The Stuff

Summary

“Everybody has to eat shaving cream once in a while.”

Last year, in 2019, the prolific writer and director Larry Cohen passed away at the ripe age of 82 years old. Cohen was originally a writer for television who shifted roles into writing and directing small scale independent projects that landed somewhere between satire, horror film, and comedy. I admittedly am not very well versed in his filmography, so I decided to check out the recent reissue by Arrow Video of their 2016 Blu-ray of his well loved cult film The Stuff. 

In a snow storm, a white substance bubbles up out of the ground in an industrial area. A groundsman inexplicably puts some of the stuff in his mouth. He tastes it and decides that it tastes great. In fact, its so good that it is good enough to sell. It is packaged and sold as The Stuff – a low calorie, no additive, low fat snack that the whole family can enjoy. The advertising slogan is: The Stuff – Enough is Never Enough. Big business enlists the help of corporate spy Mo Rutherford (Michael Moriarty) to find out more about how The Stuff is manufactured. Mo seeks out the advertising genius behind the brand, Nicole (Andrea Marcovicci.) She doesn’t eat The Stuff and is happy to be of any help to him. Meanwhile – while at home, a young boy named Jimmy (Scott Bloom) sees The Stuff outside its packaging moving around in his refrigerator. He immediately understands that The Stuff is alive and that it is definitely not meant for human consumption. He goes to the supermarket and tries to knock as much of The Stuff off the shelves as possible before being apprehended. His family have all become addicted to The Stuff. They all urge him to eat it. Meanwhile, Mo investigates The Stuff further and encounters Chocolate Chip Charlie (Garrett Morris) who is a well known actor. Together they find that The Stuff is taking hold of people when they ingest heavy quantities of it. The Stuff can evacuate human bodies to attack those that endanger it. Mo teams up with Nicole and Jimmy to take down the company behind The Stuff, before The Stuff takes over the minds and bodies of the entire nation.

The Stuff is good and ridiculous fun. Obviously, the plot itself should send out plenty of red flags as to whether or not the film is going to be of interest to you. The film is a true cult film. Arrow Video made sure that it was one of their first releases stateside in 2016 and it sold out of its original printing. With renewed interest in Larry Cohen after his death, Arrow made the decision to re-release the film on Blu-ray. I am happy that they did. These types of films – cult cinema in general – know that they are playing to a very specific and very small audience. The audience that will enjoy the film and understand the purpose of the film is not the same audience that flocks to catch the recent blockbuster, but someone who likes to see films that are wildly different. Some will find the film amateurish or not to their liking, but that is one of the benefits of making a film with final cut. You don’t have to please anyone but yourself. You risk the fact that the film might bomb at the theaters and lose whatever investors are involved their money. But also with smaller budgets, come smaller risks to investors and more likelihood of an artist creating his vision.

When Larry Cohen turned over the film to New World Pictures they were not pleased to see that the film was not a traditional horror film. Honestly, given how much was done for the price, it is surprising that it was looked at as a bad bet. It had been made for roughly 1.7 million dollars which at the time was a small-ish budget. The special effects that involve stop motion and blue screen effects suffer from the budgetary constraints, but the physical effects in the film are pretty cool and interesting. There is a particularly impressive sequence in a motel room that is still really neat. 

The film is a pure satire of consumerism and is not going to jibe with viewers that expect to be scared. It is not scary, but it is inventive. I think that is one of the things that I like best about the horror genre. It is such an inexpensive genre that more experimental -or at the very least more imaginative – writers flock to the genre so that they can create something truly original. I loved all of the commercials that the film created within the film. The Abe Vigoda cameo in particular made smile. The acting in the film is fun to watch. Michael Moriarty is very funny and odd as Mo Rutherford. The special feature on the disc shed some light on his unique relationship with Cohen which allowed him to adlib freely. Danny Aiello and Paul Sorvillo both bring their A-game to their small roles in the film. Garrett Morris has a very memorable role as Chocolate Chip Charlie. Andrea Marcovicci and Scott Bloom both turn in fine performances as well.

It is definitely not a perfect film, and it has plenty of rough edges. It has a feeling of a film that was being made up as it went along and that hurts the film in some ways and helps it in other ways.

The Stuff is a very enjoyable early title from Arrow Video. This label blew me away with its release of Society back then, and this film will appeal to the same folks that liked Revenge of the Killer Tomatoes and other very early releases from Arrow Video. The earliest films in Arrow Video’s library all had such a unique and pure Eighties vibe. I was glad to get that same vibe was present in The Stuff. I’m sorry that I missed the film on its first run, but I was happy to enjoy the re-release.

Video

Presented in 1.83:1 aspect ratio with an MPEG-4 AVC Encoded image, the video presentation is sourced from a 2K scan done by Arrow Video and it looks pretty great.  The film has some of the softer focus utilized in films from the Eighties but fine detail is strong for the most part. The fine grain over the film lends to a good filmic look. The film has some very colorful and enjoyable parts – especially the commercials in the film. Fans should be very happy with how the film looks.

Audio

The audio presentation on The Stuff sounds good. The film features a well balanced LPCM Mono track that works very well for the film and delivers some fun action sequences that sounded good on my audio system. No issues to report hear.

Supplements:

• Can’t Get Enough of the Stuff – this nearly hour long retrospective features great interviews with Larry Cohen and crew members. This is a really enjoyable piece.
• Darren Bousman Trailer Commentary from Trailers From Hell
• Original Trailer 

Overall Scores:

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4/5

Supplements – 4/5

Overall – 4/5

The Stuff is a really fun if somewhat flawed satire film that is dressed up as a horror film. It’s a totally original vision from director and writer Larry Cohen that features some very cool practical effects and some jarringly bad blue screen effects. While the film is a little sloppy, it has a lot of anarchic charm. Arrow Video’s release has a great looking 2K scan and a really well done retrospective on the production of the film. I guess it is okay for me to admit that I just can’t get enough of The Stuff.