'The Stuff (Special Edition)' [Blu-ray]
(Michael Moriarity, Paul Sorvino, Danny Aiello, Garrett Morris, Andrea Marcovicci, et al / Blu ray / R / (1985) 2016 / Arrow Films UK)
Overview: A delicious, mysterious goo that oozes from the earth is marketed as the newest dessert sensation. But the tasty treat rots more than teeth when zombie-like snackers who only want to consume more of the strange substance at any cost begin infesting the world!
Blu ray Verdict: As the tagline says, "Are you eating it ...or is it eating you?" Not only a great 80's tagline, but the cover art is as fun, as wildly poetic for the story line as any that ever came out in that era! Indeed, 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! So, 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 anywhere 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, really weird. Now teaming up with wise-cracking industrial saboteur Mo, Jason must put a stop to The Stuff and the organization behind it ... or face a gooey, gloopy demise!
For my money, 'The Stuff' is a metaphor for drug smuggling/drug addictions, which is obviously evident from the ending. Although, it could be read as metaphorical of any kind of destructive addiction, really. It could also be held as a metaphor of products liability and the lengths companies will go to rack up profits, even in the face of defective products.
'The Stuff', starring Michael Moriarity, Paul Sorvino, and the Bloom Brothers, is actually not quite as ridiculous as a glance at the aforementioned box art might lead one to believe. In fact, it's actually a rather funny zombie-like tale with Michael Moriarity as Mo - "Why do they call me Mo? Because when people give me money I always ask for Mo!" - as he repeatedly jokes to his frustrated associates. Mo is the guy sent to find out what The Stuff is by competitor's wishing to jump on the market. But, Mo figures out much more than that. Hence, his mission to try to get rid of it, once and for all.
Paul Sorvino, always a terrific actor, is funny as the overzealous army commander trying too hard to maintain his position as leader of this coup against that lovable dairy treat. What's more is that the special effects, which in my book are about 80% of a horror film, were, much to my surprise, pretty damned good. In fact, I was actually surprised by the whole thing really, and actually came to enjoy it.
So, if you enjoy 'The Stuff' (which you will), perhaps you'll enjoy a 1994 Australian horror film of a similar nature entitled 'Body Melt.' Beware, however, that 'Body Melt' is much weirder film with a ton more gross out scenes and occurrences than 'The Stuff'!
Coming courtesy of horror auteur Larry Cohen (director of the It's Alive series and scribe behind the Maniac Cop trilogy), 'The Stuff' is a titillating treat for the taste-buds which blends elements of films such as Street Trash with the straight-up B-movie flavor of The Blob. So grab a spoon and dig on into The Stuff the taste that delivers ... much more than you could ever have bargained for! (FYI: For all those playing along at home, when Jason's older brother is playing video games on the TV, he's playing Zaxxon, but the sound effects are from Joust!) This is a new High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation enhanced for 16x9 TVs and comes with the Special Features of:
New High Definition restoration of the film from a brand new 2K scan of the original camera negative
Original stereo 1.0 uncompressed PCM Mono audio
Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Can't Get Enough of The Stuff: Making Larry Cohen's Classic Creature Feature Documentary featuring Larry Cohen, producer Paul Kurta, actress Andrea Marcovicci, Steve Neill (mechanical makeup effects) and Kim Newman
Introduction and trailer commentary by director and The Stuff fan Darren Bousman (Saw II, Saw III)
Original Trailer
Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Gary Pullin
Collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Joel Harley, illustrated with original stills and promotional materials
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