An unfortunate victim falls prey to the graboids.
© 2001 Universal Home Video

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Trembling Again in Perfection Part Two

Twenty years experience of propping firearms, combined with his military and police background, gives Bill Davis enough background to know what he is talking about when he discusses the power of the weapons used in TREMORS 3. Such power gives the audience an idea of just how tough the graboids really are.

"Burt has the graboid gun that goes after the shriekers," he says. "It's the same caliber as the machine guns - .50 caliber. He fires it, it goes through the shrieker, through a cinderblock wall, through a truck, and that's an actual depiction of what it would do."

Gross is practicing blasting [IMG4R]off ammo somewhere in the dark, and Davis says that those rounds are $3 per shot.

"We've about $5,000 worth of ammunition here," he says. "Hopefully we won't go through all of it. It's visually impressive. That's why directors love it. And directors of photography love it too, because your average firearm puts out a conical shape flash when it flares. These put out a fire ring. It's very loud and very bright. If you're into guns, this is the granddaddy."

While Davis says he'd love to see Burt shooting "all kinds of guns," he says that the movie is "mainly about the creatures."

"We've come up with some pretty interesting creatures," Davis says, but like everyone else on the set, is vowed to secrecy. "I'm not allowed to talk about it." He then adds with a laugh: "Don't tell the press."

He admits that the creatures are the film's big hook.

"We want to make sure people rent the movie and don't want to let the cat out of the bag," he says. "But I can tell you this, I've been in this business 20 years and I'm a retired policeman and I never thought I would be propping a show that would have creatures that would do these things. Ever!"

Gross continues to fire

TREMORS

© 2001 Universal Home Video

Speaking of producers, Steve Wilson and Nancy Roberts are running around the set, keeping warm and keeping the shoot on track at the same time, but Wilson will stop long enough to comment on Roberts, who flies past in a red down coat.

"She is the mother of all those [TREMOR] movies," he says admiringly. "Nancy Roberts is the engine who has created this entire universe. Without Nancy none of this would have ever existed."

Oddly enough, tonight Wilson is directing a second unit scene, something that the film's producers have in common.

"Each of us will have gotten our start directing second unit of TREMORS," he laughs. "It's been kind of fun to be in control of all three projects."

Although he has the opportunity to script big projects like WILD WILD WEST, which he co-wrote with director-writer Brent Maddock, Wilson says TREMORS is more rewarding since his work isn't changed along the way.

"There was very little left of our work in that movie [WILD WILD WEST], even though our names are on it," he notes.

But while he has written big mainstream films, he has a desire to stay on in the horror genre.

"I love fantasy films," he grins. "I grew up with fantasy films."

Regarding the new TREMORS creatures, Wilson is also reticent, only saying that they happened "very quickly."

"We had no idea what the new creatures would be," he says. "TREMORS 2 generated because we actually did get the idea. We had kept saying worms aren't that dangerous. Once you understand how they work, they're kinda dumb. The fans were all saying there will be the queen worm. Other fans were saying, of course, they'll go to New York. We were just kind of at a dead end. I was just driving along and I thought, 'What if they broke into something small?'"

Wilson isn't the only horror genre fan on the set. When Gross returns from weaponry duty, he admits that he, too, loves frightening flicks.

"I grew up on some of these

An unfortunate victim falls prey to the graboids.

© 2001 Universal Home Video

"CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON," he says with a shake of his head and a smile. For the first time during the interview, the usually articulate Gross seems at a loss for words as he recalls the films from his childhood.

"I love the classic monster flicks," he finally says. "Things like THEM - always to me a standout. To me, the human monsters have always been great, too. The DRACULAs. Bela Lugosi still sends shivers up my spine in the original DRACULA. And Boris Karloff in THE MUMMY - those kinds of things still kill me. I just watched a marathon here in LA last Saturday night. FRANKENSTEIN and THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN back to back on AMC Saturday night. It was great. I still thrill to those."

But he says that Alfred Hitchcock's PSYCHO is perhaps the most frightening film he's ever seen.

"Strictly speaking, that is not a monster movie, but the monster that lurks within every human being," he says thoughtfully. "That, to me, is what really sends me - the psychotic among us, when people just tip that balance into being their own monsters. And one of the best movies was the original WOLF MAN with Lon Chaney. Just a marvelous, marvelous cast. And great philosophical discussions about people turning and that evil inside every man. That war between good and evil. Maybe that's what the phenomenon is about, anyway.

"If we all have our own personal wars to wage, they are not always as simple as good versus evil. Burt Gummer's own war is actually much more complex and is, perhaps, much more difficult to win.

"It's ultimately about trying to be in control - which none of us are," Gross says, but he adds that he knows Burt will continue to fight. "It gives him the illusion about being in control of his life."

Suddenly, somewhere out in the darkness someone yells, "Fire in the hole!" and great bursts of gunfire slice through our conversation.

Gross snaps back to the task at hand, that of portraying a man totally obsessed with putting his finger on the trigger to regain control. He listens intently to the gunfire and smiles.

"That's more like it!" the actor laughs. "Now we're talking action."