C.H.U.D.
"What are you trying to hide?!? You saw it...you saw the monster!" - A.J.
release year: 1984
genre: horror
viewing setting: home Bluray 1/4/22 and 12/27/16 and home VHS, 12/23/02
synopsis: A police captain, a photographer, and a soup kitchen owner uncover a mystery beneath the streets of New York - a mystery that drags people underground and eats them.
impressions: This is the one with the monsters in the sewers, and they come out at night to drag people down to be eaten. They have glowing yellow eyes and big sharp teeth and are radioactive. What more do I really need to say? It was a low-budget, well-done early 80s horror movie. It mixed horror and drama, threw in some scares and gore, and just had fun with itself. Movies like this won't win any Oscars, but they are entertaining, as well as a cut above the poorly-done ones and those that are just plain bad. The script did a good job of weaving together several subplots and different characters' motivations. For good measure, government plot and cover-up was tossed into the mix.
things to watch for: The diner scene - one of those cops is a somewhat-slim John Goodman in an early appearance!
acting: Daniel Stern is the owner of the soup kitchen, and has most of the funny lines. Christopher Curry is the police captain, who's all business. John Heard is the photographer, who's kind of a jerk most of the time. Kim Greist is his girlfriend. George Martin is the obviously-evil government guy. There's an early appearance of John Goodman as a cop in a diner.
final word: Good solid B-grade horror entertainment, worth seeing.
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