The Stuff (1985)
Amazon.com
B movie maverick Larry Cohen always enjoyed slipping a little social commentary into his genre pictures, and the satirical sci-fi/horror comedy The Stuff is no exception. A mix of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Blob, The Stuff is an insidiously addictive, low-calorie dessert sensation that soon wins the hearts and minds of the nation, but mostly the minds. You see, to borrow a title from another Cohen classic, it’s alive. Michael Moriarty is an industrial spy with questionable ethics and a certain moral flexibility behind his disarming drawl. “No one is as dumb as I appear to be,” he informs his newest client, a snack food CEO who wants the secret of The Stuff. Needless to say he becomes the film’s hero, a smart-talking everyman battling a compromised FDA and a corporate baddie who sees dollar signs in every Stuff snarfing zombie he converts. Cohen’s satirical swipes at consumerism, advertising, and the ethics of corporate profit come fast (more…)