The Stuff (1985) Arrow Player Review
The Stuff (1985) Arrow Player Review
Streaming in gloopy, gooey, tantalising 4K on ARROW in July is THE STUFF – coming courtesy of horror auteur Larry Cohen (director of the IT’S ALIVE series and scribe behind the MANIAC COP trilogy), this is a titillating treat for the tastebuds which blends elements of films such as STREET TRASH with the straight-up B-movie flavour of THE BLOB. So, grab a spoon and dig on into THE STUFF – the taste that delivers… much more than you bargained for! Ask for your screening link now!
Are you eating it …or is it eating you? THE STUFF is the new dessert taking supermarket shelves by storm. It’s delicious, low in calories and better still doesn’t stain the family carpet… What’s not to like? Well, for a start, it has a life of its own, and we’re not talking friendly live bacteria… Young Jason seems to be the only one who doesn’t love THE STUFF – in fact, he won’t go any-where near it, after having seen the pudding crawling around the fridge one night. What’s more, everyone who eats THE STUFF has started acting really weird… Now, teaming up with wise-cracking industrial saboteur Mo, Jason must put a stop to THE STUFF and the organisation behind it or face a gooey, gloopy demise.
Written and directed by Larry Cohen and starring Michael Moriarty and Paul Sorvino American sci-fi horror film THE STUFF is a satire on American consumerisation, junk food and corporate greed. Its comedic overtones came as a shock to the film’s distributors New Line who were expecting Cohen to give them a straight horror flick to release. Consequently, New Line decided to then market the film as a horror film rather than the comedy-horror it is and consequently by mis-selling it they caused the film to stiff at the box-office despite positive reviews from critics.
Since its theatrical release forty years ago THE STUFF has developed a cult following and it remains beloved as one of the best horror B-movies of the Eighties. The film’s puppetry and cheap effects work add to its charm and its junk food/consumerism/bad moneyman commentary resonates as strongly now. THE STUFF remains entertaining throughout only ever really losing its footing come the film’s climactic scenes leaving some questions unanswered.
