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Here’s one from our loyal fans in the United Kingdom: Why are none of the special features we’ve being hearing about on the Tremors 4 DVD on the version being sold in England?

Fans in the U.S., count yourselves lucky. We have called and emailed Universal for weeks trying to confirm they did not put the special features on Tremors 4 DVDs for UK, but have had no reply. If it is true, it’s really an insult to that part of the DVD audience. We busted out butts to make the special features for Tremors 4 the best since the Tremors 1 collector’s edition. We’re very sorry our UK fans aren’t getting to see them!

Hiram settles in Perfection Valley as a result of having to deal with his silver mine. Yet in T-1 Burt says he came for “geographic isolation.” Has Burt’s family always lived there?

No, Hiram and Christine eventually left (see the question about the town’s founding date) and no Gummers lived in the Valley until Burt and Heather returned. As they became more extreme survivalists during the Cold War (see your history books) they decided to move to a truly isolated place. Burt was aware of his great-grandfather’s roots in the valley, so he and Heather investigated it among others. It proved perfect for their needs. They actually re-acquired the land on which Hiram built his original house, and that is where Burt’s house, or at least his basement, stands today.

It doesn’t look like there are enough telegraph poles leading away from town. It looks like they just stop. What gives?

This is where the reality of a location and the reality of what you actually film bites you in the butt. In real-world reality there was a very steep drop-off just beyond the edge of town. When the stage coach and Hiram’s wagon enter town, they are driving along the edge of it; which is why they don’t just come straight into town. When we chose the location, we thought, “Great, we don’t have to use many telegraph poles because they’ll just disappear down in the valley below the drop off.” In fact, on film, you can’t really tell the valley is there, hence, it looks like the poles just stop short. Our bad.

Where can we get a Tremors 4 poster?

Unfortunately (like so many other merchandise-related things) Universal no longer makes posters for video stores any more. So they don’t exist.

What relation does Juan have to Tremors 1?

Juan (Brent Roam) is an ancestor of Miguel (Tony Genaro) in Tremors 1. Miguel’s family inherited the cattle ranch that Juan dreamed of building, and finally did build after the end of Tremors 4.

Why does the setting of the Tremors 4 have more vegetation than Tremors 1?

You guys are relentless.  Well, the cynical answer is, “Because we couldn’t afford less.” The Los Angeles area locations in which we shot T-2 and T-3 were not available for T-4. We investigated shooting the whole movie out in the real desert (like Lone Pine, where we shot Tremors 1), but the budget would not allow it. So we had to find new land close to LA. The Polsa Rolsa ranch we selected has a lot more vegetation than even the ranch we used in T-2 — so that’s why.

However, a kindly fan has provided a different (and less cynical) answer below:

It could be as simple as a geological shift.  We know there are hot springs in the area, as well as many interesting geological hiccups and burps that the geology students were studying in modern day.  A slight shift could lower the water table in the Perfection area, thus leaving modern day Perfection much drier than it was 100 years ago!

Why did the “animatronic” Graboids seem to be moving slow in Tremors 4?

I’m not quite sure what this means. The Graboid puppets technically are not animatronic. They are not controlled by computers or motors, but by people power, using cables. The full scale Graboid for Tremors 4 was mounted on a new rig built by KNB FX which gave us greater mobility than we’ve had in the past. We do feel that such a large creature shouldn’t move too quickly, or it would start look fake. Maybe that’s why it looks slow to some people.

Why are the Graboids smarter in Tremors 4 than in Tremors 1?

Hmm… actually we don’t think they are. In fact, we made the Graboids in T-4 smart because many fans had written saying that they liked how the Graboids in T-1 learned things and changed their behavior, and they didn’t see as much of that in T-2 or T-3. So we made sure to add “smartness moments” into T-4. We didn’t mean to make them smarter, but maybe it seems that way. Maybe modern day Graboids are adversely affected by environmental pollution which wasn’t present in the Old West?

Where was Tremors 4 shot?

The town was built on the Polsa Rolsa Ranch in Acton, CA. It was torn down immediately after shooting wrapped – the sad fate of all Perfections. We also shot the camp site and hot spring scenes on that land.

 

The mine (interior and exterior) was the famous Bronson Cave in Hollywood where zillions of movies have been shot. We had to add some fake walls inside the real mine to make it smaller and more claustrophobic.

Carson City was Calico Ghost town, near Barstow, CA. This is also where we shot most of the wide Western vistas of various characters riding their horses, as well as Hiram returning in the wagon.

 

The muling station (interior and exterior) was an existing barn we found on the Valuzet movie ranch, north of Los Angeles. We modified the barn to fit our story’s needs.

What is the Muling station used for?

This was a place where mule teams were changed on the heavy ore and equipment wagons going to and from the mines. One set of animals couldn’t make the long trips, so the station was set up at a half way point — an old West gas station.

If Tremors 4 takes place in 1889 (and it’s in Perfection) why does the Perfection town sign in the opening sequence of Tremors 3 say the town was founded in 1902?

We thought it would be cool for the prequel to take place exactly 100 years before we shot Tremors 1 (1989). And we knew you’d demand an explanation. After the end of T-4, Hiram and Christine settled in Hiram’s new house. He eventually became an excellent marksman and they lived well on the proceeds from the silver mine (some of which Burt inherited). Later, when it came time to incorporate the town, Nevada bureaucrats decided that, even though people had lived there since 1889, they’d make the official founding date 1902, the year of incorporation Hiram objected, but was overruled. He was so angry that he and Christine pulled up stakes and moved to San Francisco, never to return. Thus began the generations-long Gummer distrust of Big Government.

At the end of “Tremors 3” Nancy makes a deal to sell the sole surviving AB to Sigfried and Roy to pay her daughter’s way through college, but in “Blast From the Past” it’s said she sold it to Sigmund and Ray instead. Why the name change?

I believe it was because, while we had the rights to use Sigfried and  Roy in Tremors 3, we could not get the same permission for the series.  The series was very low budget, so it may have been that we couldn’t afford to pay for them, but I don’t know for sure.  I just remember being told by higher-ups, “You can’t use Sigfried and Roy.  Make up some other name.”