Tremors (1990)

There were a lot of movies that I remember liking.  I think this may have been a product of the times.  I had a certain expectation for a movie and there was some value in not having seen it before.  Watching Tremors now, it’s not quite as entertaining is it once once.

The movie is fairly simple.  A sparsely populated town suddenly has a problem with giant worms that attack sources of vibrations.  Val and Earl are two handymen who want to get out of town, only to run into these monsters before they can get to a more-populated area.

This leads to a tense standoff in that the residents of Perfection can’t move.  They get up on rooftops or rocks, but that will only get you so far.  They do have a visiting grad student who has seismology equipment.  That helps.  Perfection is also home to Burt and Heather Gummer, gun enthusiasts.  So, at least they have weapons.

This is going to be one of those movies that you can either sit back and enjoy or you can pick apart.  It’s probably best to watch it once and enjoy it for what it’s worth.  It’s mildly suspenseful and there is some action, but there’s not going to be a lot of replay value here.

You kind of wonder where the worms, dubbed graboids, have been.  Yes, it’s Nevada, so there’s a lot of open space.  It’s also possible that they’re the result of some sort of government experiment.  It’s probably best not to think about it too much.  They’re meant to be big and terrifying, which they are.

After all, the movie did spawn a pretty sizable franchise.  I guess they did something right.  I don’t recall much of the other movies, but I do remember liking the TV series while it was on.  I think the main advantage that the movie has is that it doesn’t try to do too much.  It sticks to one aspect and does it just well enough that you can enjoy it.  I’m just not certain that I’d buy the DVD.

IMDb page