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In a sleepy Nevada town with a population of about 14, prehistoric, flesh eating "graboid" monsters - land sharks - live beneath the ground. These large and rather phallic creatures have huge, gooey mouths and shriek just like the cover art suggests... and can travel underground at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour! Where did they come from, and why haven't they revealed themselves before? (You got me... you'll have to see the sequel for more background.) Banding together against the unpredictable creatures, the colorful townsfolk fight the graboids off and try to escape with their lives. But not all make it, and besides some gruesomeness, Tremors is above all a comedy. Despite many absurdities, this cat and mouse tale remains effective and fun.

Well directed by Ron (City Slickers) Underwood, this was Underwood's first major motion picture after a career directing educational films. Underwood clearly has fun with the genre but remains respectful to the conventions and the characters. Indeed, Tremors is an affectionate homage to the clunky sci-fi horror films of the 50s. The film still remains entertaining because Underwood defeats the biggest hurdle facing films like this - he isolates the victims but makes you believe the threat is real. With a budget of only about $12 million (worth more in 1989 than today), Underwood had a decent production team behind him, a great cast and strong editing by O. Nicholas Brown. Though not everything is clearly explained in the story, Tremors remains a kooky, well-mounted production filled with action laughs, and scares. Tremors is certain to entertain.

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Universal presents Tremors in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, but without anamorphically encoding. With the cult success of this film, it's strange Universal would pump time, effort and money into producing so many supplements yet skimp on the transfer. For the most part, colors are reasonably solid and clear, though it the print looks noticeably faded. In order to compensate, it appears as if colors are artificially pumped up in some scenes. Overall contrast looks a bit overdone and shadow detail weak, adding to the appearance of overprocessed colors. Fleshtones can also look faded or too orange, but natural for the most part. The transfer displays a bit of grain throughout, but it's otherwise fairly sharp and film-like. Artifacting blemishes are kept at a minimum, but edge enhancement is quite evident, especially during moments when the camera pans. Clearly, much of the film's deficiencies would have been rectified a new anamorphic transfer - this film deserves it. Regardless of what might have been, this is fairly good transfer that just could have been better.

Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?

Presented in 2.0 Dolby Digital surround sound, this is a pretty good mix. Overall dynamic range is above average - pleasant, but not stunning. Some decent stereo imaging between the front speakers is evident, and the surrounds kick in often with occasional pans from the front to back. The subwoofer gets a bit of action without ever getting too excited. Dialogue is very clear and understandable and well balanced with he music and effects, and though I thought the score was overused, the music is well-rendered and spacious. Though I couldn't help but think how nice a 5.1 remix would have been with this DVD considering the possibilities inherent in the material, this is a satisfying mix overall.

French and Spanish 2.0 surround dubs are also included, along with English, French and Spanish subtitles. No Closed Captioning is provided.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

This collectors edition, originally produced for laserdisc, boasts some strong supplements that fans will surely enjoy - as with any supplement written, produced and directed by Laurent Bouzereau, you can't go wrong...

The Making of Tremors is a whopping fifty-five minute long documentary, loaded with interviews including director Ron Underwood, writers and producers Steve Wilson and Brent Maddock, and special make up effects artists Tom Woodruff, Jr and Alec Gillis (of Amalgamated Dynamics). Much discussion centers on how the film crew designed and operated the creatures in the studio and on location, using a combination of miniatures, hand puppets or life sized animatronics. Underwood also talks at length about the casting, editing and changing the film's ending after preview test screening. Unfortunately, little behind-the- scenes material seems to have been available, so its mostly interviews and some clips. Still, this is a great documentary. (Universal has kindly included 10 chapter stops, and rare for supplemental material, subtitles in English, French and Spanish.)

There is also another featurette, but it is only four minutes long, and simply your typical studio-produced EPK. A pale substitute for the full documentary. Next up are interviews with three of the cast members - "Kevin Bacon Profile," Michael Gross Profile," and "Reba McIntire Profile." Each of these interviews are about 3 minutes long and are mostly promo material, though there is a bit of behind the scenes footage spliced in. Rounding out the video extras are 5 minutes of outtakes, presented in full fame and quite rough looking. They include a completely different opening, more of Kevin Bacon getting stuck by road construction, Fred Ward talking to Finn Carter, and the whole gang running from the graboids near the end.

Static extras include a still gallery includes over 100 (110, to be precise) publicity, production and design photos. There are also some fairly in-depth production notes presented both onscreen as well as in a fold- out insert in the keepcase. An interesting nugget here is that the production had to make the town in the film from complete scratch! Lastly, we have four theatrical trailers for Tremors and its sequel, Tremors 2: Aftershocks, as well as cast and crew filmographies.

Parting Thoughts