C.H.U.D. (1984)

Absolutely Brilliant!

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Wonderfully goofy sci-fi / horror monster movie stars John Heard and Daniel Stern as George Cooper and "Reverend" A.J. Shepherd, two NYC denizens. They soon learn of the existence of monsters living in the foul, dripping catacombs beneath the city. Monsters that are now coming up to street level to munch on human flesh. Police captain Bosch (Christopher Curry, a friend of Heard and Stern) realizes that something will have to be done about the spate of disappearances that result. They all find out that there's a bigger plot underlying it all.While the cast charge that the movie would be better if the monsters *weren't* so goofy looking, the C.H.U.D.s lend this low rent movie a great deal of cheesy charm. They have big, bulky bodies, glowing eyes, and can extend their necks if they take a notion to do so. Director Douglas Cheek (another member in the circle of friends that made this classic) and company gain memorable atmosphere by shooting on and under NYC. It's quite the grimy, aesthetically unappealing tale indeed, all enhanced by delightful electronic music. And it all comes complete with a subtext about society's treatment of the homeless.Heard and Stern, especially Stern, are very amusing to watch, with the absolutely lovely Kim Greist cast as Heards' wife, a fashion model. One truly amazing thing about the actors & actresses assembled is how many familiar faces there are in supporting and bit parts, from future stars (like 'Home Improvement' wife / mom Patricia Richardson, 'Roseanne' husband / dad John Goodman, and Jay Thomas) to top character actors like George Martin, Peter Michael Goetz, John Bedford Lloyd, Jon Polito, Vic Polizos, Eddie Jones, Sam McMurray, J.C. Quinn, Ray Baker, Graham Beckel, Bill Raymond, and Frankie Faison. Heards' sister Cordis plays a cop; the first on screen victim, Laure Mattos, is Sterns' wife.The script (on which Curry and Stern worked, uncredited) has some priceless lines, especially when Stern saves Heards' ass and Heard improvises.To somebody such as this viewer, it's immaterial how "good" or bad it is. All that matters is how damn entertaining it is!Followed by "C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud" five years later.Eight out of 10.

This is another of those movies, you think, it's just gonna be bad B grade, with just these little monsters, lurking under subterranean ground zero, and eating people, and it's gonna have some bloody bits and all, but what you get instead of a story, where the more you learn from the movie, and it's story, it progresses, the more feasible, it becomes too, a frightening aspect. This is a horror, that acts more serious, than the nonsensical predicament of it's story, using it as a facade, which as you know, can really make a movie look stupid. Here, it's no so the case, as we have a kind of, Hills Have Eyes, underground type film. This movie too has likable actors, like the very good Heard as a photographer, Kim Griest, his wife, and Stern who run a soup kitchen for the not so fortunate underground dwellers. A few of these low type folk have gone missing, as well as some more upstanding folk, up above, including a cop's wife. The cop, Bosch and Stern team up to get the truth, where there is some corruption, from forces high above, with a ending concerning the major party, predictable. The mutants, ex squatters, again, have become the way they have, thanks to a lot of bad disposal + garbage, while also enduring radiation thanks to a device. I haven't seen this movie for a few years, and I am quite impressed by it, how becomes so serious it becomes, but in the end, it becomes just another routine yarn, like many others. I was expecting an addictive B grade junk film, but got something more serious. I really liked the cop character Bosch, and also, first not recognizing him, J.C. Quinn, donning a long wavey hairdo, as a two bid, struggling writer, while Heard coolily carried his lead, though he kind of comes in and out of the movie. The monsters, sorry, disintegrating humans, look effectively good too, where the film does have a few suspenseful "Oh no" moments, plus a "familiar car wheel blocking a manhole "Alligator film" exit, it's driver being a cop for god's sake, where the whole street is full of cop cars, fire trucks. Again, by this scene, I raise the point of how serious this film takes itself. Not a bad view, and better than a lot of these monster type movies.

This review contains spoilers. C.H.U.D is a classic monster movie. It is my all time second favorite monster movie. All deaths are off screen but the remains of the victims are shown. Spoilers. The only on screen deaths are one of the C.H.U.D.s by decapitation. Another is of Victor who is shot in the neck. Then Wilson by getting shot in the chest. They are not that gory but the remains are usually gory and gross. The C.H.U.D.s themselves are very cool looking and can be very menacing. The plot is good and I found it interesting. A very suspenseful movie. Two villains. The C.H.U.D.s by attacking people for food and Wilson trying to cover the problems that are going on under the city at any cost. This is a good movie.

My main gripe with this film is that it gets off to a shamefully slow start after the amusing beginning sequence, however once it gets to its last 40 minutes, business picks up. The performances in this film are surprisingly good; that rag-tag 80's new york sensibility of day-to-day survival is upheld on all ends of the acting spectrum; they are a group you actually care about. It also helps that this is the most visceral depiction of the seedy-side of New York I've personally seen since Taxi Driver. The labyrinth of derelict sewers especially give off a feeling that the whole city is about to cave in on account of its own decay. This film tries to convey a message on the consequences of environmental degradation even in a place like a city, but it doesn't really follow through with it beyond using it as the backbone of the plot, which is perfectly fine in a film like this. Daniel Stern's ramshackle underground soup kitchen hero, is the standout, his interactions carry the film and bring everyone together by the story's end. Kudos to Christopher Curry for not overplaying a certain pivotal, depressing moment for his character; he truly plays the worn down cop to an exceptional level as we watch him reach his breaking point. The creatures are definitely creepy to this day, and the gore effects hold up even better, perhaps due their understated use throughout, it never reaches ruinous excess like its dated peers. The ending was both amusing and anti-climactic at the same time. Recommended for those that can handle its slow, methodical pace.