Tremors (1990)

Directed by Ron Underwood. With Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross. Natives of a small isolated town defend themselves against strange underground creatures which are killing them one by one.

Tremors is a 1990 American monster film directed by Ron Underwood, produced by Gale Anne Hurd, Brent Maddock, and S. S. Wilson, and written by Maddock, Wilson, and Underwood.

Tremors is actually two movies in one. On its own terms, it's an enjoyable modern sci-fi horror-thriller, with good pacing and a sense of humor; but it's also a loving tribute to such 1950s low-budget desert-based sci-fi-horror films like Them!, It Came From Outer Space, Tarantula, and The Monolith Monsters. Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward are the stars, a pair of small-town handymen living in a small desert community, who stumble upon several difficult-to-explain phenomena, including a couple of people who've died under extremely strange (and, in one instance, very grisly) circumstances. Eventually, they and a handful of their neighbors find the cause: gigantic prehistoric worm-like creatures that streak under the desert the way fish swim through oceans, reaching up and grabbing anything they need for food. Cut off from the outside world, they have to figure out how to get across the desert alive while these creatures -- that are smart as well as fast -- close in on them, stalking them like monster sharks. The film benefits from the presence of special effects that are good enough to pull this all off, keeping the shock value high, and also from a subtly humorous script and performances to match by the entire cast, and director Ron Underwood's breezy pacing of the whole picture. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward are in a fight for their lives when they discover that their desolate town has been infested with gigantic man-eating creatures tha...

Test your knowledge with amazing and interesting facts, trivia, quizzes, and brain teaser games on MentalFloss.com.

"The action sequences are properly thrilling yet just silly enough to remind us that the film appreciates its cheap and cheerful origins."

In the Nevada desert there is a small town: Perfection, which has an isolated geographic position and has all but been abandoned.

I’m not the kind of guy that goes to the thrift store for clothes. There’s nothing wrong with shopping for clothes at a thrift store, but I’m much too big of a person to find any used clothing in my size. What I am, though, is the guy that goes to the thrift store and …

Kevin Bacon with a mullet and a bad southern action, Reba McEntire armed to the teeth and giant, killer sand worms. What is not to like?