Tremors (Film Review)

1990 Universal Pictures
Directed by: Ron Underwood; Written by: Brent Maddock and S.S. Wilson
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross, and Reba McEntire
MPAA Rating: PG-13; Running Time: 96 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 8/10

Val and Earl just want to leave town. These lovable losers have been working as handymen in the dusty desert hamlet of Perfection, Nevada, population:14, for longer than they've cared to. Every time they try to leave, though, the temptation of free beer ties them down. Sure enough, when they've finally built up the resolve to resist a Perfection six-pack, they're trapped in town by what else but giant, man-eating worms.
Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward seem to be having a good old time as Val and Earl in Ron Underwood's Tremors, a movie clearly made to be a good old time. Tremors, a PG-13 and family-friendly miracle of a horror comedy, is up front with its intentions, doesn't take itself too seriously, yet still takes pride in its craft. Underwood takes care to make the quirky Perfection feel like a real place, a tiny slice of rusty Americana, full of salt of the Earth folk, like gun-toting survivalists, Burt and Heather Gummer, played with brilliant gung-ho bravado by Michael Gross and Reba McEntire. There's also the scientist, Rhonda, who could just be "token scientist" if Finn Carter didn't play her with such unbridled and contagious enthusiasm.
Rhonda's a seismologist, and the events she's been studying around Perfection turn out to be not the work of tectonic troubles, but 40-foot long, tentacle-mouthed worms the towns-folk delightfully nickname "Grabboids." These Grabboids aren't just destructive and hungry, but dastardly smart, discovering that humans are not only delicious and easy prey, but shoddy craftsman whose floors can be penetrated, and whose houses can be knocked down.
All the while, Underwood perfectly balances elements of horror, adventure, and laughs. Will previously no-account Val and Earl succumb to the Grabboids' terrors, or will the dirty duo finally get it together when it comes to the business of monster-busting? What digit will rest upon the Perfection population sign by the end of the film? Will Burt and Heather ever run out of ammunition? There's only one mutherhumpin' way to find out.