jadavix
"C.H.U.D." is a tedious horror movie with an undeserved cult following.It is like a more horror-oriented version of "Ghostbusters", which was released the same year. It has a similar "average guys vs. the government bureaucracy" plot, but without any laughs.Daniel Stern makes a surprisingly good off-beat hero, but after all these years since I first watched the movie, I had completely forgotten John Heard was in it. This is not a good thing, considering he is the protagonist.It's an odd movie which has a protagonist who is basically unnecessary to the plot, but that seems to be the situation here. They should have had greater faith in Stern and let him carry the film.The plot concerns a government cover-up of mutant homeless people living in the sewer. There is an obvious allegory here about our treatment of the homeless, sweeping this problem under the rug where it just might get worse... though maybe not this worse, but you get the idea.Anyway, there is surprisingly little violence in "C.H.U.D.". It's also not in the least scary. With a plot this silly, you'd expect some humour, but there is also very little of that. What you get is long stretches of tedium and then some sub-par violence, and a pretty goofy looking monster.
Scott LeBrun
Wonderfully goofy sci-fi / horror monster movie stars John Heard and Daniel Stern as George Cooper and "Reverend" A.J. Shepherd, two NYC denizens. They soon learn of the existence of monsters living in the foul, dripping catacombs beneath the city. Monsters that are now coming up to street level to munch on human flesh. Police captain Bosch (Christopher Curry, a friend of Heard and Stern) realizes that something will have to be done about the spate of disappearances that result. They all find out that there's a bigger plot underlying it all.While the cast charge that the movie would be better if the monsters *weren't* so goofy looking, the C.H.U.D.s lend this low rent movie a great deal of cheesy charm. They have big, bulky bodies, glowing eyes, and can extend their necks if they take a notion to do so. Director Douglas Cheek (another member in the circle of friends that made this classic) and company gain memorable atmosphere by shooting on and under NYC. It's quite the grimy, aesthetically unappealing tale indeed, all enhanced by delightful electronic music. And it all comes complete with a subtext about society's treatment of the homeless.Heard and Stern, especially Stern, are very amusing to watch, with the absolutely lovely Kim Greist cast as Heards' wife, a fashion model. One truly amazing thing about the actors & actresses assembled is how many familiar faces there are in supporting and bit parts, from future stars (like 'Home Improvement' wife / mom Patricia Richardson, 'Roseanne' husband / dad John Goodman, and Jay Thomas) to top character actors like George Martin, Peter Michael Goetz, John Bedford Lloyd, Jon Polito, Vic Polizos, Eddie Jones, Sam McMurray, J.C. Quinn, Ray Baker, Graham Beckel, Bill Raymond, and Frankie Faison. Heards' sister Cordis plays a cop; the first on screen victim, Laure Mattos, is Sterns' wife.The script (on which Curry and Stern worked, uncredited) has some priceless lines, especially when Stern saves Heards' ass and Heard improvises.To somebody such as this viewer, it's immaterial how "good" or bad it is. All that matters is how damn entertaining it is!Followed by "C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud" five years later.Eight out of 10.
Michael_Elliott
C.H.U.D. (1984) ** (out of 4) Police Captain Bosch (Christopher Curry) begins to investigate the disappearance of his wife and soon realizes that even more people are missing. Soon he teams up with a photographer (John Heard) and a soup kitchen owner (Daniel Stern) and the trio try to uncover what is behind all the people disappearing.C.H.U.D. has become a cult favorite over the years thanks in large part to its effective poster and the fact that it has a pretty nice cast who would go on to become well known. For me the film is a decent "B" picture but nothing more as there's really not anything too special here. Fans of the low-rent 80's horror movies will probably want to check it out but the film should've been much better than it actually is.The problem I have with the film is that so much of the action takes place off the screen. We know what the monsters are doing yet we never really see any of it for the first hour as they are kept off screen with the viewer only getting a couple brief looks at their arms. This here was probably done because of the budget but there's just not enough attacks going on to keep you entertained. I'd also argue that there's no suspense or tension to be found anywhere and it certainly doesn't help that it's dragged out for 96-minutes.The cast is certainly a lot better than the actual material. Curry makes for a good lead and I thought he gave a good performance. Future HOME ALONE stars Heard and Stern are both entertaining here and you'll want to keep you eyes open for a young John Goodman. The monsters, once we do finally see them, look pretty good but sadly their appearance happens way too late into the picture.
videorama-759-859391
This is another of those movies, you think, it's just gonna be bad B grade, with just these little monsters, lurking under subterranean ground zero, and eating people, and it's gonna have some bloody bits and all, but what you get instead of a story, where the more you learn from the movie, and it's story, it progresses, the more feasible, it becomes too, a frightening aspect. This is a horror, that acts more serious, than the nonsensical predicament of it's story, using it as a facade, which as you know, can really make a movie look stupid. Here, it's no so the case, as we have a kind of, Hills Have Eyes, underground type film. This movie too has likable actors, like the very good Heard as a photographer, Kim Griest, his wife, and Stern who run a soup kitchen for the not so fortunate underground dwellers. A few of these low type folk have gone missing, as well as some more upstanding folk, up above, including a cop's wife. The cop, Bosch and Stern team up to get the truth, where there is some corruption, from forces high above, with a ending concerning the major party, predictable. The mutants, ex squatters, again, have become the way they have, thanks to a lot of bad disposal + garbage, while also enduring radiation thanks to a device. I haven't seen this movie for a few years, and I am quite impressed by it, how becomes so serious it becomes, but in the end, it becomes just another routine yarn, like many others. I was expecting an addictive B grade junk film, but got something more serious. I really liked the cop character Bosch, and also, first not recognizing him, J.C. Quinn, donning a long wavey hairdo, as a two bid, struggling writer, while Heard coolily carried his lead, though he kind of comes in and out of the movie. The monsters, sorry, disintegrating humans, look effectively good too, where the film does have a few suspenseful "Oh no" moments, plus a "familiar car wheel blocking a manhole "Alligator film" exit, it's driver being a cop for god's sake, where the whole street is full of cop cars, fire trucks. Again, by this scene, I raise the point of how serious this film takes itself. Not a bad view, and better than a lot of these monster type movies.
AD
