Review: The Stuff (1985)

The Stuff (1985) Director: Larry Cohen

I am a cartoonist. I love everything about cartoons and, MOST of the time, I love it when films bend the realms of physics. When I saw that a movie like The Stuff existed, I legitimately got excited. The Stuff had so much potential to be witty AND horrifying if it was executed with a really clever script. It may not have been a 'Horror Classic' but definitely could have been a cult classic. If you can sense where I'm going, you already know that The Stuff did not meet any of my expectations.

THE PLOT

Weird yummy goo erupts from the earth and is discovered by a couple of miners. They taste it and decide to market it because it tastes so good. The American public literally eats up the new dessert sensation now known as the Stuff, but, unfortunately, it takes over the brains of those who eat it.

Industrial spy and former FBI agent David 'Mo' Rutherford is hired by executives of the ice-cream industry to disclose the recipe of the phenomenally successful marshmallow Stuff. With the support of Nicole, the designer of the Stuff's advertising campaign, and a boy named Jason. When Mo discovers the horrible truth about 'The Stuff' he enlists the help of a terrorist group led by whack-job col. Malcolm Spears (played by Paul Sorvino of all people)

The problem with this film is two things: it isn't funny and it isn't scary. If it was unbalanced on either side of the funny/scary spectrum, it may have had some lasting power. Unfortunately, The Stuff is only two words: Boring and Disappointing.

The film REALLY gets dull when Sorvino's character shows up, but we really get off the rails when Garret Morris' character Chocolate Chip Charlie (worst name for a character ever?) shows up. I think he's the comedic relief but because he's not funny, he's really just useless. Besides useless characters, the film is super anti-climatic as it decides to go the Soylent Green route (Tell the world! The stuff is bad!) instead of a good old fashioned man vs Stuff showdown. While a "tell the world!" ending works for films like Soylent Green, a cheesy 80s flick needs a good monster showdown.

What does work? The advertisements for The Stuff on the TVs in the film are really good and clever and is obviously where all the care and attention went. The film is so busy making fun of
food product advertisement that it forgets to be anything but a heavy-handed mess.

Scariest Moment: (spoilers) Garret "Chocolate chip Charlie" Morris succumbs to The Stuff and his body suffers the consequences.

Rating: 1 1/2 pints of Stuff out of 5

- Andrew Megow  @Almegow

Review - Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)

Released September 1990
Director: John McNaughton

We live in a society where culturally our entertainment has a lot of violence in it; (this coming from a horror film reviewer...) but often times the violence in film and television is toned down to a quick punch in the face or it is completely absurd and the blood pours down the screen. We watch horror films to feel a sense of danger, shock, or just to get our adrenaline pumping, but rarely has there ever been a film filled with such hopelessness as Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer.

Whenever someone tells me that they are desensitized to violence, I tell them to watch Henry, because even the most desensitized film goer will shut up and respect the sheer realism that Henry provides. Simply put: Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer is a brilliant film, but it is NOT a fun film. Nothing is sugar-coated, cartoonish or absurd. The character of Henry shares many biographical concurrences with real-life serial killer Henry Lee Lucas. Director John McNaughton makes clear in the beginning of his film that it is based more on Lucas' violent fantasies and confessions, rather than the crimes for which he was convicted; however, this fantastical portrait of Lucas’ life takes nothing away from this truly bleak film.

We are immediately introduced to Henry as a killer and follow him throughout his daily routine. No mention is given to any police inquiries and Henry is oblivious to any notion of avoiding capture or covering his tracks. Much of the film's power comes from this nonchalant approach, whereby, if a person doesn't register that something he is doing is wrong, then it quickly becomes almost acceptable. We then meet Henry’s roommate Otis (who later joins Henry on his murderous rampage) and Otis’ sister Becky, who’s coming from out of town for a visit. We watch as the movie slowly suffocates the viewer with countless murders, interwoven with a story of three tortured individuals trying to find some way of coping with one another. The film ends with no justice and no peace. Henry continues to drive around town and kill with no signs that he will eventually be captured.

Rooker, in the title role, is totally convincing and gives a performance free from the mannerism clichés which detract from more famous serial killer characters like Hannibal Lector (the film actually made me stop watching Dexter, simply because it changed the way I view serial killers) Almost equally disturbing is Tom Towles performance as the half-witted roommate Otis, who is used as some form of comic relief until you realize just how many people you’ve met in your life that share some of Otis’ tendencies.

Everything about Henry: Portrait of A Serial Killer feels genuine. Its low budget makes it feel homemade (shot on 16mm and only had a $110,000 budget) and the relationship between the characters is so downplayed by (then) unknown actors that everything feels real, which of course makes it scarier. Some films will scare you with monsters or graphically showing a kill, but I don’t think the murders are what makes Henry such a horrifying film. I think it’s simply the atmosphere painted across its entire landscape that brings viewers to the brink of terror.

SPOILERS:
Scariest Scene: Henry gets a bottle to the face from Otis and right as he’s about to kill Henry, Becky stabs Otis in the eye. In any other horror film, this may have just been another stabbing, but the sheer tension this film provides makes this scene truly unforgettable. (With help from the soundtrack, which is arguably the best in any horror film)

- Andrew Megow