One Of Kevin Bacon’s Most Iconic Movies Is Now On Netflix
An iconic Kevin Bacon movie just hit Netflix. It's from some time ago, but holds up today as a horror and comedy that hits the right notes
When it comes to monster and horror movies, Kevin Bacon isn’t the first (or probably 50th) name you would think of considering his overall body of work. But the dude has been in some scary movies over the course of his career. And one of them, an iconic and a bit sill (and kind of great) movie is now available on streaming. You can see him try to outrun sandworm-like terrors way before the folks in Dune made them super cool in Imax. Tremors is available on Netflix and it will make you never want to visit the desert ever again.
Tremors came out more than 30 years ago, if you want to feel a little bit old, and sets itself in Perfection, Nevada, a place that is about to become the very opposite of its name. Kevin Bacon stars as Val McKee working deep in the mountain desert region in a small town that’s all but cut off from modern civilization. Seemingly out of nowhere, some weird killings start happening in the town with Bacon’s McKee and his Earl (Fred Ward) noticing that folks are dying in rather unusual ways.
It doesn’t take long before Kevin Bacon and company realize that what’s happening is stemming from giant worms who are burrowing under the desert and attacking those on the surface. These things are hideous with long tentacle-like protrusions that can really screw you up if caught. The worms are able to detect movement on the surface by tracking vibrations. Some of the folks in the town realize this way, way too late. But Kevin Bacon and his crew go about trying first escape and then ultimately working to kill the three worms in the region. Look, it’s all a bit silly, but that is kind of the point. It’s something of a play on the monster horror genre with all its ridiculous tropes.
Where did these disgusting and pure evil worms come from? Kevin Bacon and his cronies never find out and it never really is all that important. That’s one of the things that makes this flick a layer scarier. It’s unclear, even by the end, if the group or really anyone in the desert anywhere is actually safe. Without getting the central issue of finding the root of all desert snake evil, we might be dealing with these Tremors monsters forever.
Joining Kevin Bacon in Tremors are a couple of other notables. In addition to Fred Ward, there’s also Michael Gross and Reba McEntire who play a survivalist couple. They are key in taking down these worms. Star Trek alum Bibi Besch makes an appearance and Ariana Richards has a small role as well. The film was directed by the great Ron Underwood who would go on to helm other comedies like City Slickers, Heart and Souls, and later one of the all-time bombs in movie history The Adventures of Pluto Nash starring Eddie Murphy.
Though Tremors wasn’t a box office hit at the time, earning just $17 million on its $10 million budget, critics really took to what Kevin Bacon and company were throwing out there. It’s sitting at a very solid 86% on Rotten Tomatoes and 65 on Metacritic. For what this movie was, a silly horror comedy, these scores really point to a movie done simply and done well.
Tremors got all kinds of sequel movies over the years, though Kevin Bacon didn’t appear in any of them. They kept up with the same theme but none of the following movies were able to capture the same kind of sandworm magic. There was Tremor 2: Aftershocks and Tremors 3: Back to Perfection which came out over the next decade. There was even a series developed in the early 2000s for SyFy, but that lasted only one season. It would seem like everyone had their fill of this storyline.
As for Kevin Bacon, he’s currently starring in Showtime’s City on a Hill which was recently renewed for a third season. Bacon plays FBI Jackie Rohr who is working in Boston. It’s a bit of a callback to his character from Mystic River. But if you want to see him running through the desert as a much younger man, head on over and check out Tremors on Netflix. It’s worth the watch.
