Tremors

Tremors (1990) is about a town of fourteen people in the Nevada desert meeting creatures that live underground. Val and Earl decide to leave town. On the road they find a body, then another. They try to go back and find the only road blocked. Then they work it out: there are large creatures moving underground, following sound and hunting by vibration. The whole construction follows from that rule. Walking on the ground means death. The characters climb onto rocks and roofs, move by pole, and speak quietly to avoid noise. Every scene obeys the same physics, and the audience learns the rule and thinks along with them. The creatures were not made on computers; they were built as puppets, hydraulic rigs and miniatures. Special arrangements shot in sand were used for the underground movement. The humour is constant but the characters are not stupid; the film does not make fools of them, and each is competent at what they know. The gun collecting couple is the best example. Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward star. It underperformed in cinemas. It found its audience on video rental and became a cult film from there; the series produced six sequels and a television show. The genre mixture is balanced: horror, comedy and western all working at once. It runs 96 minutes. Good for: creature films, late eighties genre cinema, and practical effects. Less good for: the story is simple and there is no character depth.