reiher@ucla-cs.UUCP (08/23/85)
I do not believe that a film has to be perfect in order to
be enjoyable. In fact, I'm willing to live with major flaws in
some areas if a film provides enough pleasures in others. "The
Stuff" is a case in point. There are several rather important
things wrong with "The Stuff", but it has some interesting quirks
that were enough fun to allow me to, if not overlook the flaws,
at least enjoy the film.
"The Stuff" is a sf/horror/comedy/whatever film from the
fertile brain of Larry Cohen. When last seen, Mr. Cohen offered
us "Q", a weird little number about a giant flying lizard which
takes up residence in the top of the Chrysler building in New
York City; that is, when it isn't flying around biting off peo-
ples' heads. What gave that film the extra twist it needed was
that it focussed on an ex-junkie's attempts to extort a million
dollars from the city in return for his knowledge of the
critter's whereabouts. In "The Stuff", somebody is marketing a
dessert product that is actually a parasite which takes over the
bodies of those who eat too much of it. Since one of its early
effects is to make you crave more of it, that isn't too hard.
The perspective in "The Stuff" is from the point of view of an
industrial spy hired by the ice cream companies to find out where
The Stuff is coming from.
Since Cohen came up with the basic idea and wrote the
screenplay, he receives both credit and blame for it. Credit is
due for the dialog and some of the characters. Blame accrues for
the poor plotting. Cohen has three or four really good ideas,
but he doesn't develop any of them very well. Practically as
soon as he presents one of them, he speeds off to the next, as if
he expected the audience to fill in all the details for him.
Cohen's direction (and his part of the editing, which was
substantial), show the same tendencies. He is very good with
characters, but not too good with action or suspense. His edit-
ing style is peculiar. One of the great discoveries of early
cinema is that one can cut within a scene and allow a time lapse
between the two actions. The classic example is when someone
closes their apartment door, then we cut to them entering their
car. The great discovery was that you didn't have to show the
person walking from the door to the car. Basically, the language
of cinema allows shortcuts. You don't have to show everything.
However, very little progress has been made over the years in
compacting what still must be shown to prevent disorientation in
the audiences. In other words, the same shortcuts used in the
thirties are used today. Editors haven't found a way to trim
even more, leaving greater proportions to the audience's imagina-
tions.
Cohen knows this, but he doesn't care. He cuts out stuff
you really have to leave in, anyway. The effect is a momentary
pause in the viewer's mind while he wonders if the projectionist
has shown a reel out of order. This happens four or five times
in "The Stuff", and there are lesser shortcuts which give the film
the appearance of having the hiccups.
Cohen's handling of the actors is generally good, though,
particularly Michael Moriarty and Paul Sorvino. Moriarty played
the twitchy ex-junkie in "Q", and his role here, as the not-so-
good ol' boy industrial spy, gives him a splendid chance to
demonstrate what a good actor he is. At first glance, he is al-
most unrecognizable, and he is completely convincing as the self
assured operative who, fundamentally, isn't very nice. Moriarty
is an endlessly inventive actor, and his performance alone makes
"The Stuff" worth seeing. Paul Sorvino, another underutilized
actor (his last part was playing himself for a cameo in "Turk
182"), displays near-lunatic confidence as an ultra-right wing
paramilitary leader, who is much worse than not nice. One of the
film's little ironies is that these two unpleasant people, who
normally one would prefer to see locked tightly away in some
prison, are the only ones capable of dealing with the bizarre
threat of The Stuff. Garrett Morris is OK as a Famous Amos clone
who is pissed off because the distributors of The Stuff stole his
chocolate chip cookie company, but he disappears too soon to be
really effective. Andrea Marcovicci has a rather poorly written
role, that of the advertising director for The Stuff who is con-
verted by Moriarty. Patrick O'Neal has too little screen time to
make any impact as the amoral executive who distributes The
Stuff, despite his knowledge of the danger.
"The Stuff" was made quickly and cheaply by a director who
does not have a strong visual sense, so it looks rather like TV
movies. The special effects are poor to mediocre. In addition
to the great gaps in the story, the editing fails to provide even
the slightest suspense or excitement. The score is forgettable,
including the advertising jingles for The Stuff. There is rela-
tively little gore, which is somewhat surprising, considering
that Cohen was the man who gave us "It's Alive!"
"The Stuff" is worth seeing, though, for its weird sensibil-
ities, a few interesting ideas (not very well carried out), some
good dialog, and fine acting. Many worse films have made a lot
of money, so "The Stuff" might well have a chance of cleaning up.
If not, it will undoubtedly be a staple of midnight movie cir-
cuits for years to come.
--
Peter Reiher
reiher@LOCUS.UCLA.EDU
{...ihnp4,ucbvax,sdcrdcf}!ucla-cs!reiher