Tremors (1990)

Tremors is a 1990 American monster comedy horror film directed by Ron Underwood (in his feature directorial debut) and written by S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, from a story by Wilson, Maddock, and Underwood. The film stars Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter, Michael Gross, and Reba McEntire (in her acting debut). Set in the fictional isolated desert town of Perfection, Nevada, it follows handymen Valentine "Val" McKee and Earl Bassett as they and the town's residents confront giant subterranean worms dubbed Graboids.

Conceived as a modern variation on 1950s monster films, Tremors was designed around ordinary protagonists rather than conventional genre heroes, while its monsters were deliberately left without a fixed origin. Filmed in Inyo County, California, with an extensive desert set built to represent Perfection, the production relied heavily on practical creature effects and miniature work. It distinguished itself by staging much of its monster action in broad daylight. Its music also underwent major revision during post-production: Ernest Troost composed the initial score, but Robert Folk later wrote much of the music used in the released film.

Released in the United States on January 19, 1990, Tremors debuted in fifth place at the box office and grossed $16.7 million against a $5–11 million budget. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who described it as an affectionate and entertaining update of '50s monster films. Although deemed a box-office failure, the film later found a larger audience through the video rental market, where repeat viewing helped it develop a cult following. In the decades since its release, Tremors has received largely favorable retrospective reviews and has appeared on several rankings of the best monster films of all time and the top horror films of the 1990s.

The film's later popularity led to a long-running franchise comprising six direct-to-video sequels—Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996), Tremors 3: Back to Perfection (2001), Tremors 4: The Legend Begins (2004), Tremors 5: Bloodlines (2015), Tremors: A Cold Day in Hell (2018), and Tremors: Shrieker Island (2020)—and a television series, with Gross serving as the franchise's mainstay. A TV series reboot of Tremors starring Bacon did not go beyond the pilot stage. In 2025, Underwood, Maddock, and Wilson regained the rights to the original Tremors script and began discussing a new sequel that would return to Perfection.