Tremors

With six official follow-ups and a short-lived TV series, one would expect Tremors to have the pop culture impact of a sci-fi franchise like Jurassic Park.  Instead, it became a direct-to-video cash cow for Universal who milked the fanbase with prequels and sequels sets in various exotic locals with survivalist Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) fighting off evolutionary upgrades of the original Graboids.  Despite creative involvement by creators S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, nothing can top the charm of the 1990 original, which is just as much fun as it was 30 years ago. 

Ne'er do wells Earl and Valentine (Fred Ward and Kevin Bacon) are just about ready to ditch their backwater hometown of Perfection, Nevada (population: 14).  But instead they're called upon to defend it from underground monsters that treat the valley like one long smorgasbord.  Eyeless and insatiable, these "Graboids" aren't quite as dumb as they first appear, sensing the vibrations of their human prey and setting traps of their own.  Earl and Val lead the survivors into the nearby mountains, hoping the population doesn't read zero by the time they get to the safety of higher ground.

 

Tremors scenario is lifted right out of a Universal classic sci-fi thriller from the '50s, down to the isolated desert town and (mostly) unseen monsters.  But Wilson and Maddock's script is refreshingly modern, balancing genuine thrills with a light comedic touch that never mocks its quirky characters.  It certainly helps that the cast is perfectly in tune with the material and director Ron Underwood makes the humans just as memorable as the monsters themselves. 

 

Speaking of which, the creature effects by Alec Gillis are the pinnacle of practical design...only two years before the aforementioned Jurassic Park would make it all unfortunately obsolete.   Tremors ingeniously reveals its Graboids piecemeal, saving the big reveal for a truly shocking moment, incorporating a Jaws-on-land approach that no film before or since did so successfully.

 

Arrow Video's two-disc limited edition 4K Ultra HD +Blu-ray set is a can't miss package, restoring the film to a flawless presentation from the original negative plus new documentaries, featurettes, commentaries, outtakes, a fold-out poster and three early short films from the key filmmakers, including a stop-motion highlight from animator / screenwriter S.S. Wilson.

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