The Science of Monsters

What kinds of animals burrow underground like the graboids? Earthworms dig tunnels by ingesting the soil in front of them and excreting it with mucus to form burrow walls. Mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and even fish are known to burrow and make homes underground to use for protection from predators and climate or to store food. Burrows have been around for millions of years such as dinosaur burrows, which were recently discovered on multiple continents. They are not only dug into sand, however. Scabies mites burrow into human or animal skin to create their home while termites burrow into wood. These tunnels and holes can cause extensive damage to land and the environment as well as cause problems for humans.

Another aspect of the movie Tremors are the tremors themselves. What can make the ground shake? Earthquakes are one way we experience tremors of the earth. Naturally occurring earthquakes are explained by the moving of tectonic plates. When they shift, seismic activity is created and causes the ground to tremble. Earthquakes can also be caused by volcanic eruptions, mudslides, mining blasts, and nuclear tests. In ancient times people believed earthquakes were restless or angry gods. In Greek mythology Poseidon was also known as “earth shaker” and was credited with creating earthquakes with his giant trident. In Japan, people though a giant catfish was shaking the ground. Others believed gases were trying to escape the center of the earth or that there were volcanic eruptions underground.

In Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell (2018) the graboids have moved to the underground arctic. Are there subterranean creatures that can survive in the cold? Antarctica has already been known to teem with microscopic life. Tiny organisms dwell on the ice, live inside glaciers, and exist in a rich microbial ecosystem underneath the thick ice sheet, where no sunlight has been felt for millions of years. In 2017 scientists discovered an underground oasis in Antarctica that was being heated by an active volcano. On the surface the average temperature is around -4 degrees Fahrenheit while the temperature in the caves can reach 77 degrees. The researchers found DNA traces of life in the caves including small animals, moss, and algae. They also speculate that there could be undiscovered species living underground.

When we think of the dark and seemingly endless boundaries of our oceans, it is easy to imagine there are species we may not have discovered. Closer to home, beneath our very feet, it is frightening to think there could be similar creatures. In Tremors, there are obscure hints, like atypical seismic waves, that point to the “graboids” beneath. We can only hope that if a new species is forming in the dirt, we get a tremor of a clue.

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CHAPTER THIRTY

THE WOLF MAN

Year of Release: 1941

Director: George Waggner

Writer: Curt Siodmak

Starring: Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains

Budget: $180,000

Box Office: $2.4 million

“Even a man who is pure in heart,

and says his prayers by night;

May become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms

and the autumn moon is bright.”

This poem, recited throughout The Wolf Man, tells a tale within a few simple lines. No one is safe from becoming a wolf if the circumstances are right. This is a horror film that allows the audience to connect with its monster because he is a person, just like we are.

The Wolf Man is considered to have had a tremendous influence on how Hollywood has portrayed werewolves on screen ever since its release in 1941. The film reference book 1001 Movies You Must See before You Die states that the film “still remains the most recognizable and most cherished version of the [werewolf] myth.”¹ Not only did the film portray werewolves in an interesting way, it also allowed the audience to feel empathy for them. Perhaps the reason why has to do with the writer. Curt Siodmak was Jewish and left Germany during the rise of Nazism. In an interview with the Writers Guild of America in 1999, Siodmak said, “I am the wolf man. I was forced into a fate I didn’t want.” Movie historian Constantine Nasr observed that Siodmak saw this movie as “the story of an outsider whose destiny was cursed by forces he could not control.” The Wolf Man premiered just three days after Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, but was able to be a box-office success despite the real-world atrocities taking place at the time.