You know, despite the fact that horror seemed to find perfection in the late 70’s to early 80’s, I still find myself drawn to the classics of a bygone time.  No, I’m not talking about the pantheon of Universal’s monsters, no, I find more entertainment and guilty pleasure in the great monster movies of the 1950’s.  I was raised on films like Them!, 20 Million Miles to Earth and It Came From Beneath The Sea, films that said to hell with anything resembling actual science and instead forged their own universes as square-jawed heroes fought with damsels in distress to battle off monsters created by science gone awry or invaders from far off worlds.  Yes, they’re stupid in many ways, and by today’s standards much of the material is downright laughable, but you cannot deny that they carry a distinct charm to them that films of today seem to have lost for the most part.  Horror these days is either outright bleak destruction or a complete farce with little middle ground, but when that middle ground is found the results are often sublime.  Perhaps the best of these throwbacks to a time long past is 1990’s Tremors, a film that spawned an unnecessary amount of sequels and spinoffs (none of which are nearly as bad as everyone seems to make out) yet brought back the sheer fun and genuine terror of the good old fashioned 50’s big bug flicks.

Welcome to Perfection, Nevada, population just over a dozen.  If there was ever a place that could garner the title the middle of nowhere, this would be it.  Still, it’s a place that many call home, and all problems aside there’s still the small town draw that keeps them around.  Burt and Heather Gummer (Michael Gross and Reba McEntire) are the local survivalist gun nuts living up on the hill.  Seismology student Rhonda LeBeck (Finn Carter) is working for her degree out in the boondocks.  Val (Kevin Bacon) and Earl (Fred Ward) are the local hired hands, doing odd jobs just to make the ends meet so they can keep up a busy schedule of doing nothing, while everyone hangs out at good old Chang’s Market, run by the crotchety Walter Chang (the late Victor Wong).  Sick and tired of their going nowhere existence, Val and Earl decide to head out of town for good.  Having made this promise many times before, the townsfolk are reluctant to believe that the men are serious, but as they haul ass out of town it seems as if they have indeed made it.  They’re out and they couldn’t be happier… which of course in horror speak means that everything’s about to hit the fan.  Indeed, things keep getting stranger as people around town begin to die mysterious deaths, leading eventually to an all out siege as the residents of Perfection must battle it out to the death with giant, carnivorous, subterranean worms.  It’s a test of their very will to survive and human ingenuity as the survivors are forced to battle it out with the increasingly intelligent “Graboids.”

Here and now I must say that this is one of the fastest moving horror films you’re liable to find.  Sure, there is some moderately paced exposition at the beginning and some contemplative moments strewn about here and there, but all in all the film is a fast-paced battle to the death with these giant underground monsters.  Helmed by first-time theatrical director Ron Underwood, Tremors distances itself from a lot of other modern horror films by doing away with most of the conventions.  Excessive gore and foul language are done away with in favor of classic scares and genuine humor.  In a genre where darkness rules the cinematography, almost all of Tremors is filmed in broad daylight, a tactic which is used to great effect as it brings in what are normally comfortable situations  and transforms them into situations of terror.

Now, you’re not going to have a classic big bug movie without some top notch big bugs, and Tremors does not disappoint in that realm either.  The “Graboids” as later installments dubbed them are… well, they’re kind of hard to explain.  Essentially they are giant worms with a beak and three tongues that shoot out and grab their prey, and although it’s a crude explanation I know, it’s better to actually see them in action.  That is of course assuming you can actually see them.  Actual uses of the Graboid puppets are limited to when they’d be most advantageous to the story, not excessively showing off the monsters to the audience in such a manner as to say, “Hey, look at us, we’ve got cool monsters!”  Most of the time they are used in subtle manners that can hardly be seen as they disappear into the sea of desert sand, similar in many ways to the final act of Jaws when men are forced to fight their unseen prey out on the open sea.

What makes this film something special though is the chemistry that was created in casting an excellent cast of A-listers and otherwise great character actors.  I’ve never been that great a Kevin Bacon fan, but as a southern wiseass who’s a bit more resourceful than he’s willing to admit, he’s perfect.  Fred Ward delivers his part with the perfect level of age and competence that he’s amassed over the years, proving him to be one of the most consistently good actors you’ll find.  And Victor Wong, well, how could you ever go wrong with Victor Wong?  Truly the standouts in this film are without a doubt Michael Gross and Reba McEntire as the town’s resident survivalist gun nuts.  Normally two of the more sedate people you’d expect to find (particularly Gross just coming off of Family Ties where he played an ex-hippie), they let it all out as they brilliantly portray a couple who’s slightly psychotic yet at the same time endearing.  Burt’s rash and a conspiracy nut, while Heather is the one who always manages to reign him in.  Together they’re a great couple and round out the ensemble perfectly, if only for the scene with the siege on their basement alone (I defy you not to cheer by the end of that scene).

Tremors is a classic in a style that has long-since passed.  It hearkens back to a time when a town was really a community, and its residents would band together to fight off anything that threatened to tear them apart.  When people die in this movie, you care about them, and in that aspect alone it succeeds where most horror films fail.  A throwback in all the best ways, Tremors is a good, fun, and surprisingly intelligent film.