By Kevin Scott
I grew up in the golden age of the video store. If you weren’t there, it’s just absolutely impossible to describe to adequately do it justice. This was before Blockbuster, where every entrepreneurial baby boomer hung their shingle out in front of any commercial space available in an attempt to cash in on something that would be lucrative for a solid 10 to 15 years to come. Even the movie theatre in the mall had a video store in a little alcove in the lobby. Seems ironic now when I think about it, but I was just happy to finally hear cuss words besides “damn” and “hell” and see graphic nudity. Graphic nudity that could be paused and replayed even though there would always be static bars in all the wrong places when paused with the wired remote control. As you can tell, I have vivid memories of this lost era. One of the best video experiences ever was to take a chance amidst the myriad of boxes with holes for the tapes confusingly placed on the bottom, and end up with something that seemed like an unsung masterwork. Well, time has spoken and unsung really doesn’t apply in this case. I am beyond happy to say that Arrow Video has released C.H.U.D.
Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers would be the long title, but the acronym, C.H.U.D. was a masterstroke. It forced you out of sheer curiosity to pick the box up off shelf and read the back for a little exposition. What I love the most about this film is that it was one of the contemporary entries in the creature feature genre that rose to prominence in the 1950’s. The only difference with the new generation of films like this and their predecessors was that these settings were urban, and the cause of the mutations came from the sins of greed and industrialism. Rather than seeing the creature rampaging through the city, it might just pull you down into the sewer. This film and “Alligator” gave sewers a whole new horror trope of a dumping ground for hideous experimentations and toxic waste. I don’t think they could’ve killed Jason in part 8 without it.
I’ve always loved “C.H.U.D.”, but this go around I noticed a lot more. For starters, it looks beautiful. C.H.U.D. is a film that has a grimy and claustrophobic feel where everything is either dirty or wet of both. Everyone in the sewers should use a wet nap and clean their face off. That really came through on this version Arrow did a bang up job on putting an extremely high sheen on it. Secondly, it has a pretty layered plot with a lot going on.
John Heard is a pretentious photographer with a fashion model girlfriend. He’s doing her high profile fashion shoot, but considers it superficial. . He almost costs her the gig complaining about it. He would much rather continue his avant-garde project of photographing the city’s homeless. He and his girlfriend are getting ready to take their relationship to a new level. She’s pregnant and he’s going to have to humble himself a little and keep his mouth shut, or eventually take that job at Kinderfoto at the mall to buy diapers. That was never explored in this film or any sequels. That was just my turn at character development. There’s also Daniel Stern who runs a soup kitchen that feeds the city’s homeless. He’s been noticing that some of his regulars haven’t been showing up lately for dinner.
He has a antagonizing sort of friendship with a local cop, and voices his concerns. He and his cop friend go into the sewers and find the remnants of some radiation protection gear and a Geiger counter. Something’s down there that has more radiation than black market granite countertops. The storyline has an interconnectivity that I’ve always thought was pretty brilliant. Each protagonist has a connection with the situation in a different way, but they have their own unique piece of the puzzle that they bring with them. What they find is a government conspiracy that has the homeless showing up for dinner again in a completely different way.
This is an absolute must to have in anyone’s collection of 80’s horror, and one of my personal faves. If it’s also a favorite for you or you are comparing notes with someone who remembers taking it home to watch in one of those faux wood finish videocassette cases, don’t deny yourself the top shelf Arrow deluxe edition. It brings the best of everything out about the film. As always, Arrow brings its own exclusive interviews, beautiful new and original release artwork, and commentaries from the director, writer, and the stars. Watching C.H.U.D. any other way is almost as bad as that top loader VCR I first saw it on.
