Stuff, The |
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 • USA • 1985 • 87m •   • Directed by: Larry Cohen. • Starring: Michael Moriarty, Andrea Marcovicci, Garrett Morris, Paul Sorvino, Scott Bloom, Danny Aiello, Patrick O'Neal, James Dixon, Alexander Scourby, Russell Nype, Gene O'Neill, Catherine Schultz, James Dukas. • Music by: Anthony Guefen.      Weird yummy goo erupts from the earth and is discovered by a couple of miners. They taste it and decide to market it because it tastes so good. The American public literally eats up the new dessert known as The Stuff but, unfortunately, it takes over the brains of those who eat it, turning them into zombie-like creatures. It is up to ex-FBI agent David Rutherford and a kid named Jason to stop the spread of the mind-devouring dessert.
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Review:
Writer & director Larry Cohen is again able to come up with a good idea, if not a great film. His little yarn is both a tribute to classic schlock such as "The Blob" (with much in the way of enjoyably goopy special effects) and a horror comedy satire that skewers North American consumerist society. Its themes include the way that products are made (or, in this case, merely collected) and marketed to obedient consumers, and the way that people can become mindlessly addicted to food that is in no way good for them. Overall, "The Stuff" admittedly is never that funny, but some of its moments ARE horrific in a comedic sort of way. It has energy to burn and an excellent forward pace, as well as a fairly good amount of quotable dialogue. "They call me "Moe", because when they give me money, I always want mo'."
Moriarty gets to be a little eccentric, if not as utterly crazed as he was in Cohens' "Q". He shows off a likeable, goofy charm, and has fine chemistry with Marcovicci, Garrett Morris (who is amusing as the resentful Chocolate Chip Charlie, whose business was aggressively acquired by Stuff company bigwigs), and young Bloom. The very fine cast of familiar faces also includes Danny Aiello, Patrick O'Neal, Paul Sorvino, Rutanya Alda, and Cohen regular James Dixon. There are some priceless cameos in Stuff commercials; in uncredited bits you can see the likes of Patrick Dempsey, Sorvinos' daughter Mira, and Eric Bogosian, the star of Cohens' previous feature, "Special Effects".
Generous use of practical FX and resulting gross-out moments help to make for a reasonably enjoyable movie that wraps up in a trim 87 minutes.
Review by Hey_Sweden from the Internet Movie Database.
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