Tremors

Universal Pictures | Release Date: January 19, 1990

CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION

65	METASCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

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Critic Reviews

Critic score Publication By date

James Berardinelli

Horror/comedies often tread too far to one side or the other of that fine line; Tremors walks it like a tightrope. Read full review

Richard Harrington

Tremors is a delightful throwback to such '50s and '60s films as "Them," "The Deadly Mantis" and "Attacks" of both "The Giant Leeches" and "The Crab Monsters." Read full review

Jay Carr

Fast-moving, light-handed, assured, even witty at times, and filled with satisfying special effects, Tremors plays like a redneck "Dune." [19 Jan 1990, p.23]

Dave Kehr

While liberally dosing the action with humor, Underwood is able to preserve an undertone of genuine menace and substantial suspense. His shooting style is clean and classical, distinguished by camera movements that emphasize the line of the action without becoming conspicuous in themselves. Read full review

Ted Mahar

Directed and co-written by Ron Underwood, Tremors maintains a good, steady tongue-in-cheek tone while working nicely as a suspense thriller. [22 Jan 1990, p.D5]

Mick LaSalle

Tremors gets its characters into a series of hopeless situations and then resolves these situations in unexpected ways. I tried to out-guess the movie and couldn't. The movie might be nothing more than light entertainment, but care and thinking clearly went into it. [19 Jan 1990, p.E1]

Harper Barnes

With its excellent, offbeat cast, its sprightly pacing and its goofy tone, Tremors is the kind of movie that propels you out of the theater with a grin on your face. [26 Jan 1990, p.3F]

Susan Wloszczyna

The special effects are scream-worthy, the gore is minimal and the humor has a folksy zing to it. [19 Jan 1990, p.1D]

Michael Wilmington

It's a zippy melodrama for small-town America and small-towners at heart: well-executed kitsch for audiences that will still be amused at the notion that the bugs are getting so big, they'll drag us all down. Read full review

Juan Carlos Coto

It refuses to take itself seriously. And that is its underlying strength. [19 Jan 1990, p.G9]

Rick Groen

Tremors is never earth-shattering, but always competent. Modest in intention, fine in execution, it just wants to make a body smile, to stick a happy face on the monster movie. There are worse faults. [20 Jan 1990]

Staff [Not Credited]

An affectionate send-up of schlocky 1950s monster pics, but with better special effects, Tremors has a few clever twists but ultimately can’t decide what it wants to be – flat-out funny, which it’s not, or a scarefest. Read full review

Vincent Canby

Tremors wants to be funny, but it spends too much time winking at the audience. More than anything else, it looks like the sort of movie that might have been put together so that tourists visiting Universal Studios could see a movie being made. Read full review