[yasr_overall_rating]
A bizarre series of murders in New York City seems to point toward the existence of a race of mutant cannibals living under the streets.
So, important answers first. C.H.U.D. stands for Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers. “C.H.U.D.” exists somewhere in that valley of bad films that aren’t so bad they become enjoyable again like “Troll 2” or Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room.” What’s even more confusing is three of my favorite character actors appear: John Heard, Daniel Stern, and John Goodman. “C.H.U.D.” is just too dull and there’s way too much exposition. There’s also no nudity and no really cool gore scenes. There is allegedly an unedited version however, floating around somewhere in the hands of one of the film’s producers.
The plot revolves around monsters that live in the dark spaces below New York City and it also adds a “Toxic Avenger” twist by adding a toxic and radioactive waste element.
George Cooper (John Heard) is a jerk photographer who helps uncover a conspiracy in New York City who is assisted by AJ “the Reverend Shepherd” (Daniel Stern) who runs a local homeless shelter. The late and largely unheralded JC Quinn plays Murphy. John Goodman makes an early-in-his-career appearance as a police officer and even Goodman, who is one of my most favorite actors, really can’t do much to save the scene.
As terrible as “C.H.U.D.” is, Arrow Video have attached an audio commentary by Daniel Stern, John Heard, Christopher Curry, writer Shepard Abbott and director Douglas Cheek and it is a masterpiece. Literally. It’s full of one liners and one of my all time hands down favorite commentary tracks ever for any movie. The commentary track basically descends into Stern and Heard apologizing for the monstrosity that is “C.H.U.D.” Two of my favorite lines in the track are Daniel Stern saying “I look like a werewolf Bob Dylan” and “between ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘C.H.U.D.,’ we sold out all KY Jelly in NYC that summer.” Stern also consistently says that random bystanders are famous celebrities. For example, Daniel Stern keeps saying that child actor who is not Brad Pitt, is Brad Pitt.
“C.H.U.D.” actually spawned a sequel, “C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud” in 1989, which is actually so bad that it’s hilariously enjoyable. It’s one of those films that very few people have actually seen but it gets referenced a lot in movies and TV shows like “Donnie Darko,” “The Simpsons,” “Angel,” “South Park,” and “Pushing Daisies.”
Lastly, I try to not turn film reviews into IMDB listings but “C.H.U.D.” is truly amazing for launching so many careers: Claire Simpson went on to win an Oscar in 1986 for editing Oliver Stone’s “Platoon,” composer David A. Hughes would later score “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” and makeup designer John Caglione Jr. won an Oscar in 1990 for “Dick Tracy.” And I need not say what the wonderful films and TV shows that John Heard, Daniel Stern, and John Goodman went on to make.
Available now on a Special Edition Blu-ray from Arrow Video
