The plot here is simple. Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward are Valentine and Earl, two friends and co-workers who are looking forward to getting away from Perfection, the small desert town they have felt trapped in for many years. They end up feeling more trapped than usual, however, when the local area becomes a hunting ground for a number of subterranean creatures. The creatures are blind, but they're able to pick up on vibrations and sound, and they're fast and powerful. But the local residents, including the heavily-armed Burt (Michael Gross) and Heather Gummer (Reba McEntire) aren't going to be easy pickings.
The feature film debut of director Ron Underwood, (who spent a decade or so working on numerous shorts, knocked out a few movies, and almost ended his career by helming The Adventures Of Pluto Nash) this is a perfect storm of great ingredients, from the cast to the creature design, from the screenplay, by S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, to the ingenuity of the team all making the most of the relatively small budget.
Bacon and Ward are perfect in the lead roles, easygoing guys with a very believable friendship connecting them. Bacon has had his star shining brightly for decades now, but it's a shame that Ward rarely received due credit for the many wonderful performances he's delivered over the years. This remains one of his best turns, however, and we can just be thankful to the casting department for their great taste. That taste also gives us a lot of fun in the characters portrayed so wonderfully by Gross and McEntire, both highly proficient with their huge selection of weaponry. Finn Carter works well as Rhonda LeBeck, a graduate student conducting a number of seismology tests in the area, and a way to deliver more exposition at times (as well as being a potential romantic interest for one of our leads), and there are moments for Bobby Jacoby, Charlotte Stewart, Tony Genaro, Ariana Richards, and Victor Wong that provide a great mix of memorable moments for memorable characters. Everyone gets to be involved in the unfolding action, and nobody lets the team down.
It's actually very easy to pull Tremors apart and show why it works as well as it does, and the biggest reason for the enduring success of it lies in the script. Following a structure that is familiar to any fan of decent creature features, or even most disaster movies, the pacing of every scene allows for beautifully-developed characterisations to run parallel to the increasingly dangerous threat to the lives of everyone onscreen. Add some creature POV shots, and a nice streak of humour, and the end result is something memorable, eminently rewatchable, and, well, almost perfectly designed to grab your attention and keep hold of it. And many of the films that would follow on from this (a number of sequels and one film set in the past) are also highly recommended, even if they aren't quite as good as this one.
Most people will have already seen this, which makes this yet another redundant review in a long line of redundant reviews. But if you haven't yet seen it . . . make it a priority. Today. treat yourself. You will definitely enjoy it. Unless you have no soul.
9/10
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