The Stuff | March 30, 1985

The Stuff 

The Stuff is a 1985 American satirical science fiction horror film written and directed by Larry Cohen and starring Michael Moriarty, Garrett Morris, Andrea Marcovicci, and Paul Sorvino. It was also the last film of Alexander Scourby. In the film, a sweet and addictive alien substance becomes a popular dessert in America but soon starts attacking people and turning them into zombies. The film is a satire on American lifestyle and consumer society.

Filming began in August 1984 and ended in September, taking place in locations such as New Paltz, New York, New York City, and Los Angeles. Post-production started in January 1985 at Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles and continued through the summer. The gatehouse of Mohonk Mountain House was used as the headquarters of Colonel Malcolm Grommett Spears in the film.

Several puppets were used to simulate the deaths of characters who became hosts for The Stuff. Four head models of Garrett Morris were made for Charlie's transformation scene, one of which Cohen claimed to still own. Ice cream, yogurt, and whipped cream were used when The Stuff was eaten on screen.

The script was Cohen's original story. He said, "My main inspiration was the consumerism and corporate greed found in our country, and the harmful products being sold. I kept reading articles in the newspaper about various products and materials being recalled because they were harmful to people. For example, food being pulled from the market because it was detrimental to people's health."

Cohen cited "the enormous amount of junk food we consume every day" as his influence. "We continue to eat these foods despite knowing that some of them are killing us. That's when I started thinking that The Stuff could be an imaginary product (in this case, an ice cream dessert) consumed by millions and causing irreversible damage to humanity. How could something that everyone is eating and enjoying be harmful to us?"

Cohen wanted to cast Arsenio Hall as "Chocolate Chip Charlie" W. Hobbs because he thought Hall was a great actor and a rising star. However, New World Pictures executives wanted someone more well-known and cast Garrett Morris instead. Morris did not enjoy working with Cohen. When asked about "The Stuff" in the AV Club's "Random Roles" section, Morris simply said he had nothing to say about Larry Cohen because he wouldn't talk about someone he didn't respect.

Several quarry workers in Georgia discovered a bubbling white cream-like substance coming out of the ground. Known to be addictive and sweet, this substance is marketed as "The Stuff" and sold to the general public in ice cream-like containers. No one knows what it is, and despite having no calories, The Stuff becomes a nationwide craze. One night, a young boy named Jason realizes that The Stuff is alive. He tries to convince his family, but they ignore him and continue to eat nothing but The Stuff. Later, he is arrested by a sheriff after vandalizing a display of The Stuff in a supermarket. The Stuff continues to gain popularity as many people become obsessed with it.

David "Mo" Rutherford, a former FBI agent turned industrial saboteur, is hired by leaders of the suffering ice cream industry to find out what The Stuff is and eradicate it. Rutherford teams up with Charles W. "Chocolate Chip Charlie" Hobbs, a junk food mogul who lost his company and now lives in poverty. In the town's post office, they discover the owner, a regular consumer of The Stuff, dead. They both learn the secret of The Stuff. It is actually a living parasitic alien organism that gradually takes over the brain and mutates those who consume it into zombie-like creatures. These creatures then use their bodies to produce more of The Stuff, which bursts out of them, leaving empty shells behind. The Stuff's weakness is its vulnerability to fire, and Mo uses this to escape several traps set by The Stuff and the zombies.

Rutherford eventually rescues Jason and teams up with his lover, advertising executive Nicole. The trio infiltrates a distribution plant, which is part of an organized corporate effort to spread The Stuff to eliminate world hunger, and destroy the lake from which The Stuff is extracted with explosives. Meanwhile, retired military man Colonel Malcolm Grommett Spears joins the trio, leading a militia to fight the zombies and deliver a civil defense message urging Americans to destroy The Stuff with fire to break their addiction. However, when they attempt to broadcast the warning, a chunk of The Stuff bursts out of the zombified Charlie's neck, trapping Nicole and Jason in the recording studio. Rutherford electrocutes and burns The Stuff, then broadcasts nationwide. As the public rises to destroy all supplies, The Stuff's popularity plummets rapidly. With the crisis seemingly averted, Rutherford, Nicole, Jason, and Colonel Spears are hailed as national heroes.

Mo then visits Mr. Fletcher, the president of The Stuff company. Fletcher tells Mo that the destruction of the mine has not harmed his business because The Stuff exists in multiple locations, but Mo vows to eliminate The Stuff from the world. Fletcher introduces Mr. Evans, the ice cream mogul who originally hired Mo, now working with him. They introduce a new product, "The Taste," which is 88% ice cream and 12% The Stuff, claiming it is enough to make people want more but not enough to take over their minds. Undeterred, Mo brings in Jason, who carries a box full of The Stuff containers. He holds the two moguls at gunpoint and forces them to eat the product as punishment for the innocent lives destroyed by it. As they eat, Rutherford asks, "Are you eating it, or is it eating you?" After they finish, Mo and Jason hear approaching police sirens and leave them behind.

Smugglers sell The Stuff on the black market, and one of them tastes it. In a post-credits scene, a woman in a bathroom holding The Stuff says, "Enough is never enough."