Huievest
Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
Predrag
In the film C.H.U.D. it's related to us that there are cannibalistic, underground, humanoid dwellers (aka C.H.U.D.s) roaming around in the labyrinth of tunnels and what not beneath the city of New York. Okay...so? I mean would this really be such a shocking revelation? Would anyone actually be blown away by such news? Somehow I doubt it (New-Yorkers do seem pretty jaded, and let's face it, if something like this were to happen, it would most likely occur in the Big Apple)... written by Shepard Abbott, and directed by Douglas Cheek, in his one and only feature to date, the film stars John Heard and Daniel Stern. The plot is somewhat convoluted and draggy given the large number of characters present, and the level of development given to each, but I enjoyed it nonetheless as there felt more attention to substantial details than what one might normally get in a movie like this. The characters played by both Heard and Greist were pretty much of the extraneous type, as they could have easily been removed and we still would have had a viable story, one with a quicker pace, but given Heard was, and is, a relatively well known actor (at least in terms of B films), one would probably want to take advantage of the fact that he'd be interested in appearing in modestly budgeted film. Stern was a whole lot of fun to watch as the altruistic, suspicious, greasy, neo- hippish, don't feed me no stupid homeless shelter operator who knows the score, inherently distrustful of any and all gooberment types. The film does fall back on an old standard in that of gooberment types doing evil and nasty things, but this is offset slightly by limiting the focus on one individual (Wilson), with the local officials coming off as incompetent lackeys, not fully understanding or appreciating the ramifications of blindly following one whose authority would seem to supercede their own. However, this kind of movie is definitely not for everyone if you're looking for a horror movie look elsewhere because you will be massively disappointed. Now to be honest with a title like C.H.U.D. you're expecting to see nothing but mayhem involving strange creatures attacking people, there are a few attack scenes but they all only last a few seconds and there is almost zero gore, there's a bit of suspense but the film is never actually scary. If I have one genuine complaint it's that we barely even ever see the CHUDS, their screen time throughout the film combined is guaranteed to be less than 5 minutes. A little bit more monster time and a little less public commentary could have really made this film substantially better. But the rest of the film is entertaining enough so that it's still not a deal-breaker, especially with the great acting from this stellar cast. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.
Rainey Dawn
C.H.U.D. = Cannibalistic Human Underground Dweller. Nuclear Waste Sewer Monsters (N.W.S.M) Is what the the film is really about - and some political garbage. The film starts out a real bore-fest. We have an uptight photographer and his girlfriend model with drama between them over a photo shoot for a perfume ad. This photographer did a story on the homeless in the area and apparently gave them his phone number during the photo shoot & story on them - so yea they call him (and he seems a bit irritated about it). We also have a policeman who is now a police captain with lots of boring police stuff happening. There is a man that works in a soup kitchen who considers the homeless his family and they start to come up missing. Yea the getting to know the characters for about the first 25 minutes of the film is really boring. About the 25 minute mark it starts to pick up a little bit with boring scenes in-between. The last 30 minutes of the film gets pretty good - not too bad - this is when we see the C.H.U.D.s and the story picks up. The best most likable character by far is A.J. 'The Reverend' Shepherd (Daniel Stern). Two other somewhat likable characters are Captain Bosch (Curry) and Lauren Daniels (Greist). The rest of the characters I didn't care about (I'm not talking about the actors themselves - I mean the roles they play). I loved the cameo by John Goodman who plays a small part as a cop in diner - that was good. 5/10
Chris Smith (RockPortReview)
Cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers or C.H.U.D's are the hideously deformed mutants living in the sewers of New York City. Although back in the eighties it wasn't that much better on the surface. Like many of the 80s horror movies I've reviewed this one has also become a cult classic. From its B-movie style monsters to its dirty and sleazy depiction of the big rotten apple.George Cooper is a fashion photographer who lives with his girlfriend/model Lauren in a small apartment in the city. She gets pregnant and they have the should we or shouldn't we talk about weather to keep the baby. They give a very strong pro choice message and she chooses to keep the baby and that's all were ever hear about it. Professionally George is in kind of a rut and is looking to break out of it. He got his start in photography by documenting homeless people in the sewers. So he decides to revisit his roots and meets A.J. , played by Daniel Stern, a young and energetic soup kitchen owner. People have been disappearing and they set out to find answers. This movie made me think a lot about the Clive Barker story then movie "Midnight Meat Train" which has a similar plot involving a NYC photographer discovering horrifying people within the endless sewer tunnels. Although Barker's story is pretty hardcore and violent, while "C.H.U.D" has more of a comical side to it.George and A.J. find out that the nefarious city employees have been storing nuclear waste in these tunnels until they can move it somewhere else. Its too late as it has started to change the sewer people into the C.H.U.D.'s who hunger for human flesh. When the C.H.U.D's start appearing on the surface the city they must be dealt with. The C.H.U.D's themselves look like guys in big slimy latex suits with glowing yellows eyes and are kept mostly in the shadows for obvious reasons.With the NYPD now on the job we go inside a cafe and meet a couple of New York's finest eating breakfast with one of them being played by the yet to be famous John Goodman. The city plans to gas the sewer to kill off the C.H.U.D's but our heroes are still down there. Will they survive both the C.H.U.D's and the NYPD? This is a fun and schlocky movie from the 80s horror vault that is available for your viewing pleasure on Netflix watch instantly.
dullfinboy
This review contains spoilers. C.H.U.D is a classic monster movie. It is my all time second favorite monster movie. All deaths are off screen but the remains of the victims are shown. Spoilers. The only on screen deaths are one of the C.H.U.D.s by decapitation. Another is of Victor who is shot in the neck. Then Wilson by getting shot in the chest. They are not that gory but the remains are usually gory and gross. The C.H.U.D.s themselves are very cool looking and can be very menacing. The plot is good and I found it interesting. A very suspenseful movie. Two villains. The C.H.U.D.s by attacking people for food and Wilson trying to cover the problems that are going on under the city at any cost. This is a good movie.
