I'm back after a little hiatus, I've been kinda wrapped up playing Darksiders and have not been watching movies as fast as I usually do. I've also been working on a cute little logo for this humble blog of mine. Hopefully I'll get that completed soon. Anyway, I return with a classic of sorts. Douglas Cheek's 1984 mutated-humanoid homeless creature extravaganza. I had to re-watch a few scenes of this this morning because I was dozing off last night. and wanted everything fresh for a fair review. But don't blame the movie, it was far from a snooze fest. In fact, my expectations were surpassed. I don't go into a movie called "Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers" with the highest expectations in the world, but I came out of it satisfied.
Without giving away too much plot, because this movie actually has a decent one with a few twists, the film mainly focuses on a strange wave of disappearances in New York City, mostly homeless people who live in the sewers underground. The police captain gets involved and goes to interview a man named AJ who runs a local homeless shelter/soup kitchen. At this point, the movie introduces a government coverup plot that becomes pretty interesting. It is revealed that these CHUD's were once human, based off an autopsy done on a dead one. How did these creatures get into the sewers, and what caused them to mutate? And why is that guy from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission being so darned sneaky? Now that more people are coming forward and they have a witness who has claimed to see one of these creatures kill her grandfather, it is just a matter of time before the police have to make a statement to the public and stop keeping this thing under wraps. The rest of the movie contains some CHUD attack action and plots to try to kill the creatures once and for all. They eventually settle for pumping the sewers up with gas and exploding the fuckers, but of course some of our main characters get trapped down there and what ensues is our heros running away from various CHUDs and trying to escape before the sewers go ka-boom. It was a lot of fun.
If theres one big complaint I have about this film, it's that we don't get to see the creatures enough. It took a while before we even got to see one, and I sat there anxiously waiting between scenes and I was just a little let down, that's all. They were cute little things. I watched the Anchor Bay version of the film, which according to IMDB is the "full" version. There was also a version of this film made for TV with over 20 minutes of footage cut out. Movies are never as good edited, look for the Anchor Bay, 96 minute version. As a New Yorker, I particularly enjoyed this film because who really knows whats down in those sewers? Probably nothing as exciting as an army of CHUDs, but one can dream. Anyway, check this film out for a fun ride into the sewers of New York City. If you like your horror movies with plot, then you'll enjoy it. I'm used to more mindless-type films where things aren't usually explained (see: Bone Sickness).
3 OUT OF 5 STARS
*** out of *****
Without giving away too much plot, because this movie actually has a decent one with a few twists, the film mainly focuses on a strange wave of disappearances in New York City, mostly homeless people who live in the sewers underground. The police captain gets involved and goes to interview a man named AJ who runs a local homeless shelter/soup kitchen. At this point, the movie introduces a government coverup plot that becomes pretty interesting. It is revealed that these CHUD's were once human, based off an autopsy done on a dead one. How did these creatures get into the sewers, and what caused them to mutate? And why is that guy from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission being so darned sneaky? Now that more people are coming forward and they have a witness who has claimed to see one of these creatures kill her grandfather, it is just a matter of time before the police have to make a statement to the public and stop keeping this thing under wraps. The rest of the movie contains some CHUD attack action and plots to try to kill the creatures once and for all. They eventually settle for pumping the sewers up with gas and exploding the fuckers, but of course some of our main characters get trapped down there and what ensues is our heros running away from various CHUDs and trying to escape before the sewers go ka-boom. It was a lot of fun.
If theres one big complaint I have about this film, it's that we don't get to see the creatures enough. It took a while before we even got to see one, and I sat there anxiously waiting between scenes and I was just a little let down, that's all. They were cute little things. I watched the Anchor Bay version of the film, which according to IMDB is the "full" version. There was also a version of this film made for TV with over 20 minutes of footage cut out. Movies are never as good edited, look for the Anchor Bay, 96 minute version. As a New Yorker, I particularly enjoyed this film because who really knows whats down in those sewers? Probably nothing as exciting as an army of CHUDs, but one can dream. Anyway, check this film out for a fun ride into the sewers of New York City. If you like your horror movies with plot, then you'll enjoy it. I'm used to more mindless-type films where things aren't usually explained (see: Bone Sickness).
3 OUT OF 5 STARS
*** out of *****