"They say there's nothing new under the sun. But under the ground…" horror comedy TREMORS bust forth onto 4K UHD and remastered Blu-ray from Arrow Video USA.

The Nevada desert town of Perfection is home to a population of roughly ten, and it is shrinking what with rootless hired hands Earl (Fred Ward, THE PLAYER) and Valentine (Kevin Bacon, FRIDAY THE 13TH) tiring of crap jobs like hauling garbage and nailing fences; however, the very day they decide to move onto bigger and better things, a landslide blocks the road, an old-timer's body is discovered at the top of a transmission tower, a farmer's head is all that's left among his slaughtered herd, and there are no signs of the road crew but their bloody hardhats. Earl and Valentine are fit to warn the rest of the town of a madman on a killing spree until they discover the remains of a giant, fanged worm wrapped around their truck axle that turns out to be an appendage of a much larger carnivorous sandworm and two of his (or her) buddies who about to turn the town of Perfection into "one big smorgasbord" unless the surviving townspeople – general store owner Chang (Victor Wong, PRINCE OF DARKNESS), farmer Nestor (Richard Marcus, ENEMY MINE) and his prank-playing son Melvin (Bobby Jacoby, NIGHT OF THE DEMONS 2), farmer Miguel (Tony Genaro, THE MILAGRO BEANFIELD WAR), well-armed survivalists Bert (FAMILY TIES' Michael Gross) and Heather (singer Reba McEntire), folk artist Nancy (Charlotte Stewart, ERASERHEAD) and her daughter Mindy (Ariana Richards, JURASSIC PARK), and visiting seismology grad student Rhonda (AS THE WORLD TURNS' Finn Carter) – can stay above the surface.

Coming at the tail end of Universal's eighties horror revival, TREMORS was a more overtly comic departure than the blackly humorous THEY LIVE or THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS, benefitting greatly from a funny script by SHORT CIRCUIT duo S.S. Wilson and Brent Maddock, creative direction from feature-debuting Ron Underwood – a turn that made him the ideal choice for CITY SLICKERS – and the chemistry between Ward and Bacon and a fun supporting cast quickly introduced and cracking wise between monster attacks (the work of Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff who broke away from Stan Winston Studios and would work on titles like ALIEN 3, MORTAL KOMBAT and SPIDERMAN among others). The romantic subplot is rather obligatory (Ward actually has more chemistry with Carter than she does with Bacon, as illustrated in one of the deleted scenes), but the focus remains on characters who are quirky but not unsympathetic. Although there is a smattering of gore, the film's dialogue will remind viewers just what was allowed in PG-13 films of the nineties. Cinematographer Alexander Gruszynski (THE CRAFT) lends the sun-drenched film a picturesque sense of landscape that makes the setting a character unto itself (the working title was BENEATH PERFECTION) while the scoring of Ernest Troost (DEAD HEAT) is supportive but undistinguished (more on that in the disc's extras). The film spawned a sequel helmed by Wilson in 1995 that brought back Ward and Gross as Graboid hunters as well as a 2001 DTV entry helmed by Maddock with just Gross followed by a 2003 prequel set in the nineteenth century directed by Wilson followed by a 2003 series that lasted thirteen episodes. After the FEAST trilogy of films riffed on the TREMORS concept, Universal greenlit three more TREMORS sequels all helmed by actor-turned-DTV director Don Michael Paul, with the most recent coming out last year.

Constantly available on home video, including 1996 fullscreen and widescreen Signature Collection laserdiscs to coincide with the sequel, a 1998 non-anamorphic letterboxed Collector's Edition DVD, a 2005 anamorphic upgrade only available in the TREMORS ATTACK PACK with the first three sequels (subsequently reissued without the making-of piece from the laserdisc), and a 2010 Blu-ray featuring a rather shoddy-looking HD transfer in keeping with Universal's early HD masters of catalogue titles followed by a 2013 two-disc, four-film set. Remastered from a 4K scan (with Dolby Vision HDR on the UHD edition), Arrow's 1080p24 MPEG-4 AVC 1.85:1 widescreen Blu-ray transfer is a giant improvement over what came before, restoring depth and a wealth of detail that was once scrubbed away and over-sharpened. The textures of the rugged locations are not only restored but the background skies and mountains that were once indistinct or completely obliterated by DNR give the settings a welcome sense of depth (note on the commentary track that they mention point out storm clouds and snow-capped mountains in the background as they discuss how the shoot was plagued with inconsistent weather when they only had prepared for extreme heat) while the old-school miniatures and matte paintings are more evident (but film fans will more than likely look upon that affectionately). Audio options include the Dolby Stereo track in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 as well as a discrete rendition of the original four channels in DTS-HD Master Audio 4.0 along with the 5.1 remix created for Universal DVD and Blu-ray renditions. All three deliver an exciting experience but purists may prefer the 4.0 track over the 5.1. Optional English SDH subtitles are included.

