The Stuff

• Fun Facts

Also Known As

• A Coisa (Brazil)
• In-natural (Spain)
• Kampen mot dødsmikroben (Norway) (theatrical title)
• La sustancia maldita (Spain) (new title)
• Mördande dessert (Sweden)
• Pomahnitala pena (Serbia)
• Stuff (France)
• Stuff - murhaavaa mössöä (Finland)
• Substancja (Poland)
• The stuff - Il gelato che uccide (Italy)

Taglines

• Are you eating it ...or is it eating you?
• It'll change your life forever.
• WARNING! If you see The Stuff in stores... call the police. If you have it in your home... don't touch it...get out. The Stuff is a product of nature... a deadly living organism. It is addictive and destructive. It can overcome your mind and take over your body... and nothing can stop it.
• It's smooth and creamy. I'ts low calorie and delicious. And it kills. It's The Stuff!
• Enough Is Never Enough

Main Details

• Released in 1985
• Color
• Running Time: 93 Min
• Production Co: Larco Productions | New World Pictures
• Distribution Co: New World Pictures (1985) (USA) (theatrical)

Cast and Crew

• Directed by Larry Cohen
• Written by Larry Cohen
• Starring Michael Moriarty, Andrea Marcovicci, Garrett Morris, Paul Sorvino, Scott Bloom, Danny Aiello, Patrick O'Neal, James Dixon, Brooke Adams, Abe Vigoda , Eric Bogosian, Patrick Dempsey, Mira Sorvino
• Produced by Larry Cohen, Paul Kurta, Barry Shils
• Original Music by Anthony Guefen
• Cinematography by Paul Glickman
• Film Editing by Armond Lebowitz

Film Review

Template:Larry Cohen

Late 70's and 80's was a time when lots of movies questioned consumerism and business enterprises. Are companies sincere to us? Do we buy things because we want it or only because people tell us to buy it? These are the questions that you might found an answer in films from that era. Well, there's another hidden gem from the 80's called The Stuff that combines a lot of ingredients from zombie flicks, horror flicks, and black comedy flicks.

Directed by Larry Cohen, the film tells the story about a new dessert called The Stuff that gets famous very quickly, so a business competitor hires David, an undercover agent, to find out the ingredients. Meanwhile, a young boy named Jason is the only one in his family that finds out that The Stuff is made from a dangerous substance, but of course nobody believes him.

After I watched it for the first time, it became one of my favorite horror films of all time. Why? The Stuff tells us about how careless companies are. The Stuff was made from a mysterious thing that was found by miners and then a company decided to sell it just because it was tasty. Not only that, FDA agents approved The Stuff because they think it's delicious and not a medicine. But actually The Stuff takes over the brain and turns people into zombies (well, sort of). The scariest part to me is not even when people get killed by The Stuff, but it's the scene which Jason tries to escape from his scary family. Of course The Stuff destroy their brains and makes them want to eat it more and more. His parents try everything to make sure that he eats it. Isn't it scary when someone forces you to eat something that you hate? I had an experience similar to Jason and it was really terrible.

Another memorable thing about this film are the fake commercials. Yes, there are fake commercials for The Stuff in this film and I'm sure that its jingle will be stuck in your head forever after you hear it. It's very catchy! Also, the special effects are superb, scary, and "creamy".

If you love films about domestic horrors, mass consumerism and/or mind control like Dawn Of The Dead, They Live and Poltergeist, there's no reason to hate this film at all. It's a very good combination of those with a slightly different twist.

Reviewed by Nuttawat Permpithak - 4/30/13