C.H.U.D.
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Movie Reviews of C.H.U.D.
Movie Review: chud more
Summary: 5 Stars
always like chud, weird how the dvd had two scenes switched from the vhs version, liked the scenes the way they were, but good dvdMovie Review: C.H.U.D.
Summary: 5 Stars
I JUST GOT THE DVD TODAY! CAN'T WAIT TO WATCH IT. IT'S IN EXCELLANT CONDITION, AS PROMISED! THANKS!Movie Review: exceptional dvd treatment of a b-movie classic
Summary: 5 Stars
f@#$!!??** hilarious film and commentary. this dvd rocks. the film sucks. . .and is genius.
Movie Review: "Something's gone wrong and it's so bad no one even wants to talk about it!"
Summary: 4 Stars
In the film C.H.U.D. (1984) it's related to us that there are cannibalistic, underground, humanoid dwellers (aka C.H.U.D.s) roaming around in the labyrinth of tunnels and what not beneath the city of New York. Okay...so? I mean would this really be such a shocking revelation? Would anyone actually be blown away by such news? Somehow I doubt it (New Yorkers do seem pretty jaded, and let's face it, if something like this were to happen, it would most likely occur in the Big Apple)...written by Shepard Abbott, and directed by Douglas Cheek, in his one and only feature to date, the film stars John Heard (Heaven Help Us, The Pelican Brief) and Daniel Stern (Diner, Blue Thunder). Also appearing is Christopher Curry (The Return of Superfly), Kim Greist (Brazil, Manhunter), in her film debut, Eddie Jones (Invasion U.S.A.), J.C. Quinn (Brubaker), George Martin (Quiz Show), Jon Polito (Highlander, Miller's Crossing), Frankie Faison (Hannibal), and Sam McMurray (Addams Family Values), with John Goodman ("Roseanne") and Jay Thomas ("Cheers") appearing in cameo roles as a pair of New York City cops.
As the film begins we see a woman walking her foo foo dog down a lonely, darkened city street, and you just know something bad is going to happen...and it does...next we meet George Cooper (Heard) and his live-in girlfriend Lauren (Greist). Seems George, a once prominent fashion photographer, has since forgone the fame and fortune of taking pictures of scantily clad models in pursuit of artistic credibility, his most current project photographing New York's homeless population, specifically those known as `undergrounders', or people who reside within the bowels of the city (the sewers, unused subway tunnels, etc.). We also meet a police captain named Bosch (Curry), who has a personal interest in the recent spate of missing persons being reported to his precinct (mostly the homeless), so much so he interviews A.J. 'The Reverend' Shepherd (Stern), who runs the local bum shelter and believes recent events to be a part of some massive, gooberment cover up, and has the evidence to prove it...Bosch's superiors know more than they're letting on, and seem to be taking their cues from an overly glib, weasely type named Wilson (Martin), who works for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Turns out there are monsters lurking beneath the streets, beings that were once human, since mutated by toxic waste into hideous, flesh eating creatures preying on those homeless who live beneath the streets...and guess what? Given the recent drop in the underground transient population, the creatures have resorted to coming to the surface (through sewer manholes) in order to feed. Through a series of events, both George and A.J. find themselves trapped in the sewers, a reporter gets involved (and eaten), Lauren has a problem with both a clogged shower drain and an unexpected visitor (one who came up through the sewer access point in the basement of the apartment building), while Captain Bosch argues with Wilson as how to best deal with the beasties (Wilson wants to seal the sewers, open up some gas lines, and asphyxiate the nasty despite the inherent danger in blowing up half the city). Oh yeah, we also learn Wilson isn't who he appears to be, and is harboring a much bigger secret than originally thought...
