Sandworms

Beetlejuice, Dune, and Tremors. What do these movies have in common? They are totally awesome? They are highly imaginative? Cult Classics? Well, yes to all those, but most importantly-- Sandworms. Although the sandworms from these amazing films vary greatly in habitat, appearance and diet, they are all fictional desert-dwelling subterranean beasts of mammoth proportions.

Sandworms are as diverse in appearance as they are in habitat. The worms of Tremors dubbed “Graboids” reside in the American West where they terrorize and destroy the small town of Perfection, Nevada. The ‘Shai-Hulud’ of Dune inhabit their own desert planet called ‘Arrakis.’ The Fremen of Dune worship these worms as gods because of their near indestructibility and indefinite lifespans. Consequently, they are also referred to as “old man of the desert,” “old father eternity,” and “grandfather of the desert.” Much less is known about the Beetlejuice worms, simply referred to as “sandworms,” besides that they dwell in an alternate world called ‘Saturn.’ To Adam and Barbara Maitland Saturn is the realm they enter when they leave their house, which is the physical boundary they cannot cross since the time of their death. These three very different behemoths can detect the slightest movement on the sands surface and can attack at lightning speed.

Both the Shai-Hulud and the Graboids have long tubular armored bodies of a muddy brown color, much like the hue of wet sand. Though both are eyeless, their head and mouth features set the two species apart. Based loosely on the Mongolian Death Worm, Graboids head’s have a large trout-like hooked nozzle that opens like a hideous three pedaled flower. It’s multiple tongues are long fleshy snake-like slimy sensors that flop around feeling for food. Though very comical, they are no joke. Perhaps the most grotesque sandworm is the Shai-Hulud. It’s body is similar to a Graboid but instead of a funny looking trout snout its head ends in a mouth like a giant sea lamprey with rows and rows of sharp circular grinding crystal teeth. On the other hand, Beetlejuice’s sandworm has a black and white striped body with a single shark-like dorsal fin protruding halfway down his back. His outer head with blazing red eyes, green snarling lips, and a row of striped teeth peels back to reveal an inner fleshy colored head with rows of jagged fangs and a striped snake shaped tongue. It is absolutely horrifying and definitely the most dazzling of the sandworm species.

Only the Graboids of Tremors have a known taste for blood. They begin terrorizing the small town by maiming sheep, cattle, and horses, but they quickly develop a taste for humans. In Dune, it is said the Shai-Hulud can devour anything with their powerful mouths, yet they prefer to dine on sand plankton. The Shai-Hulud are even credited for creating the sand on the surface of Arrakis by crushing large rocks into tiny dusty sand. It is unknown whether the sandworms of the Saturn realm actually prefer to eat people or if they are provoked by the dead souls wandering from their physical boundaries, though one worm does seem to develop a taste for Betelgeuse at the climax of the film.

So which is the superior sandworm film? Tremors and its Graboid antagonists, starring the Reba McEntire and Kevin Bacon? Dune? A David Lynch cult film based on a science fiction classic series by the legendary author Frank Herbert? Or Beetlejuice with its wonderfully imaginative and colorful worlds created by mastermind director Tim Burton?

Why don’t you decide? Check out Beetlejuice on DVD and read the classic Dune novels by Frank Herbert. Also coming soon, Tremors!! Get your name on the waiting list now!