Tremors: Every Monster From The Franchise, Ranked

When Tremors first hit theaters in 1990, there’s no way fans could have known that the franchise would still be going strong 30 years later with a seventh film – Tremors: Island Fury – releasing direct-to-video in 2020, like every sequel of the original cult hit has been released.

With each new film or TV series in the franchise, we’ve seen a new development in the life cycle of the horribly named monsters known as Graboids. Netflix recently added the entire franchise to its streaming library in anticipation of the new film, and we wanted to take a look at the various monsters from the Tremors franchise to see which version comes out on top!

10 Snakeoids

It’s important to understand the naming scheme of some of these monsters, as they were named not by scientists or hunters or folklore, but instead by the common citizens of Perfection in Nevada. In particular, Walter Chang is credited with the name of Graboids and Snakeoids from their discovery in the first Tremors film.

Snakeoids are the tongue-like tentacles that erupt from the mouth of the Graboid when hunting on the surface. They are powerful, gripping monsters that trail slime as they search for their prey, making them as gross as they are dangerous.

9 Dirt Dragons

Tremors 4: The Legend Begins took a trip to the past with a prequel set in 1889 as it followed Hiram Gummer — great-grandfather of franchise star Burt Gummer, played by Michael Gross — as he arrives in the struggling town of Rejection before it became known as Perfection.

This prequel revealed the earliest stage of a Graboid’s life cycle after they hatch from eggs, which were baby Graboids that could move quickly through the dirt and propel themselves through the air at their targets, earning them the name Dirt Dragons.

8 Detachable Snakeoids

The first four films in the Tremors franchise took place in either Nevada or Mexico and featured similar Graboids as the films explored the monsters’ different stages. When the franchise returned to the present day in Tremors 5: Bloodlines, it also changed the location to another continent entirely as Burt Gummer was called in to deal with Graboids in South Africa.

Gummer and fans discovered that the evolution of the creature in South Africa differed slightly, explained in the film as due to different climates, tougher ground conditions, etc. The Snakeoids, in particular, were able to move independently from their host Graboid which allowed them to behave more like their namesake, which was also seen from the Arctic version.

7 Graboids

Giant, “underground, g*ddamn monsters” is the best way to describe the main monsters of the Tremors franchise, which debuted in the 1990 film as they hunted the residents of Perfection until they were stopped by the survivors led by Val McKee and Earl Bassett, played by Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward, respectively.

The giant, underground worm-like creatures traveled quickly underground, had sharp rocky teeth that lined their gaping mouths, which also contained the aforementioned Snakeoid horrors. The Graboids’ are actually blind and hunt instead with sound/vibration, which is a strength that hunters like Burt Gummer have managed to turn into a weakness.

6 El Blanco

What might surprise some fans of the franchise is that Michael Gross reprised his role of Burt Gummer along with a few residents of Perfection in Tremors: The Series on the Sci-Fi Channel. The series took place after the events of the first three films (and prequels) and hadn’t yet evolved into the new wave of films that kicked off with Bloodlines.

The series featured all of the versions of Graboids seen in the films up to that point, though an albino Graboid named El Blanco that first appeared in the third film took center stage in the series. El Blanco was stuck in it’s Graboid phase so it was much older and seemed more intelligent than other Graboids, and Burt used it to keep Perfection safe from greedy land developers.

5 Shriekers

Shriekers may be the best-named creature in the entire series, and they first appeared in Tremors 2: Aftershocks, which saw Fred Ward reprise his role as Earl. The Shriekers grew inside the Graboids and tore through their “parents” to walk on land as a smaller, more agile threat.

They got their name due to the high-pitched shriek the creatures used to communicate, as they were still blind. However, their seismic hunting ability was replaced with thermal fans that could detect heat signatures not that they lived above ground, and the creatures reproduced at a reduced rate based on how much they consumed, which could lead to dangerous Shrieker outbreaks.

4 A**-Blasters

The naming of the creatures really took a nosedive thanks to Walter Chang’s grand-daughter Jodi, who named a new airborne version of the creature A**-Blasters. These creatures molted out of their former Shrieker bodies and used a mixed concoction of flammable ingredients shot from, well, you get it.

This fiery explosion would launch the Ass-Blasters into the air, where they would again use thermal-detection to hunt for food. The A**-Blasters were the end of the creature’s unique life-cycle as they would lay the Graboid eggs that would start the cycle anew. Even more aggressive South African versions of the creature were introduced in Bloodlines and Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell.

3 Arctic Graboids

After Bloodlines further established Burt Gummer’s worldwide expertise as a Graboid hunter, he was soon called to a new section of the world to investigate yet another deadly breed of Graboids and Ass-Blasters in Tremors: A Cold Day In Hell.

These Graboids had been awakened in the Arctic due to unnaturally warm weather and seemed to blend the different breeds seen in previous films, which meant they were able to breach the ground as a full-grown Graboid and had detachable Snakeoids that could operate independently.

2 Graboid Virus

While a fatal infection may seem like a stretch when discussing monsters, we’re going with it. As revealed in A Cold Day in Hell, Graboids are hosts to a parasitic virus that is transferred to other animals when they are being eaten by the Graboids that would prove fatal to the victims, if they weren’t already being eaten by a Graboid at the time.

Burt Gummer was consumed whole by a Graboid in Tremors 3: Back to Perfection, though he managed to get out of that one intact. Unfortunately, the Graboid virus laid dormant in Burt for years until re-emerging while in the arctic. This deadly infection can only be cured using the antibodies from the throat of a living Graboid, making this pretty lethal to anybody… except Burt Gummer.

1 QUEEN B*TCH

When Burt and his crew went to South Africa in Tremors 5: Bloodlines, they encountered a more aggressive Graboid than the ones seen in North America. Not only did these Graboids work together with the equally aggressive Ass-Blasters in working to protect their eggs, but they also served one Graboid in particular, who was given the name of Queen B*tch.

This Graboid was the first to feature the detachable Snakeoids and the first to be able to breach the ground as a full-grown Graboid. It was also revealed that they were able to tunnel better through solid rock by releasing acid from its mouth. Queen B*tch is still the most deadly Graboid we’ve ever seen, but we’re hoping Tremors: Island Fury will outdo itself once again.

About The Author

Scoot Allan
(193 Articles Published)

Entertainment reporter, writer, and all-around geek, Scoot Allan has written for print and online media sources like Geek Magazine, GeekExchange, GrizzlyBomb, WhatCulture, RoguePlanet.tv and the Urban 30 before joining CBR, ScreenRant, GameRant and The Gamer as a staff writer. He enjoys salad but prefers french fries.

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