The Stuff

Ice Cream kills!

After our hotter than hell latest entries, we decided to try some ice cream to cool it off for a while. So, today's entry is a long forgotten 1980's classic horror comedy that only could have happened in the 80's. The Stuff is a 1985 piece written and directed by B-movie film maker Larry Cohen. This film is a rare find. It should be shown more because it examines an inner message: How a product known to be addictive can still influence people to buy it in mass quantities if properly marketed?. Well, that doesn't sound a lot like Science Fiction does it? Think of cigarettes, for instance. They're bad for your health and yet governments around the world profit millions of dollars in taxes risking the lives of their citizens under the premise of "nobody obliged them, they chose freely" Pops are also massively addictive. Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Dr. Pepper and many more are tons of sugar endangering your body's natural way of controlling the level of sugar and cholesterol, yet we see ads everywhere!  Junk food is also very legal. So, if you're anti products that damage your health, The Stuff hides a clever message underneath the horror comedy facade.

The Stuff is very reminiscent of the classic 50's "Sci-Fi" and horror flicks where some alien, monster, or bizarre life form, tries to take over the world, and it's up to the one or two people who haven't been "taken over" by the strange creature or "thing" to stop it.

 

Fashion never merged better with Ice Cream.

A happy family is a family with the stuff.

What's even more interesting is how this movie examines society's obsession with food fads. Back in the 1950's ,when these types of B-grade horror films were produced, the diets and nutritional habits of the general public did not emphasize the importance of healthy eating like they do today. Our world has been consumed over the years with a lot of "Stuff" (pun intended) in food consumption that causes such serious health concerns as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart problems.
Yeah but, what is The Stuff about? 

A delicious, mysterious goo that oozes from the earth is marketed as the newest dessert sensation. But the tasty treat rots more than teeth when zombie-like snackers who only want to consume more of the strange substance at any cost begin infesting the world.

Gimme my stuff motherfuckers!

Everyone's fridge in 1985.

Writer and director Larry Cohen does what he does best... we are brought a story of real-life American values, twisted into horror to tell us what we may already know but simply do not realize. Consumers will buy anything that is popular, regardless of how awful it is. And big business will sell anything for a profit even if it is harmful... and pretty much no one will stop it. Even without the horror aspects (which borrow very heavily from "The Blob") or the social commentary, the story itself is pretty good and Michael Moriarty (multiple award winner) is the same guy we have come to love from "It's Alive III" and "Q".

Actually, Moriarty's presence in Cohen's films is always something of a mystery for me. Moriarty, as many know, is also a very conservative commentator, sometimes even bordering on racism with his critique of the Muslim and Arab world. He seems to be on the opposite pole as Cohen, if I am interpreting his films correctly. Kim Newman apparently sees this, too, as he describes their relationship as "thorny". But maybe this is the proof of just how great Moriarty's acting really is. Cohen says they work well together because they both look through the world as if they're playing jazz, improvising off of each other. Indeed, few actors could be as professional and simultaneously eccentric as Moriarty.

River of stuff.

Even I can't swallow that large amount kid, we better run.

The special effects are pretty decent. A few scenes are cheesy, and you can tell shots are layered... but the hotel room scene (where they use the spinning room from "Nightmare on Elm Street") is awesome, and even in general you have to hand it to them for making a very lifelike creature from what looks to be nothing more than spoiled egg nog (but probably not as tasty).

Any Larry Cohen fan is going to like this, and even by mainstream horror standards it is pretty good. It is a b-movie, but not nearly as "b" as some of the films he pumps out. As I have said, underneath it all is just a retelling of "The Blob" (noticeably released before the remake with Shawnee Smith came out). 

The stuff can kill you.

What the fuck is this shit!?

Cheap DVD copies are floating around, but now fans have an even better option, thanks to the Arrow Video blu-ray. Beyond the improved sound and picture (a 2K scan of the negative), we have a 52-minute "Can't Get Enough of The Stuff: Making Larry Cohen's Classic Creature Feature" with Cohen, a producer, actors and effects people. Oh ,and historian Kim Newman. And one other treat: An introduction and trailer commentary by director Darren Bousman! 

Here's the movie trailer:

And here's a brief video about the Blu-Ray release by Arrow Video:

 

And last but not least New Kids on the Block song "(You Got it) The Right Stuff", which has nothing to do with the movie but with a little imagination here and there, could be secretly talking about getting you into the Stuff: