The Stuff (1985)

Larry Cohen's The Stuff is a The Blob-style horror-thriller combined with the stylistic approach of 70s Romero and the whimsical satire of SCTV. Were The Stuff the sum of its influences, it would be a masterpiece; though it is no masterpiece, it succeeds as a horror film and is amusing, if uninsightful, as a satire of consumerism.

The plot involves a white substances that bubbles up from a hole in the ground behind a factory. A man tasting it discovers it's delicious. Soon it's being marketed as a dessert product called "The Stuff" with enough commercial clout to rival Pepsi. Unfortunately it addicts its consumers, eats out their insides, and renders them host shells for the stuff.

Meanwhile, a cohort of businessmen arrange to have industrial saboteur named Mo ('cause when he gets money, he always asks for mo'--he reminds you of this every few minutes) investigate The Stuff. A little boy escapes from his stuff-infected parents. The marketing genius behind The Stuff disaffects and falls in love with Mo. And a ruined dessert CEO, Chocolate Chip Charley, fights the minions of the new industrial superpower. Somehow all of these characters meet up and find their lives frequently threatened by The Stuff and its host bodies. A bizarre, retired colonel who lives in a castle joins the fight later in the film.

Stylistically, the film is much like Romero's The Crazies, but not nearly so serious. It has a gritty, realistic feel, a constant sneer of disdain about certain conduct within society, and a seemingly unstoppable menace that takes over once-normal bodies.

Where these films differ is that Romero seems to be putting real institutions and real people in a petri dish and under a microscope. Cohen, on the other hand, has a certain college boy facetiousness, as if he were saying this is what probably would happen if a dessert product bubbled out of the soul--and we can all have a laugh over it.

Consequently, Cohen's film isn't as strong as Romero's. His dialogue is frequently throw-away, utilitarian, or just preposterous. While being chased by the minions of The Stuff, Mo and Charley take time to make casual witty comments before trying to get away, for instance. Some characters seem to have come from outer space, like Paul Sorvino's colonel. The little boy seems remarkably unperturbed by having lost his whole family. Other hints suggest that we are not dealing so much with real people as with action figures to carry along the message.

The message is as hamfisted as Romero's messages. It is perhaps even more cynical--or realistic you may say. However, it is presented with more wit and verve. The Stuff is a mirror for megaproducts like Pepsi. The advertising campaign resembles some cheesier attempts at marketing Pepsi and Coke (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va7bjHYCIGI). The way The Stuff effects an Invasion of the Body Snatchers sort of program is certainly a comment on the way marketing takes away one's freedom to think critically about products--the conformism of the marketed world. And the actual CEO we meet towards the end of the film and what is done to him is as clear a statement as it gets.

However, The Stuff is a very entertaining film. It actually delivers on scares, particularly in the scenes where the little boy is in trouble. The special effects for the stuff itself are fascinating and effective. It's also quite a funny film, even if the satire is the same anti-consumerism you've seen many times before. The zaniness of the characters won't distract at all; they fit, because they're the closest to sanity in a 'world gone mad'.