THE STUFF
The greatest "killer dessert" movie ever made
This Stuff is the kind of thing I'd expect Doctor Evil to come up with. What a goofy fucking movie. Paul Sorvino must have been hungry as hell.
Which isn't to say it's not fun - I mean, it is - but it's pretty goofy crap overall, and it didn't quite live up to its myriad possibilities. It keeps hinting at how it intends to satirize, oh, any number of things...consumerism, gluttony, militia groups, industrial espionage...but doesn't follow through.
The tag line is "Are you eating it, or is it eating you?" which isn't quite the case in the film. It doesn't really eat you within (and certainly not as coolly as shown on the frontof the box, which is really great poster art if you ask me), it just kinda breeds there and, upon leaving you, can let you live...or not. I was looking forward to happily watching this Stuff eat people from within. Unfortunately, what I saw more of was people running around, Stuff-infected. I wanted to see more slimy writhing on the floor.
The miniature work with the Stuff is really well-done,and Brooke Adams does a nice 1-second cameo after the credits. Additionally, although there was no reference in the credits to this, I'm pretty sure Eric Bogosian played the grocery store clerk who ended up seizing the kid when he started going batshit in the store.
Larry Cohen's done some really good stuff (It's Alive!, Q), and some really bad stuff (It Lives Again)...The Stuff falls right in the middle, I'd say. But, like Over The Top, it's the finest movie about its subject matter ever made.