The Stuff

I’m tempted to compare Larry Cohen’s The Stuff (1985) to something a more playful David Cronenberg might make, but I don’t want to sell Cohen’s picture short here. The analogy is certainly apt, since Cohen travels through the same kind of distrust of the flesh, splattery body horror and conspiratorial paranoia that are the earmarks of Cronenberg at his best. But at the same time, The Stuff is very much Cohen’s work, a far more intentionally schlocky picture than Cronenberg has ever made. Because of this, there’s a good-natured sensibility to all the gross-out stuff on display, making the film funnier (in a very offbeat kind of way) and less outwardly horrific than Cronenberg. But don’t let this fool you — Cohen’s satire has a well honed satirical point. The film revolves around a gooey substance that oozes from the Earth, but turns out to be irresistibly delicious. Called “The Stuff,” it’s soon mass-marketed around the country, despite the fact that it has the nasty side effect of turning its customers into zombified automatons who are soon eaten alive by their sentient diet. The resulting film is a trashy foray into some of the cheesiest — yet oddly intelligent — horror the ‘80s had to offer.

The story moves in a strange way, as it’s seemingly been shorn of any fat in the editing process. Basically, The Stuff proceeds from set-piece to set-piece, as we follow two different heroes, industrial saboteur Mo (Michael Moriarty) and our requisite horror-movie kid, Jason (Scott Bloom), who knows the truth about The Stuff, but whom no adult will believe. But even with the way the film travels along, with little regard for set-up or even exposition, it’s never difficult to follow. It’s an strange little film that’s very much of a cheesy ‘80s mindset, full of wonderful gross-out effects, such as people getting their faces punched off and other such classy outbursts. And let’s not forget the film’s odd sense of humor, which varies between splatstick horror and characters such as the overtly jingoistic, patriotic, racist Colonel played by Paul Sorvino. This is, after all, a movie with Garrett Morris as a cookie magnate with deadly martial arts abilities.

While there’s a definite low budget, occasionally goofy bent to The Stuff, and despite its occasional clunkiness, there’s still the feeling that this is wholly Cohen’s movie, made exactly how he wants it to be made. But this self-indulgence is what makes the straight-up trashiness of The Stuff so entertaining, whether its Cohen’s bitter sense of humor or his penchant for the gross-out. The Stuff, simply put, is fun, and a great chance to visit the work of an oft-forgotten auteur.