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Category:    Home > Reviews > Horror > Satire > Consumerism > Comedy > The Stuff (1985/Arrow Films Region B Import Blu-ray)

The Stuff (1985/Arrow Films Region B Import Blu-ray)


Picture: B Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C+



PLEASE NOTE: This Region B Import Blu-ray only plays on machines capable of handling that version of the format, is only available from our friends at Arrow U.K. and can be ordered from the link below.



When white Stuff oozes out of the ground, it soon becomes the new hit dessert across America, but prolonged usage of Stuff people begin turning into zombie slaves of the stuff and can't get enough of it and soon die as the Stuff eats them from inside out. Only a private investigator and a young boy realizes the Stuff isn't just food, but it's alive... but can they do to stop the millions of people who are already infected?


Larry Cohen's 1985 biting satire of consumerism, The Stuff is the dessert that keeps you hungry for more. When some miners discover a white goo coming out of the earth, they can it, pack it and shipped it, and sold it as the next holy grail of desserts. Jealous competitors hire ex-FBI agent David Rutherford (aka Mo, played by Michael Moriarty) to find out what and how the Stuff is made, but what he discovers is in the town where Stuff comes from everyone is zombie slaves, save one young boy Jason (Scott Bloom) who refuses to eat The Stuff. When the Stuff fully matures, it comes bursting out of it's host and continues to spreads to others. Moe and Jason barely escape the town controlled by Stuff and then convinces a private militia that America is under attack and they must destroy and burn The Stuff.


This film was like The Blob mixed with zombies, you could really tell this was made in the 1980s from the way the people dressed and music. The Stuff itself looked watery clay-animation, and you could tell the film was a transferred from an inferior source worse than the film's transfer, meaning this film joins Cohen's Q The Winged Serpent (now on Blu-ray) for another film of his being sabotaged to some extent by bad visual effects. Paul Sorvino, Andrea Marcovicci, Garrett Morris, Patrick O'Neal, Danny Aiello, (Wendy's Where's The Beef? ad campaign icon) Clara Peller, Tammy Grimes, Brooke Adams, Abe Vigoda and uncredited turns by Mira Sorvino, Eric Bogosian and Patrick Dempsey round out the interesting cast.



The 1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer can show the limits of the shoot with its colorful sense a plus, but the older films stocks a limit. The PCM 1.0 Mono sound is not great, but the film was a theatrical mono release (which was becoming rare by this time) and the age of the audio shows.


Extras include a reversible cover for the case, a booklet on the film with stills, promo materials & an essay by Joel Harley and a DVD version, while the Blu-ray adds The Original Theatrical Trailer, intro and trailer commentary by fan/horror filmmaker Darren Bousman and featurette: Can't Get Enough Of The Stuff: Making Larry Cohen's Classic Creature Feature featuring Larry Cohen, producer Paul Kurta, actress Andrea Marcovicci, Steve Neill (mechanical makeup effects) & Kim Newman.



You can order The Stuff and many more expanded Blu-ray and DVD import releases from Arrow U.K. at this link:


http://www.arrowfilms.co.uk/



- Ricky Chiang


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