Have a Few Laughs Along With Your Screams in ‘Tremors’

THIS WEEK’S MOVIES

Scared by Friday the 13th? No? Then maybe one of these several new, scary videocassettes will do the trick.

“Tremors” (MCA/Universal, priced for rental, PG-13) is a 1989 theatrical release that’s both frightening and funny. It has everything--good old Fred Ward, good young Kevin Bacon, country singer Reba McEntire, a pretty hip script, and giant worms that crawl all too fast beneath the desert floor--with people-eatin’ on their minds.

“Body Chemistry” (RCA/Columbia, $79.95, R) should give you the willies if dangerously obsessive women scare you--or if unoriginal films do (this 1990 release, starring Mark Singer, Lisa Pescia and Mary Crosby, is a lot like “Fatal Attraction,” though not nearly as well done).

“Clown House” (RCA/Columbia, $89.95, R). Do clowns scare you too--even (supposedly) nice ones? Then this psychological thriller about a boy terrorized by killer clowns should help keep you awake all night, listening for the approaching sounds of a circus.

“Devil Girl From Mars” (1954), “Monster From Green Hell” (1957) and “Half Human” (Rhino, $14.95 each) are--as you might have guessed from the titles and dates--obscure B-films that are more silly than scary.

MORE MOVIES: Not quite so nerve-racking are “Internal Affairs” (Paramount, priced for rental, R), with Richard Gere and Andy Garcia in a 1990 thriller about the investigation of an allegedly corrupt cop; “Family Business” (RCA/Columbia, $89.95, R), a Sidney Lumet-directed drama/comedy about three generations of crooks (Dustin Hoffman, Sean Connery, Matthew Broderick), and “Happy Together” (IVE, $89.95, PG-13), a college comedy starring Patrick Dempsey and Helen Slater. All three are theatrical releases from earlier this year.

OTHER NEW VIDEOS

If you’d like to see an animated version of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Red Shoes,” which inspired the famous Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger film, there’s a new, half-hour one available from FHE for $14.95.