I don't remember It's Alive. The killer baby movie that spawned two sequels and I saw a long time ago was not a movie I knew was made by him. I think I saw it with my friend Todd in either high school or around that age, and I was not ready for it. I also regularly conflate it with the other killer baby movies and Basket Case. The point being, why is It's Alive not at my library, not free on Amazon, and not on the Hoopla app? My library has only one Larry Cohen movie. That is a straight out crime.
I saw Bone, Q The Winged Serpent, and God Told Me To in this blog, and I have at least thought every Cohen movie was a three star affair, but more often than not I found them to be better than that, original, well acted, and interesting. The Stuff will join that list. I will also say, I'd never seen this before. Much like It's Alive, there was a slew of killer food-related things in this era, and I got this one confused with Popcorn. I also got it confused with the general slime/weird substance movies such as The Blob.
Larry Cohen favorite Michael Moriarty stars in the The Stuff. He's perfect as a slimy, weird and funny former FBI agent who is called in to investigate this white substance that's been hugely popularized in the US. He has a slight western drawl and he is a confident, exaggerated personality who is also relentless and smart. The Stuff is this thick white cream which came out of the Earth, and some local yokels found, ate it, decided it was tasty, and are now selling it. Turns out The Stuff is potentially taking control of people and killing them, and now Moriarty and his ragtag team has to stop it.
It's as simple as that, and we cut right to the chase with kid Jason being thrown in with Moriarty and his romantic interest. They investigate the Stuff company, and they have to do something about it while people come after them. This movie is great. It's well paced, it's well acted, it has great effects, and the comedy and entertainment level is really high. The Stuff is a satire, and a comedy first and foremost, and a really entertaining horror film second. It has the backbones of satire that went on to make Robocop what it was, and I didn't know Robocop wasn't the first.
The Stuff is a great film. I really enjoyed it, I laughed out loud a few times, and the effects are awesome. It's not huge in scope, and therefore can easily accomplish what it tries to do, and was simply put: a ton of fun. I give it 4 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment