This Weird Kevin Bacon Theory Will Convince You That Tremors Is A Footloose Sequel

Kevin Bacon's best onscreen performances include astronauts, cops, and political animals. He's played a supervillain who almost starts World War III at the end of "X-Men: First Class." Other times, Bacon appears as himself in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and gets kidnapped by the Guardians of the Galaxy. In other words, the man is many things and has iconic roles to spare — but if you asked 100 people to name their favorite Kevin Bacon movies, chances are that two early-career classics would turn up more than a few times. 

Bacon's roles as Ren McCormack in the 1984 musical drama "Footloose" and Val McKee in the 1990 horror comedy "Tremors" are as memorable as the movies are different. Yet, that hasn't stopped the fan theory suggesting the two films are secretly connected, to the point that they are set in the same location. Per the theory, the reason for the dancing ban in "Footloose" is that people are trying to avoid attracting the "Tremors" monsters, Graboids – and "Tremors" continues the story with a grown-up version of Bacon's character. 

"So, both have Kevin Bacon. Both are in the [Midwest]. What do they have in common other than that? Graboids, that's what. The town in 'Footloose' has an irrational fear of dancing. Why is that? Dancing causes tremors. Tremors attract Graboids," one fan explained on Reddit. "The town elders were aware of the [G]raboid threat and banned dancing out of the fear that it would cause [rhythmic] vibrations waking up the creatures sleeping below the town. Kevin [Bacon's] character in 'Footloose' stayed in the town, growing up to be his character in 'Tremors,' at which point he has to try and contain the danger he inadvertently released," u/CorporateNonperson elaborated in another thread.

Perhaps the most entertaining part of the sequel theory is that Kevin Bacon is aware of it and completely on board with the madness. In a 2015 interview with ShortList, the actor was introduced to the theory, and his response was so enthusiastic that he even came up with a disaster movie-style prequel to the Graboid version of "Footloose" on the spot. 

"Okay, that's hilarious," Bacon said. "So what we're saying is that the worms are attracted to vibrations and they caused a whole lot of damage, therefore the town had to ban dancing in order to stop attracting them? I'm fully behind that theory, I think it's great."

Of course, fan theories like this are generally little more than entertaining thought experiments. Still, it's fun to know that Bacon is in on the fun and appreciates the idea that two of his best-known movies are connected. Perhaps somewhere, some enterprising fan is toiling away with a grand unified Bacon theory that draws these connections across the actor's entire filmography. It would fit nicely with the "Footloose"-"Tremors" theory and the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game.