Stuff - Ein tödlicher Leckerbissen

Bounty hunter and TV advertiser team up together to discover what the ingredients are in a popular junk food that is sweeping the country, called The Stuff. However, they uncover a conspiracy in which the makers of The Stuff know that their product is causing people to become mindless zombies. Exciting and funny little Cohen film is a throwback to the horror films of yesteryear, yet with all your usual Cohen trimmings, but much more solid then usual with good special effects and an original premise. The cast is excellent and the film has various cameo's planted throughout the film.

Rated R; Violence & Profanity.

The Stuff (1985) is a movie currently available for free on Tubi. The storyline follows a yogurt like substance that mysteriously comes out of the Earth and somehow gets "approved" by the FDA to be sold and available in grocery stores. Shortly after it's release an "outbreak" of sorts occurs where "the stuff" expands in your body and eats away at your insides until it's explodes out of every opening in your body. This movie is directed by Larry Cohen (It's Alive) and stars Michael Moriarty (Pale Rider), Andrea Marcovicci (The Front), Garrett Morris (Ant-Man), Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas) and Danny Aiello (Do the Right Thing). This movie was brought to my attention by Into the Dark. The storyline reminded me of if they took "the blob" and put it in yogurt containers. The marketing and commercials in this were a lot of fun and well done. I really enjoyed the acting, writing and dialogue. I was cracking up throughout the film. With a storyline like this it's always fun when it doesn't take itself too seriously. The kill scenes were solid and looked like fluff coming out of every hole. It's impossible not to enjoy the facial expressions of the victims as they came to their demise. This is a fun film that is definitely worth a viewing that I'd score a solid 6.5/10 and strongly recommend.

And just what IS The Stuff? Well, physically, The Stuff looks like marshmallow Fluff, but it's also as addictive as supercrack and as zombie inducing as an alien space pod. And it just happens to be the latest dessert craze to sweep our nation, in Larry Cohen's 1985 sci-fi satire "The Stuff." As other dessert manufacturers go belly up, industrial spy Michael Moriarty is hired to find out just what this Stuff is all about, and he is assisted by Andrea Marcovicci (a Madison Ave. exec who is pushing The Stuff) and by a Famous Amos-like character played by Garrett Morris. Paul Sorvino pops up toward the end as Col. Spears, who seems to head his own private army, and he too is instrumental in the fight against the deadly confection. Anyway, like The Stuff itself, "The Stuff" is fun to consume but leaves one wanting still more. It has an intriguing plot, and its satire on this country's rampant consumerism does work, but at the same time, there aren't enough exciting set pieces, and the film's joking tone fritters away any real sense of suspense. This movie might have worked a lot better if it had been more serious, and less tongue in (Stuff-stuffed) cheek. It doesn't quite hold together somehow--possibly the fault of the script or the editing--and though the film looks fine, with nice Blob-like Stuff FX, it still feels slapdash somehow. But wait till you see Abe Vigoda and Clara "Where's the Beef?" Peller do a Stuff TV commercial, and hear that catchy jingle ("Enough is never enough, of The Stuff"). Fun stuff indeed!

A workman discovers some mushy white foam at an petroleum refinery in Alaska, and he gets the urge to try it and surprisingly it's tastes really good. Soon enough, it's a top-selling American dessert product known as "The Stuff" and everyone just can't seem to get enough of it. Industrial saboteur Moe Rutherford is hired by some rival companies to dig up information on "The Stuff" and he learns that it strangely got by FDA tests with those who passed it disappearing. Moe with the help of Nicole the advertising designer for 'The Stuff ' and a young boy Jason, whose family became obsessed with the deadly substance. Discover that the addictive dessert is actually alive and taking over the body of whoever eats it.

Yummy! For those looking for some tasty schlock that's low in calories and is a complete throwback to 1950's Sci-Fi horror. Larry Cohen's "The Stuff" definitely leaves a sweet taste in your mouth. Despite it's familiarity with the likes of "The Blob" and "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers", the neat premise still manages to feel fresh, sharp and ambitious, because of the unpretentious fun that's generated. All of this shows up in Cohen's enthusiastically accomplished direction and ace timing, where his off-the-rocker style shines immensely. Like most of his films, the playfully witty script digs deep into a social commentary and the flavour of the month happened to be consumerism and it's grip on society. The irony suggested ending, paints it perfectly. Not all of it is light and goofball in tone, as there are some dark, moody and gooey inclusions to the fold. There's a heavy cartoon-like atmosphere cooked up within a few striking images of creepiness and the deliciously campy special effects are well staged for such a low-budget production. Pacing is judge accordingly to pull you in. Cinematographer Paul Gickleman fluidly shot the film and the lively music score by Dwight Dixon ticks along fittingly. Cohen also pens the colourful story, which is terribly fractured with vagueness and continuity problems, but it's quirky maniac humour, zany developments with a surprise or two and satire frame of mind goes a long way to covering that problem up. The fruity performances are acceptably apt to what's happening on screen. The always interesting performer Michael Moriarty is wickedly good as the smarting, downbeat industrial spy Moe Rutherford. Paul Sorvino provides some amusing comic relief as an high strung, off-the-boil right-wing Colonel. Andrea Marcovicci, Garrett Morris, Danny O'Neal, Patrick O'Neal, Scott Bloom and Cohen regular James Dixon give splendid support too.

Even with some lapses within the story (due to probably the editing) and it being one of his lesser features, it's hard not to be infatuated by Cohen's outrageously delightful and creative treat for the taste buds.

This movie is a fun, interesting take on the horror genre of alien invasion and mind/body control made famous by the likes of "The Thing" and "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." It's also a great commentary on the dangers of mindless consumerism.