Review Maven

This movie was a childhood favorite of mine. It scared me to death when I was 12, so I figured another watch would prove to either be great or crap.

Ths premise of the story is that a miner finds this white "stuff" bubbling up out of the ground. His first instinct is to taste it. I have no idea why. If I were to see what appeared to be a shaving cream type substance bubbling from under the ground, my first instinct would not be to eat it. This geezer eats it and invites ANOTHER miner to eat it as well and the other one eats. They both comment on how delicious it is.

So, somehow, "The Stuff" ends up being sold in stores and everyone starts eating this. The movie is complete with feathered hair, people in spandex dancing in commercials, and children in shorty shorts and socks pulled up to their knees.

The main character, Jason (Scott Bloom) sees "The Stuff" moving around outside of the container in the refrigerator and refuses to eat it, even though his entire family loves "The Stuff".

Well, "The Stuff" gets big. Bigger than ice cream. People become addicted. So, the ice cream companies hire an industrial spy named Mo (Michael Moriarity, sporting a peice) to discover what is going on with "The Stuff". He accepts and meets a commercial producer named Nicole (Andrea Marcovicci) and he tells her that something is clearly amiss with "The Stuff". He also talks to Vickers (Danny Aiello) who used to work for the FDA and is strangely afraid of his own dog. He tells Mo that he and his dog eat "The Stuff" all the time. He also meets "Chocolate Chip" Charlie (Garrett Morris) who is driven out of business by "The Stuff".

Moriarity meets up with Jason as he is fleeing his house after his family has tried to force him to eat "The Stuff", as they have thrown out all other food and are eating ONLY "The Stuff". They insist that they are happier, more energetic, etc etc etc since switching to only "The Stuff".

Mo, Jason, and Nicole all go to "The Stuff" factory and discover the secret that it is being pumped from the ground. Mo decides to go to the media, with aid of a military general, by convincing the general that the "commies" have created "The Stuff" to control the U.S. citizens.

Eventually, they get to a radio station and broadcast a warning to the American people and tragedy is averted. There is a mini twist at the end.

The movie is not as scary as I remember (they almost never are) and its pretty dated, with the "commies" talk and lycra. However, the special effects for that time are pretty good. Stop motion animation to simulate the movement of "The Stuff" was. I'm sure, very tedious. If nothing else, its interesting for its B movie sci fi status. I also recommend listening to the commentary when renting the DVD, as the director, Larry Cohen, is hilarious. He talks about how he had to buy Michael Morarity different hair pieces and he kept several different replicas of Garrett Morris's head from the movie. It made me wonder what other things he kept of the actors'. He also sounds like a total cock who is a demanding, over the top director who completely exaggerates his directorial talents.

Tagline: "Are you eating it…………or is it eating you?"

Memorable quote:

* COLONAL SPEARS : "The yellow sons of bitches, they took their own lives, commie bastards. You cheated me!"

Grade: C

1985 Grade Curve: B