|
Horror sci-fi comedy and satire on capitalism, Larry Cohen's The Stuff is a much under-rated classic, that deserves re-watching. Cohen a prolific writer, producer and director scored another cult classic with Q-The Winged Serpent in 1982, but by far his best movie is satirical dark comedy The Stuff.
A weird substance is found bubbling up from the earth, and the two guys who discover it decide to taste it (As you would.) It's so delicious that they decide to market it as a new kind of dessert.The Stuff takes off as the new sensation, as consumers clamour to buy it. Becoming addicted zombies, as the stuff starts to take them over. In the movie sales of The Stuff drastically hit the ice-cream market, and the ice-cream industry hire ex-FBI agent turned industrial saboteur David "Mo" Rutherford, to investigate it. It reality much of the prop "stuff" used in the movie was ironically lots of Häagen-Dazs ice cream. They also used yoghurt, and for one large scale scene of The Stuff coming through a wall, fire extinguisher foam. |
|
Of course The Stuff is in some part a homage to The Blob (1958), and in many ways harks back to the schlock horror of the 50s and 60s. It's very much a movie of the 80s, but is much better crafted than many of its contemporaries. It's unique, quirky, cleverly handled and directed by Cohen with a witty script that has some moments of sharp cutting satire. Making the movie much much more than the hammy schlock horror that it may at first appear to be. Hence why it deserves another watch for those who may have caught it the first time round and missed the clever nuances buried in amongst the quirky humour.
|
|
|
|
And if you have never seen it. First why not? And second, you are in for a deliciously toxic piece of classic 80s sc-fi horror. Highly recommended.
Interstingly, and somewhat a stand-out from teh rest of his career, one of Larry Cohen's first movies as writer/director was the blaxploitation movie Black Caesar (also known as Godfather of Harlem) in 1973. Starring Fred Williamson, it was a remake of the 1931 gangster movie Little Caesar. |