First of all I want to say I thought the creature design to be excellent here. They're appropriately gruesome looking with sharp, pointy teeth, maintaining just enough human characteristics to infer that they once were human (the glowing eyes bit was a nice touch). This was back in the good old days before computer generated effects were affordable enough to be used on as wide scale basis are they are today. The creature shots are limited to mainly shots of their claws, arms, and heads, but there's enough to provide the illusion you're seeing more than you actually do...what we don't see are scenes of the creatures gnawing on the flesh of their victims, but usually only the aftermath in that of dismembered body parts left behind. The plot is somewhat convoluted and draggy given the large number of characters present, and the level of development given to each, but I enjoyed it nonetheless as there felt more attention to substantial details than what one might normally get in a movie like this. The characters played by both Heard and Greist were pretty much of the extraneous type, as they could have easily been removed and we still would have had a viable story, one with a quicker pace, but given Heard was, and is, a relatively well known actor (at least in terms of B films), one would probably want to take advantage of the fact that he'd be interested in appearing in modestly budgeted film. Stern was a whole lot of fun to watch as the altruistic, suspicious, greasy, neo-hippish, don't feed me no bullsh*t homeless shelter operator who knows the score, inherently distrustful of any and all gooberment types. The film does fall back on an old standard in that of gooberment types doing evil and nasty things, but this is offset slightly by limiting the focus on one individual (Wilson), with the local officials coming off as incompetent lackeys, not fully understanding or appreciating the ramifications of blindly following one whose authority would seem to supercede their own. Once they see the lengths Wilson is willing to go to in an effort to cover up whatever nastiness his agency's has been perpetrating on their community, they actually develop a sense of concern for their constituents, if only to save their own ashes during election time. Overall a relatively strong and experienced cast populates the cast, and it shows. The direction by Cheek is solid, and it makes me curious as to why he hasn't done more (his credits since all involve editing). One aspect I really appreciated was the gritty realism added to the film by the various scenes that looked like they were actually shot within a grimy, dirty, rank, filthy, mucky, dilapidated network of tunnels/sewers one would expect beneath a large, metropolitan city. There was one plot element I didn't fully understand and that was near the end. Wilson, in an effort to kill the creatures, has his flunkies seal all the manhole covers within a specific area by parking city trucks on top of them, the intent being to cut off any means of escape, and then flooding the sewers with gas. Apparently the trucks were rigged with explosives on purpose (one of the drivers was warned about looking out for potholes)...why? I have no idea, but an exploding truck does play a part in the climatic finale.
Anchor Bay Entertainment provides a sharp looking widescreen (1.77:1), enhanced for 16X9 TVs, transfer on this DVD, along with a decent Dolby Digital mono audio track. As far as extras, there's an extremely entertaining commentary track with director Cheek, writer Abbott, and stars Heard, Stern, and Curry, along with a theatrical trailer, behind the scenes still gallery, and a 5X7 movie poster reproduction card insert. I've also heard there's a hidden feature in that of an extended sequence of Lauren in the shower, one that uses a body double for actress Greist, but I haven't seen it...the shower sequence included in the film, while fun and bloody, was pointless and most likely thrown in as an afterthought if only to include some skin. This feature was followed up by a sequel titled C.H.U.D. II - Bud the Chud (1989), which I haven't seen.
Cookieman108
Movie Review: Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Fun
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw "C.H.U.D." in the theater when it was first released, and hadn't seen it since. I remembered it as a basically decent horror movie with a good cast and silly monsters. I recently decided to order the DVD, and found a movie both similar to and different from what I remembered from 1984. The movie is still a basically decent low-budget horror film, but seems much campier in retrospect; the cast is still far above average for a horror movie of this budget; the monsters, however, now look way beyond silly. I especially like the glowing eyes and prosthetic neck lengthening which somehow I had forgotten all about.
Fashion photographer John Heard teams up with underground soup kitchen maverick Daniel Stern to investigate the Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers which are responsible for widespread mayhem in New York City. There is a government cover up, romance, and other various and sundry subplots, but I don't want to spoil the fun for you. The special effects are pretty cheesy (I especially like the helmets that look like a claustrophobic combination of aquarium and petporter), but the entire budget for the film was only $1.3 million. Given that, the picture is much better than you would expect, although perfectly fine performances are frequently interrupted by vicious bits of overacting. The film definitely has an eerie quality, partially due to the atmospheric sets, locations, and lighting, and partially due to the weird electronic music which is vaguely unsettling.
For those of you who saw this in theaters, this did not seem to be the same version originally released, although I was unsure until about halfway in when John Goodman and Jay Thomas appear as cops in a diner and are attacked by C.H.U.D. This is the shot that the theatrical version ended with, but is in the middle of this version. This version also seemed longer to me, with extra scenes I didn't recall. The commentary track confirmed that this was a very different version than released, and furnished a lot of interesting information about the movie.
This DVD features several extras, including a trailer, some still photographs, and a commentary track by the cast and director. The commentary track is far and away the best reason to buy this DVD. The commentary is both hilarious and enlightening, and they have brutal fun teasing each other, so much so that the track has an MST3K-esque quality about it. They detail how the film was made and reveal things like the fact the term C.H.U.D. was originated in a drunken stupor, with no concept of what it even stood for, and that the C.H.U.D. costumes took ten percent of the film budget and that between takes the actors inside them (who didn't even get credits) had to sit down and breathe from an oxygen mask. The commentary is all in good humor, and it's clear that they all like each other and like the project.
"C.H.U.D." is certainly not one of the best films ever made, but it is a fun trip back to early 1980's low-budget filmmaking, and will be enjoyed by horror and camp enthusiasts alike.