A Real “Killer” B Movie (one of 237!)
4
By D. Scott Apel
This review is an excerpt from my book “Killer B’s: The 237 Best Movies On Video You’ve (Probably) Never Seen,” which is available as an ebook on iBooks. If you enjoy this review, there are 236 more like it in the book (plus a whole lot more). Check it out!
THE STUFF: It looks like marshmallow cream, tastes better than Ben & Jerry’s—and comes bubbling up from a quarry, ready to be pumped into trucks, clumped into cartons and dumped into stores as “The Stuff.” It’s also addictive and alive—and if you eat enough of it, it takes over your mind then consumes you from the inside.
Industrial saboteur “Moe” Rutherford (Moriarty), hired by a rival fast food chain to steal the secret recipe, discovers all of the above and more, with the help of Nicole (Marcovicci), the brain behind “The Stuff’s” PR campaign, and Jason (Bloom), a kid who “saw it move” and watches it turn his family into the Cleavers from Hell. Can this intrepid trio manage to infiltrate the plant and get its evil owners to “Stuff” it?
Discussion: Ever get a craving for junk food? I’ve always held the theory that the “billions served” burger chain (which must remain nameless to avoid litigation) puts a little something extra in each burger: an undetectably small quantity of some addictive chemical that makes you crave a burger fix once a month or so... Obviously, Larry Cohen thinks likewise (and, if the packaging of “The Stuff” is any indication, he also hates Baskin-Robbins).
“The Stuff” is a throwback to old ‘50s Grade Z sci-fi flicks like “The Blob” and “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” but done with an undercurrent of fun and a nod to modern advertising (“the stuff” if there ever was some). Morris is in great form, and Moriarty has a high old time as a good old boy, floating through the flick full of Southern charm and smarm. It’s a captivating, tongue-in-cheek sci-fi adventure which is simultaneously a parable about addiction, consumerism and commercialism—and the connections that bind them all together to hold us all captive. Best of all, though, are the commercial parodies, full of delightful cameos.