_**Underground monstrosities in the desert prey on the folks of a remote town**_

Two handymen working in a Southwest town (Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward) team-up with a seismologist (Finn Carter) and the townspeople (e.g. Michael Gross & Reba McEntire) to take on huge creatures that live underground and like to eat people.

“Tremors” (1990) is a desert creature feature similar to “Gargoyles” (1972), but with a less grave tone; there’s a somewhat light air, but it’s not a comedy. The cast is spirited and likable while the creatures are inventive and interesting. Unfortunately, they’re also unbelievable since the hard desert ground would have to have the texture of thick mud for these behemoths to so easily travel through.

If you can overlook this, however, it’s a fun monster flick with magnificent desert cinematography. Yet it’s nothing more than that and so plays tediously on repeat viewings. “Gargoyles” is all-around superior because it’s more cryptic, grave and streamlined.

Finn Carter is a highlight in a girl-next-door kind of way, particularly her brief de-panted scene (lol). Meanwhile Gross is reminiscent of Dennis Weaver while McEntire is a natural as the gun-toting hick woman.

The film performed modestly at the box office, but eventually became a cult hit, followed by several sequels.

It runs 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot in Olancha & Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California.

GRADE: B-