Blog Archives
Exclusive: Interview with Paul Taglianetti!
Following our brief conversations, filmmaker Paul Taglianetti agreed to do an interview with me! Paul has worked on many famous films, but of course in this interview we focus on the creature effects he collaborated on over the years.
Special: Monster Legacy’s Monstrous Hundred – Part 3
The Monstrous Hundred continues with the 90s, a turning point in effects-making with the advent of CGI.
Tremors (1990)
Kicking off the 90s roster of creature features on a fabulous note, Tremors is one of the most brilliant, all-around engaging monster movies of all time. From the witty dialogue penned by S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, to the colourful performances of the cast, to the absolutely brilliant creature designs and effects by none other than the team at Amalgamated Dynamics in their first solo outing, Tremors never once gets boring. A real classic.
Subterranean Terror — Tremors 5: Bloodlines
Tremors 5 is the first film in the series not to involve in its production the original Tremors creators — S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock. In an official press, they said that “for all of us at Stampede, this is a bittersweet development in our long connection with the franchise, since we, the creators, are not involved.” As early as 2004 — shortly after the release of Tremors 4 — the writers had developed a script for another Tremors sequel; the story, set in Australia, would have revealed the Assblaster egg-laying process. In 2012, Wilson and Maddock attempted to negotiate with Universal to produce an independent theatrical film, but the studio refused the offer — preferring to continue the series with more straight-to-video films.
Subterranean Terror — Tremors: The Series
Tremors: The Series was produced between the third and fourth films, and based on an idea that had been conceived during production of the second film, but was not able to be greenlit at the time. The actual series, with Tremors 3 as its intended ‘pilot’, presents the citizens of Perfection against not only Graboids, but also other creatures — either hybrids spawned from a chemical compound labeled as ‘Mixmaster’, or fictitious prehistoric animals. Recurring in the series is the Graboid El Blanco, introduced in the third film; 8 out of 13 episodes of the series are focused on the subterranean creatures.
Subterranean Terror — Tremors 4: The Legend Begins
The fourth chapter in the Tremors series depicts the Graboids first attacking the city of Perfection (then called Rejection) in 1889, 100 years before the first film. When discussions about the projects began writer Steven S. Wilson met with Universal executive Patti Jackson. “I told Patti that we were really in a corner,” Wilson told Cinefex online. “The fans were going to want a new creature, but we had no idea where to go. We couldn’t just keep doing the same movie over and over.” He then added: “we’d have to do something wacky this time, like set it in the Old West.” Jackson’s response was concise: “that’s fine.”
Subterranean Terror — Tremors 3: Back to Perfection
General note: to avoid repeating the term “Assblaster”, the article (and further entries featuring said creature) will mostly use abbreviations such as “AB” or “Blaster”.
The success of Tremors 2: Aftershocks led to the production of another sequel in the series — Tremors 3: Back to Perfection — that would mark the return, as the title says, to the original town in Nevada. Unlike the two predecessors, the project was rather quick-timed, with a short pre-production and production process. In particular, budget restrictions forbade an extensive shooting schedule. “To fit this very ambitious movie with three different kinds of Monsters into our budget meant we had to restrict our shooting days,” Writer S.S. Wilson said. “So we ended up with a 22-day schedule.”
Monster Legacy 