The Stuff (1985)

This is How Movies Should Be Made

The Worst Film Ever

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

One night, a mysterious white glop materializes from beneath the Earth. Mankind realizes that this Stuff actually tastes pretty damn good, so in record time it's being packaged and sold and marketed as the latest dessert sensation. Michael Moriarty plays David "Moe" Rutherford, an industrial spy hired to get the inside dirt on the Stuff - like what are its actual ingredients? He's accompanied by Nicole (radiant Andrea Marcovicci), the marketing genius who created the advertising campaign, because she's as curious as he is. Rounding out the team of heroes is a young kid named Jason (Scott Bloom), whose conformist family were obsessed with this new "food".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.Seven out of 10.

Eh. I guess I can see the appeal. There is definitely a certain charm in the sincerity and enthusiasm of a B movie like this. Yeah the production is shoddy, the dialogue is clunky, and the story lurches forward awkwardly and often nonsensically, but it was clearly assembled by people who were having unconditional fun with the material. But aside from the few cool practical effects moments, the film just didn't do much for me. I could've gotten up and turned it off at any point without a second thought. The story was just too flimsy and it never made good on the satirical potential of the concept beyond the obvious, surface-level jabs at consumerist culture. Again I can see why some would be endeared to the childlike enthusiasm and wackiness of it all, but it ultimately left me feeling indifferent.Strong 2.5/5

The Stuff is a horror comedy movie in the same vain with The Blob but much more funny and cheesy.THE STUFF came out of nowhere became the world most favorite dessert everybody love it although where or how it made such a mystery so a food company hire a industrial spies known as David 'Mo' Rutherford played our main character.David is a very likable guy and the ways he take advantage of others is so awesome.I really can watch this movie with him alone and probably never get bored when THE STUFF not around.In the end it open for a sequel but sadly never been made.I will make sure check out other Larry Cohen movie Q from 1982 that also starring Michael Moriarty soon

I don't know about you, but if I saw a sticky white substance oozing out of the ground, the last thing I'd do would be to scoop some up with my hand and give it a taste, but that's precisely what the workman who discovers it does in Larry Cohen's B-movie horror The Stuff; before long, the surprisingly delicious goop has been approved by the FDA and is being marketed as a dessert—not a wise decision since The Stuff is actually a living organism that takes control of those who become addicted to its irresistible flavour.A tongue-in-cheek sci-fi/horror that takes wry swipes at greedy corporations and consumerism, whilst also acting as a metaphor for drug addiction, Larry Cohen's The Stuff boasts a level of intelligence rarely found in trashy B-movie monster films. This satirical content and social commentary, combined with the patently silly premise and some impressive special visual and gore effects (considering the low budget) makes for a pretty enjoyable little flick, one that has achieved quite the cult following, although I reckon I would have liked it more if the characters had been just a little less irritating...Michael Moriarty's ex-FBI industrial spy David 'Mo' Rutherford is an unlikable jerk with an annoying accent; his girlfriend Nicole (Andrea Marcovicci) is a talentless hack and yet has somehow made it to the top of the ladder in advertising (her TV ads are really bad, even for the 80s); token kid Jason (Scott Bloom) is a brat and seemingly bereft of brain cells (who the hell hides inside a tanker trailer?); 'Chocolate Chip' Charlie (Garrett Morris) is a bitter loud-mouthed failure; and the less said about Colonel Malcolm Grommett Spears (Paul Sorvino), the better. In short, it's a raft of characters I would have been only to happy to see consumed from the inside by a hostile organism masquerading as yogurt. Sadly, only 'Chocolate Chip' gets his just desserts.