TREMORS

   Film (1989). No Frills/Wilson-Maddock/Universal. Executive prod Gale Anne HURD. Dir Ron Underwood, starring Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Finn Carter. Screenplay S.S. Wilson, Brent Maddock from a story by Wilson, Maddock, Underwood. 96 mins. Colour.

   A thinly populated valley in the Nevada desert is ravaged by 4 monstrous subterranean worm creatures, apparently possessed of some intelligence, which are finally destroyed by the courage and wit of the handful of local residents, along with a woman seismologist, who survive the initial attacks. This unambitious, textbook MONSTER MOVIE is notable for good dialogue and ensemble acting and for itsvery convincing MONSTERS, usually seen in broad daylight: a triumph of the special-effects teams. However, the monsters are hardly convincing as sf: arbitrary and unexplained - and probably "pre-dating the fossil record" - they have no apparent food-source undergound to enable them to grow so big. They are very like the sandworms in Frank HERBERT's DUNE (1965) in appearance and in their sensitivity to vibration.

   PN