The Stuff

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.

Neither an A nor a B flick, this is a C. The production and acting are so bad that they are good. There are multiple scenes where the extras/background actors are actually smirking, because they know how ridiculous this movie is.Yet, 34 years later, we are still discussing it. Some old guy at a mine sight discovers this white goo oozing up from the ground. What is the first thing he does? Why he tastes it, like any normal person would. Turns out this stuff is delicious and gets marketed as a desert. The stuff is highly addictive and does some very bad things to you if you ingest too much of it.This is a social commentary of consumerism and the fact that companies care more about their bottom line than they do the welfare of the people that buy their product, and on that front, the movie is pretty spot on. I would have loved to give this more stars, but the acting is just that bad. If you are not looking for a Gone With the Wind experience and just want to watch something that is so bad it is good, then check out The Stuff.

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.

It came from beneath the ground. The Stuff. It's the new dairy craze that turns it's addicted victims into mutating zombies. The movie is about three people attempting to get to The Stuff before it gets to them.

The Stuff is a metaphor for drug smuggling/drug addictions, which is obviously evident from the ending. Although, it could be read as metaphorical of any kind of destructive addiction, really. It could also be held as a metaphor of products liability and the lengths companies will go to rack up profits, even in the face of defective products.

The Stuff, starring Michael Miarity, Paul Sorvino, and those gorgeous Bloom Brothers, is actually not quite as ridiculous as a glance at the box might lead one to believe. In fact, it's actually a rather funny zombie-like tale with Michael Miarity as Moe "why do they call me Mo? Because when people give me money I always ask for Mo!" as he repeatedly jokes to his frustrated associates. Moe is the guy sent to find out what The Stuff is by competitor's wishing to jump on the market. But, Moe figures out much more than that. Hence, his mission to try to get rid of it.

Paul Sorvino, always a terrific actor, is funny as the overzealous army commander trying too hard to maintain his position as leader of this coup against that lovable dairy treat.

What's more is that the special effects, which in my book are about 80% of a horror film, were, much to my surprise, pretty damned good. In fact, I was actually surprised by the whole thing really, and actually came to enjoy it.

If you enjoy The Stuff, perhaps you'll enjoy a 1994 Australian horror film of a similar nature entitled 'Body Melt.' Beware, however, that Body Melt is much weirder and tons more gross than the occurrences in The Stuff, if you'd call the Stuff gross at all.

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!