Both the UltraHD and Blu-ray editions feature the same extras on the first disc. First up is a new audio commentary by director Underwood and writers/producers Maddock and Wilson who note that the film is the last Hollywood creature feature shot without any CGI. They discuss the origins of the product – noting that they had to change the original title LAND SHARKS after the SNL character was introduced – initially being pressured by the studio to shoot in Los Angeles, their luck in securing the cast. Other topics include the weather – it was raining and snowing during the first part of the shoot and uncomfortably hot the rest) – the importance of the contribution of production designer Ivo Cristante (HELLRAISER: BLOODLINE), and cinematographer Gruszynski's concern about shooting a horror film in bright sun. A second track features Jonathan Melville, author of the book "Seeking Perfection: The Unofficial Guide to Tremors" who draws from the original screenplay and interviews with several members of the cast and crew for information. He rehashes some of the stories from the first track, sometimes with more detail (in discussing the casting, he reveals that John Cusack turned down the lead and Bacon was uncertain about appearing in a horror film but liked the script, and the studio wanted either James Garner or Lou Gossett Jr. for Earl), as well as pointing out small touches gleaned from watching the film endlessly.

"Making Perfection" (31:07) is a brand new documentary including comments from Bacon whose post-FOOTLOOSE career was in a slump, Gross who recalls the out-of-the-box casting of "America's dad" in a horror film, director Underwood, writers Wilson and Maddock, co-producer Nancy Roberts – the writers' agent was the writers' agent who convinced them to go with the LAND SHARKS idea as a follow-up to SHORT CIRCUIT – associate producer/second unit producer Ellen Collett (DECEIVED), location manager Ginny Nugent, and creature effects designer Gillis (Woodruff is scene in archival footage). While a Fred Ward, Kevin Bacon, and Michael Gross commentary would have been great, this piece at least has the participation of two of them.

Roberts gets her own interview in "The Truth About Tremors" (22:02) in which she reveals that she started her own talent agency to allow her writers to work in various formats rather than being pigeonholed, TREMORS as a follow-up to the half-million dollar deal on SHORT CIRCUIT, as well as convincing Maddock and Wilson to go on as producers to steward their vision and protect Underwood. In "Bad Vibrations" (10:47), cinematographer Gruszynski recalls westerns being the only Hollywood imports allowed in communist Poland and describing TREMORS as a sort of western, his concerns about not being able to control the daylight which was hard to match from day to day, and realizing the monster POV movements. In "Aftershocks and Other Rumblings" (12:38), Collett recall starting out at Roger Corman's New World along with producer Gale Anne Hurd (ALIENS) and their shared love of making low budget movies – with Hurd founding a secondary company for that purpose (BAD DREAMS having been the first production for that company) – the location scouting, the daily mechanical effects challenges, and the comradery of cast and crew shooting on a location that offered little diversion.

"Digging In the Dirt: The Visual Effects of TREMORS" (20:59) features effects artists Chris Warren (THE ABYSS) of Fantasy II Film Effects and Robert Skotak (ALIENS) of 4-Ward Productions. Warren recalls how his father Gene Warren Jr.'s company was one of the few catch-all effects houses during the period along with Industrial Lights and Magic and Boss Film Studios and that the Skotak brothers were admirers of his grandfather Gene Warren Sr. who had worked on films like THE TIME MACHINE. Skotak recalls making models with his brother Dennis as children and getting to know producer Hurd at Roger Corman's studio, and that Hurd told him that they could not work on a Universal production unless they incorporated. The piece also includes some raw footage of the model shoot. "Music for Graboids" (13:35) is a combined video interview with composer Troost and audio interview with additional music composer Fox in which Troost recalls his work being compromised by input from the studio that he should have ignored, while Fox recalls spotting the film without hearing any of Troost's work and being asked not to compose for specific scenes but just to compose as much music and he could within the limited schedule.

"The Making of TREMORS" (44:15) is a documentary produced for the 1996 laserdisc release that covers a lot of the same ground as "Making Perfection" with the additional participation of Gillis and Dennis Skotak, along with the shorter featurette on the creature effects (10:26) also included on the earlier editions. Four deleted scenes (5:02) are featured including the original opening sequence with old-timer Edgar and farmer Fred, another driving scene with Earl and Valentine, a sequence where Earl tries to talk up Valentine to Rhonda, and a brief moment where Valentine has to comfort frightened Mindy. "Pardon My French!" is a compilation of overdubs from the edited-for-television version (16:18). The disc also includes the EPK featurettes, including a shorter behind the scenes bit (3:50) and profiles for Bacon (2:53), Gross (2:20), and McEntire (1:53), as well as two theatrical trailers (1:58 and 1:55), radio spots (4:21), TV spots (1:23), and a VHS promo (1:19) as well as trailers for the six sequels (6:34). The image gallery section features extensive production stills, behind the scenes images, the image gallery from the Signature Collection laserdisc (112 images), two drafts of the screenplay, storyboards, and posters & video artwork.