Our beloved horror friend Larry Cohen is in great shape again, as the writer and director of this delightful, tongue-in-cheek tale of madness named "The Stuff". With some imagination, the best way to describe this film is as: a demented version of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" since it equally focuses on an (alien?) life force attempting to take over by eating humans from the inside. Only in Cohen's wicked fantasy, it is the dumb humans themselves who allow this to happen easily! When a strange kind of yummy liquid, seemly producing itself straight from the ground, is discovered in a remote industrial zone, it quickly becomes a popular and addictive dessert thanks to slick marketing campaigns and naive consumers. This tasty snack, however, has a mind of its own and the people who consume it undergo bizarre mental and physical transformations. The only form of revolt comes from a young kid and an unscrupulous ex-FBI agent turned industrial spy. With his light-headed and extremely entertaining scenario, Cohen simultaneously grabs the opportunity to criticize some typically American issues, like the Cold War, the consumer society and the dangerous influence of clever marketing boys. Personally, I think you can't but love Larry Cohen's work for the horror genre! You have to admit that the "evil" in his films aren't exactly your ordinary kind of monsters ("It's Alive" featured a murderous baby, "Q, the Winged Serpent" was a giant lizard living on rooftops etc
) and his unsubtle, chaotic sense of humor is just marvelous. It might be acquired taste, but I thought the right wing army (led by a brilliant Paul Sorvino) was a hilarious finding for this type of black comedy. The gore and special effects unfortunately weren't as outrageous as I thought they would be but there still definitely are a few great sequences for gorehounds to enjoy, like for example stretching mouths and exploding eyeballs. Michael Moriarty is splendid in the lead-role and some of his lines perfectly portray the tone of the film ("no one is as dumb as I appear"). "The Stuff" is a hugely enjoyable 80's quickie that'll certainly appeal to the numerous fans of undemanding horror. Along with Frank Hennenlotter, Larry Cohen might be considered the most creative horror director ever. I would pay big money to see a project of them two together!
