The Stuff

Screened on Arrow 4K blu-ray.

I've seen this just three times now (including for this latest round of ramblings), and yet it remains as one of my favorite films. There is an interesting sensibility that writer and director Larry Cohen put on screen during his long tenure as filmmaker. From his fantastic God Told Me To, to the It's Alive trilogy, I find it hard to pinpoint exactly what it is that makes his work quite special, but I think that's exactly it, that it's so unique, it's indescribable. It is a clear form of satire that he specializes in, but in a very subtle style that is all his own, the feeling he conveys.

That style is never more apparent than with his 1985 cult classic The Stuff. A modern-day take on 1958's The Blob, Cohen took the theme of rising authoritarian and communism fears and turned it into a commentary on unbridled consumerism. Inspired by cigarette marketing of decades past, he applied it towards an ice cream/yogurt-like substance found bubbling up from the ground with it's sweet, addictive quality. Marketed as The Stuff, the product is rushed to shelves without even a hint of regulation (though implied, it's not believable, by design), and before they know it, the question arises: Are you eating it, or is it eating you? A great cast, including surprise names like Danny Aiello, Garrett Morris, Paul Sorvino, and lead Michael Moriarty, perfectly adds to the campy, surreal and slightly unsettling vibe. Watching it now four decades later, it becomes clear how that vibe encapsulates the 80s so well, including a campy, time capsule quality that adds additional humor that wasn't apparent at the time. If you've seen Joel Schumacher's comedy The Incredible Shrinking Woman from 1981, which also confronts consumerism with its product Galaxy Glue that causes Lily Tomlin to shrink into non-existence, you may understand what you're getting into here.

To take it a step further, an argument could be made that this 40-year-old film could now be a warning for the rise of artificial intelligence, entering our lives at an alarming rate due to its similar lack of regulation. Soon, the AI you can't get enough, just may be eating you alive.