Larry Cohen has directed some classic cult-horror movies including It's alive and Q: The winged serpent to name a few. When he released The Stuff in 1985 in which he wrote and directed, he proved once again he is a true master in the genre and has an undeniable love for film. The Stuff is truly Larry Cohens love letter to the campy sci-fi flicks from the 1950's.
The story is pretty simple, when a group of miners discover a white Fluff-like substance oozing from the ground, they decide to taste it ( why they were eating stuff coming out of the ground I have no idea ) they soon discover it is the greatest thing they have ever eaten. Soon they market it and it becomes a full blown phenomenon everywhere, consumers just can't seem to get enough of the new marshmallow-like dessert...The Stuff! There is one side effect though, The Stuff takes over the mind and body of anyone who eats the mysterious new dessert, turning them into mindless beings who can't get enough of the highly addictive Stuff. A typical suburban middle-class kid named Jason (Scott Bloom)realizes this one night when he opens the refrigerator to discover The Stuff is moving, as he tries to warn his parents and brother of what is happening but it is too late for them. Jason runs away from home and meets up with David 'Mo' Rutherford (Michael Moriarty) who is investigating the Mystery of The Stuff. With the help from Colonel Malcolm Grommett Spears (Paul Sorvino) and others, they are on a mission to stop the alien substance in the form of a tasty treat, from taking over the whole world.
This is just a fun movie, and there are a number of great actors aside from the ones already mentioned including Garret Morris, Andrea Marcovicci, Danny Aiello and a few others. Through out the film are commercials for The Stuff that are just great and the jingle is catchy as hell. The scenes involving The Stuff attacking people are absolutely fantastic and well done. The hotel room scene looks great were they used a room (the same one from A Nightmare on elm street) that could rotate creating the effects of the stuff climbing up the wall and pinning a man to the ceiling. Another great scene and my personal favorite is when 'Chocolate Chip' Charlie's head becomes all distorted and starts spewing the stuff. Apparently there was a lot of Häagen Däzs ice-cream, yogurt and fire-extinguisher foam to create the Stuff.
Anchor Bay released a DVD of The Stuff in 2000 which includes the film in wide screen format and a commentary with director Larry Cohen.
As a kid growing up in the 80's, The Stuff was one of those movies we rented many, many times on good ol' VHS. The Stuff is a great monster movie, although I wish there was a few more scenes involving the stuff, they did extremely well with the effects making the experience pure eye candy. If you love the monster movies from the 50's you are going to love this film, it is really a loving tribute to some of Cohens favorite films that inspired him to get into film making. This one hits high on the fun scale, highly recommended.
Rating: C+
Review by Jason
No comments:
Post a Comment