Ron Underwood’s classic 1990 creature feature, “Tremors,” achieves an incredible feat: making ‘roided-out earthworms threatening. 

Originally theorized as extraterrestrial — “I vote for outer space. No way these are local boys,” says Earl Basset (Fred Ward) — the sightless underground monsters, also called the unimaginative “Dirt Monsters,” are discovered to be prehistoric rabble-rousers who like to eat livestock, cars, and the occasional bit of human flesh as a treat. Their snake-like appendages are strong enough to hold a running truck back from escape, and they are patient enough to lay siege to their potential lunch for days on end. When they descend upon the high desert, mountain-bound town of Perfection, Nevada, it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet: sensing the vibrations humans make (walking, bouncing on a pogo stick, dribbling a basketball, etc.), it’s easy for the creatures — dubbed “graboids” by store owner Walter Chang (Victor Wong) — to spot their next meal. 

But there’s one thing they don’t count on: a pair of aimless handymen (Kevin Bacon and Ward), a seismologist, and a Republican prepper couple with way too many firearms. (Anya Stanley)