C.H.U.D. (1984) New World/Horror RT: 96 minutes Rated R (violence, grisly images, language, scary scenes) Director: Douglas Cheek Screenplay: Parnell Hall Music: Martin Cooper and David A. Hughes Cinematography: Peter Stein Release date: September 21, 1984 (Philadelphia, PA) Cast: John Heard, Daniel Stern, Christopher Curry, Kim Greist, J.C. Quinn, Michael O’Hare, George Martin, Sam McMurray, Cordis Heard, Ruth Maleczech, Rocco Siclari, Graham Beckel, Peter Michael Goetz, Frankie R. Faison, Vic Polizos, John Goodman, Jay Thomas, Hallie Foote, John Bedford-Lloyd, Ivar Brogger. Box Office: $4.7M (US)
Rating: ***
As if rats and alligators in the sewers weren’t enough, now we have Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers- or, as they’re commonly known, C.H.U.D.– to worry about. They’re the mutated byproduct of illegally disposed toxic waste- aka Contamination Hazard Urban Disposal, the acronym’s other meaning. Either way, it spells out one of the grimiest horror movies of the 80s.
C.H.U.D. is, quite literally, a dirty movie. The places shown and the people populating them are filthy-looking. The action takes place mainly in the sewers and tunnels beneath New York City. Above ground isn’t much better. One of the main characters runs what has to be the filthiest soup kitchen in the city. Homeless people, not the cleanest folks in the world, play a crucial role in C.H.U.D. You’ll feel like a hot shower with extra soap after watching this low-rent but fun fright flick.
Captain Bosch (Curry, The Return of Superfly) has been warned by his superiors to back off an investigation of a series of disappearances in his district. An inordinate amount of people, including his wife, have mysteriously vanished without a trace. It definitely warrants looking into, but some higher-ups want the dogged detective to leave it alone. We know what that means. Altogether now, BIG COVER-UP! Not one to be deterred, he interviews Reverend A.J. (Stern, Breaking Away), the fellow who runs the crummy soup kitchen I mentioned earlier. Several of A.J.’s regulars, the ones who live underground, haven’t been around in weeks. He has evidence the government is keeping a lid on something.
Photographer George Cooper (Heard, Cat People), who lives in a half-decent apartment with his model girlfriend Lauren (Greist, Manhunter), has a similar problem. He’s been working on a pictorial project on the city’s homeless population. He can’t seem to locate a few of his subjects; he needs them to finish his project. He’s taken underground by a homeless woman who earlier tried to steal a cop’s gun claiming her brother needs it for protection. He has a massive (and highly infected) bite on his leg; George can’t imagine what kind of creature did that.
The real villain in C.H.U.D. is Wilson (Martin, Leon the Professional), a weaselly government type who has a glib answer for everything. It turns out the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has secretly been hiding radioactive toxic waste in abandoned subway tunnels for years. It’s turning the “undergrounders” into mutated cannibalistic monsters with huge glowing eyes. Now that they’re going after people on the street, it can no longer be covered up. Or can it?
As far as cheap horror movies go, C.H.U.D. is pretty good. It could have been great. I had high hopes for it when I saw the poster hanging in the vestibule of the old City Line Theater when I went to see Exterminator 2. The title alone gave me shivers of anticipation. C.H.U.D. just rolls off the tongue, don’t you think? That it stands for Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers makes it even cooler. I couldn’t wait to see it; thankfully, I only had to wait a week. When I finally saw it (Saturday matinee, of course), I was a little disappointed. I was hoping for something really gory. There’s a surprisingly small amount of it in C.H.U.D. The killings mainly occur off-screen. There are a few shots of torn-off limbs and a severed head wearing camera headphones. A movie like this needs a lot of the red stuff splashed around. I will say, however, that the monsters are sufficiently scary-looking. The creature designers did a fine job considering the film’s small budget ($1.25 million).
Douglas Cheek, in his sole feature-length directorial effort, attempts to be topical by tapping into our fears of radioactive waste, the lethal byproduct of nuclear power. By having it create monsters, he makes our fears tangible. Add to that our paranoia regarding the secret goings-on of our government and you have a sweet premise for a B-movie. C.H.U.D. mostly works but NOT as a serious exploration of the decade’s biggest environmental and political concerns. In the end, it’s a silly monster movie that never really takes itself too seriously.
With actors like Heard and Stern in the lead roles, C.H.U.D. has an unusually strong cast for a low-budget B-movie from New World. Their performances elevate the movie slightly. Curry is pretty good as the this-side-of-burnt-out cop with a personal interest in the case. Greist is fine as the girlfriend who has a close encounter with one of the monsters in her apartment. Luckily, George keeps a samurai sword handy for just this kind of thing. There are a few familiar faces scattered throughout- e.g. Sam McMurray (Christmas Vacation), Frankie R. Faison (Exterminator 2), Graham Beckel (Brokeback Mountain) and Vic Polizos (Harlem Nights)- but the best is John Goodman (Revenge of the Nerds) and Jay Thomas (Mork & Mindy) as a couple of cops in a diner that gets attacked by CHUDs.
Finally, I’d like to mention that the DVD version of C.H.U.D. differs from the one released to theaters, video and cable. A few scenes (like the aforementioned diner scene) are shuffled around. Comical lines of dialogue, like the irate neighbor telling Lauren to call the Ghostbusters when she’s screaming out her window at the top of her lungs, have been excised. It’s longer by eight minutes. I think it makes C.H.U.D. a better movie. It’s hardly what I’d call a masterpiece of horror, but it makes for nice late-night viewing. This is one for the grindhouses! Chomp, chomp, chomp!
