In a sentenceThe ground is trying to eat everyone, and the handymen are expected to sort it out
In a desert town, handymen Valentine McKee (Kevin Bacon) and Earl Bassett (Fred Ward) find their working lives interrupted by something moving beneath the ground. The threat comes from giant burrowing creatures, making the open country around them dangerous in ways they cannot yet understand. Rhonda LeBeck (Finn Carter) faces the same trouble, along with townspeople Burt Gummer (Michael Gross) and Heather Gummer (Reba McEntire). Staying alive means working out what is under their feet and how to avoid it. The two handymen have to put their practical skills to unfamiliar use.
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Ron Underwood’s desert creature feature gets its laughs from people worth worrying about. Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward make agreeable company, with enough suspense to forgive the occasional unconvincing puppet.
Ron Underwood’s Tremors is a funny, resourceful creature feature with unusually good company at its centre. It sets handymen against something beneath the desert and lets the practical difficulties produce much of the comedy. The people have a problem to solve, and the film takes their efforts seriously enough for us to worry about them. We recommend it warmly, allowing for a few conspicuous puppets and a final stretch that is less nimble than the rest.
Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward give Valentine McKee and Earl Bassett the easy rhythm of men accustomed to working together. Their exchanges sound casual, which takes some doing in a film that keeps finding extraordinary things for them to discuss. Neither actor seems impatient to get to his own joke; the pleasure comes from listening to them react to each other. They make the handymen convincing company before the creatures have to do much work.
S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock’s screenplay extends that generosity to the neighbours. Finn Carter’s Rhonda LeBeck is allowed intelligence, and the townspeople’s willingness to help one another gives the scares something to work with. We were surprised by how much we worried about them. Watching these people make themselves useful to somebody else, despite having plenty to fear themselves, earns our affection without a great deal of fuss.
Alexander Gruszynski’s daylight desert photography is especially useful to the suspense. The open ground ought to make danger easier to spot, so a threat coming from underneath it is immediately unsettling. Ivo Cristante’s production design gives the small town enough ordinariness to keep the joke credible. The surroundings look like a place where people have things to get on with, which makes the interruption by burrowing monsters all the more disagreeable.
O. Nicholas Brown’s editing keeps the developing predicaments readable, giving us time to understand a difficulty before moving to the next. That clarity is a substantial part of the fun: we can think along with the people on screen. Ernest Troost’s music supports the amiable mood without making the threat feel entirely harmless. At 96 minutes the film is mostly economical, although the later action takes a little longer than it needs to make its points.
The practical effects give the creatures a pleasing weight. They belong in the dirt, even when the puppetry is not entirely persuasive. A few effects invite inspection when they should be causing alarm, and the broad comic tone cannot cover every awkward movement. Still, the film gives us enough reason to worry about its people that a less convincing monster does not end the suspense.
The debt to 1950s monster films is clear, but there is no need to know those films to enjoy this one. Ron Underwood understands the pleasure of watching ordinary people work out an extraordinary problem together, and keeps the jokes close to that task. Put it on when the company wants a creature feature and would rather spend the evening liking the people in it.
Most critics welcome Tremors as a funny, resourceful creature feature that understands the pleasures of 1950s monster films. Praise centres on its balance of comedy and suspense, inventive use of an underground threat, and eccentric townsfolk worth caring about. The ensemble earns consistent approval, with Bacon and Ward’s rapport singled out alongside the residents’ willingness to help one another. Practical effects and brisk pacing also draw praise, though neither wins everyone over.
The spread is wide, but the disagreement is concentrated: nine reviews are positive and one is negative. Variety finds the film uncertain about when to joke and when to frighten, while Empire admires the creature designs but questions how well the puppetry has aged. The New York Times is the clear dissenter, finding the knowing humour excessive and the effects silly, and seeing little wit in a revival most critics regard as affectionate and clever.
The critic lauds it as a sharp and funny monster movie that resurrects the spirit of B-movies, with great pacing, cameos, and an intelligent female lead.
Read the full review →The critic praises the film as a cheerful, unsadistic monster movie with surprises, strong small-town rhythms, and effective direction that keeps it loud, fast, and shiny. The cast and clever script stand out in this jocular good-time horror-comedy set in broad daylight.
Read the full review →The critic calls Tremors a pure sugar rush of a monster movie and a genre hybrid that toes the line between off-kilter comedy and creature-feature horror with aplomb. The unselfish banding together of the small-town residents is singled out as one of the film's foremost charms.
Read the full review →The critic praises the film's balance of comedy and horror, its practical effects, and strong characterization that makes the audience care about the characters. They highlight the oater-inflected monster movie's embrace of its absurdity and focus on the eccentric townsfolk.
Read the full review →The review calls it a terrific monster movie that exploits its subterranean threat ingeniously, with wonderful rapport between leads and authentic B-movie talk.
Read the full review →The critic describes the film as a clever, unfussy pastiche of 1950s monster movies, with broad humour giving way to suspense as survivors battle the creatures from rooftops using improvised methods. The monsters are cleverly designed and the humour makes the B-movie endearing, though it notes the puppetry has not aged as well.
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The Host · not reviewed yetA riverside creature attack brings family quarrels and public panic into sharp focus.
Attack the BlockAnother threatened community whose resourcefulness matters as much as the creatures.
Grabbers · not reviewed yetAn isolated community faces tentacled trouble with practical thinking and questionable sobriety.
The Blob · not reviewed yetMore abrasive small-town horror, with practical effects that make ordinary spaces unsafe.
The BirdsFor the same discovery that open daylight offers no guarantee of safety.
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