The Stuff - The stuff that nightmares are made out of

'The Stuff' is one of - many - eighties horror movies which did their best to gross out their audiences, however this one seems to have been forgotten due to being overshadowed by (arguably) some better (and more disgusting!) ones.  Although 'The Stuff' has since gathered its own cult audience, it's seldom mentioned along with the other horror greats of the decade.  And that's a shame, as it's definitely worth a watch, simply for the premise.

A bunch of construction workers dig up a foamy white substance which derives from the very centre of the Earth itself.  Fast forward a little while and they're marketing it to the rest of the world as a 'natural' yohurt/ice cream-type product.  Naturally, it's not the 'sweet treat' it's first thought to be and certain people start having pretty dire reactions to consuming too much of the addictive substance.  Cue a rag-tag bunch, consisting of an ex FBI agent, a video film-maker, Chocolate Chip Charlie (don't ask!) and a kid who uncover the 'Stuff's' secret and do their best to bring this information to the public.

I'm not going to say the film is a masterpiece, but it does have its charm - for what it is.  Naturally, any eighties horror film didn't have a massive budget, therefore the special/gory effects are all 'practical,' rather than computer-generated.  Yes, you can tell when actors get replaced by rubber masks etc, but - considering the budget-limitations - the effects are pretty well done and nicely gory in some places.  You also probably won't recognise many of the cast and they all do their best with the - slightly hoaky - script they have to work with.  But special props should go to our leading man due to him being anything but a straight-forward 'good guy.' He's actually pretty dark by today's heroes' standards and, when he first came on screen, I figured he was going to be one of the bad guys as opposed to who we were going to eventually root for.

I know that 'The Stuff' is about as far removed from George A Romero's seminal 'Dawn of the Dead,' but the reason I link the two together is because both take a swipe at the popular culture of the time.  Romero did a mini attack on consumerism via his zombie epic, while 'The Stuff' lampoons how products are marketed, putting profit over health.

If you like your horror films cheap, a little cheesy and on this rarest of occasions, with a subtle dose of social commentary then 'The Stuff' may be worth an hour and a half of your time.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that