the tricky rights situation the project would find itself in. As per Wilson’s comments,the new movie would need to return to basics and discount all the Grabboid variants that have appeared in the franchise sequels.This probably wouldn’t be a bad thing, as the “Jawsin the desert” approach of the original movie was able to deliver something with a little more tension than a bunch of CGI monsters being constantly shown on screen.
