Tremors (1990)

TREMORS starring KEVIN BACON and FRED WARD
FINN CARTER * MICHAEL GROSS * REBA McENTIRE * VICTOR WONG * ARIANA RICHARDS
Directed by RON UNDERWOOD

Yes, I am a pretty big fan of this throwback to monster movies of the fifties (and the seventies, to some extent).

This is among a small group of favorites with me in a certain category - a couple of others are THE HIDDEN (1987) and NIGHT OF THE COMET (1984) - meaning... low budget sci-fi / horror films which transcended their own limitations. Despite the small budget, this one consistently entertains to the very end. It takes place in and around the tiny town of Perfection, located in the middle of the desert and seemingly as far removed from the rest of civilization as is possible nowadays in the USA.

Bacon & Ward play a couple of local handymen who have just made plans to move on when the...worms turn, so to speak.  The two actors overplay it a bit, but it mostly works - these are very average guys caught in an 'Attack of the Monsters' situation. Gross and McEntire almost steal the movie as a couple of survivalists who become very useful to the rest of the inhabitants of the town (population:about a dozen; I said it was tiny). The desert locations are a plus and the mixture of humor & action is very well done. Watch for a very young Ariana Richards, who would then play one of the kids in Jurassic Park (1993). BoG's Score: 8 out of 10

Tremor Trivia: There was a direct-to-video sequel in 1996 - Tremors 2:Aftershocks - with Fred Ward starring, then another one in 2001 in which Michael Gross took center stage, then a prequel in 2003 and then a short TV series.