The Stuff

Larry Cohen's demons have never been your average little devils: Q the Winged Serpent lived atop the Chrysler Building, his anti-Christ lived in a Brooklyn basement, and J Edgar Hoover wasn't exactly human. This one is a white glop which comes bubbling out of the ground, tastes nice, and is immediately mined and marketed by a fast food chain under the logo 'Enough is never enough'. In other words, the monster doesn't come after you, you have to go out and consume it. Once eaten, it does strange things to people. Leading the anti-Stuff campaign for the forces of good is Michael Moriarty, in his customary persona as the laid back bozo who isn't as stupid as he looks ('Nobody is as stupid as I look'). As usual, Cohen's humour is chaotic (importing a right wing private army for the finale), surreal, and very, very subversive. If the drive-in crowd took its message to heart, they'd never eat again. Invasion of the Body Snatchers for our time. CPea.