C.H.U.D / Additional

I was watching Joe Bob Briggs' Last Drive-In a few weeks ago -- the "Just Joe Bob" feature on Shudder -- because I was interested in his view of C.H.U.D (1984). Sufficed to say, Joe Bob didn't offer a glowing review. He's confused, actually, as to why this film is such a cult classic. Why is this so requested by his fans, he posits confusingly. 

It does have its fans. I have the Anchor Bay DVD. I usually watch it Sunday afternoons since I first bought the DVD on a wall shelf at Circuit City back in the early 2000s. I do recall the film coming up a lot during the heydey of the IMDb Horror message board era. The glorious DVD era before the Blu-ray boom. C.H.U.D was a beneficiary of such an era when the cult following stemming from the 80s rental craze translated to a wider audience. Joe Bob addressing this while questioning such a positive reaction was quite an intriguing listen.

I continue to consider the reasons why C.H.U.D remains popular to this day, mainly for the interest in 1984 NYC, the homeless underground, 80s movie obsession with toxic waste, hideous, green, wrinkly-skin monsters born out of a corrupt bureaucracy to expose of waste under a city of millions of people provided for the film's creature feature audience, and the hotbed of talent in key roles, like Heard, Stern, and Greist, as well as, appearances from Goodman and Jay Thomas (as the cops in the diner), O'Hare ("Babylon 5"), Polizos ("Night of the Creeps"), Eddie Jones ("Q - The Winged Serpent"), McMurray ("National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation"), Beckel ("LA Confidential"), George Martin ("Dead Poet's Society"), and Jon Polito ("Modern Family") all popping up here and there in the cast so viewers can point at the screen and go, "Oh, oh, oh...I know him!" Stern and Heard did that a lot in their scathing audio commentary with the director on this film. 

In the past when I bring this up, it is hard not to focus on the dirty aesthetic of the film. It seems to be NYC filtered through a soot-covered lens. The monsters evolved from homeless underground with necks that extend, eyes that glow, along with teeth and claws distorted and sharp. Let me tell you, though: Heard might have considered this, along with Stern, an embarrassment, but I nevertheless believe his breakdowns and freakouts when seeing EPA officials and cops torn apart are epic. When the news reporter looking for a story is pulled into the tunnel, Heard's horrified reaction is off-the-chain. And how filthy Heard and Stern must get, especially underground in the labyrinth of sewers, showed a dedication to a film that had actual contempt for. This film to them was beneath them. And yet I couldn't help but look at their characters and ponder the cancer they will probably suffer being down there with all the radioactive waste. They drop to their knees coughing, with icky faces and dirt-and-sweat shirts. Martin's government scumbag, Wilson, doing whatever he can to cover up C.H.U.D (Contamination Hazard Urban Disposal), as Christopher Curry's Captain Bosch (or as Stern calls him BAHSHH) threatens to expose him is really the adversarial rivalry of the film...the monsters are more or less victims of Wilson and those he protects. I think, besides the effective gore (lots of flesh wound grisliness, eviscerated torsos, and scattered body parts), that Cooper score remains one of the film's main attractions...and even the score seems to echo the NYC low budget monster movie vibe.

I had no plans to watch this in 2021 but my daughter was looking at my C.H.U.D DVD and was interested in watching it. So I pulled it up on Tubi and we gave it a go. Still, this will always be a Sunday at 5:00PM movie. I'm that kind of weirdo.