MovieMonday.com - C.H.U.D. with John Heard, Daniel Stern, Christopher Curry, George Martin, Kim Greist

Techno Films

C.H.U.D. (F)

THIS IS ONE OF THE TEN WORST!

STARS...
John Heard, Daniel Stern, Christopher Curry, George Martin, Kim Greist.

PLOT SUMMARY...
In New York, homeless people, who live underground, begin to mysteriously disappear.

QUICK SCAN...
C.H.U.D. could be compared to "The Time Machine". This film features action and gore. John Heard (Home Alone) who looks a bit distracted here, must have been thinking of better film roles to come. The New York location photography, by Director of Photography, Peter Stein, is quite good.

DIRECTOR: Douglas Cheek
YEAR & RATING: 1984 (R)

BEST BETS:

Tron

Lawnmower Man
SYNOPSIS...
A writer calls a photographer; asking him for the photos of a bag lady and her brother for his article. The photographer says that he hasn't been able to find them. Captain Bosch and others interrogate a bag lady. The photographer gets a message from the same bag lady, who has been arrested.

Shepard tells Bosch that twelve of his "underground" people, (homeless people who live in the sewers), have disappeared. Shepard takes Bosch underground, shows him a futuristic boot, a radiation badge, and a geiger counter he found down there: the place is radioactive.

A call comes in that a dead "C.H.U.D." has been found. Underground, Shepard and the photographer discover "C.H.U.D." actually stands for Contaminated Hazard Urban Disposal. The gassing of the sewers has begun. Later, the media dismisses the C.H.U.D. reports.

Review:

C.H.U.D. , Directed by Douglas Cheek, from a Screenplay by Parnell Hal, (Story by Shepard Abbott), is a thinking man's silly Technology Gone Wild movie, sort of.

In New York, John Heard is a photographer working on photos for a journalist's upcoming article about the homeless. When bunches of the city's homeless, who literally live underground in the Big Apple's sewers, begin to disappear, Heard is drawn into an amazing world of hungry monsters and governmental cover-up's.

Hall's Screenplay is an uneasy mix of compassionate scenes involving the homeless and standard Sci-Fi movie scenes showing people being terrorized by the C.H.U.D., who apparently are homeless folks turned into hungry monsters by radioactive waste the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has secretly dumped into the city's sewers. Needless to say, the compassionate scenes work better than the monster attack ones.

In the lead role of the photographer, John Heard ("Home Alone") is a bit distracted. Perhaps he was thinking of the better roles due to come to him in the near future. As a guy who runs a soup kitchen for the homeless, Daniel Stern ("City Slickers") is hairy, dirty, and not very sympathetic. As a spokesman for the homeless, he stinks, so to speak.

The dialogue in Hall's script sometimes clumsily undercuts the film's supposed sympathy for the homeless. At one point heard, John Heard, visiting some street people who live underground remarks, "I don't know why you two can't live in a big cardboard box like everybody else."

The C.H.U.D., with big teeth and glowing eyes look adequate, but not remotely convincing, the Special C.H.U.D. Makeup was Created by John Cagjone, Jr., with C.H.U.D. Design Concepts by Tim Boxell. Nobody worked too hard.

Director of Photography, Peter Stein, delivers gritty photography and occasionally interesting camera set-ups. Particularly good is a shot at dawn of the water tanks on the roofs of buildings illuminated by the rising sun.

The Music, Composed and Performed by Cooper Hughes, waivers between adequate and hokey. I don't suppose the C.H.U.D. soundtrack was a big hit.

My favorite scene takes place at the end of the film where two cops, (played by actors who are now stars of popular TV sitcoms), are attacked by a couple of C.H.U.D.

By the way, C.H.U.D. stands for either Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller, or Contaminated Hazard Urban Disposal, depending on which character in the film is speaking.

If you like Technology Gone Wild films with a touch, (a very small touch mind you), of social responsibility, you may find C.H.U.D. somewhat watchable. Others may wish to avoid C.H.U.D. as they would a nuclear waste dump site!

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C.H.U.D. (F)
	THIS IS ONE OF THE TEN WORST! STARS... John Heard, Daniel Stern, Christopher Curry, George Martin, Kim Greist. PLOT SUMMARY... In New York, homeless people, who live underground, begin to mysteriously disappear. QUICK SCAN... C.H.U.D. could be compared to "The Time Machine". This film features action and gore. John Heard (Home Alone) who looks a bit distracted here, must have been thinking of better film roles to come. The New York location photography, by Director of Photography, Peter Stein, is quite good.
DIRECTOR: Douglas Cheek YEAR & RATING: 1984 (R) BEST BETS: Tron Lawnmower Man	SYNOPSIS... A writer calls a photographer; asking him for the photos of a bag lady and her brother for his article. The photographer says that he hasn't been able to find them. Captain Bosch and others interrogate a bag lady. The photographer gets a message from the same bag lady, who has been arrested. Shepard tells Bosch that twelve of his "underground" people, (homeless people who live in the sewers), have disappeared. Shepard takes Bosch underground, shows him a futuristic boot, a radiation badge, and a geiger counter he found down there: the place is radioactive. A call comes in that a dead "C.H.U.D." has been found. Underground, Shepard and the photographer discover "C.H.U.D." actually stands for Contaminated Hazard Urban Disposal. The gassing of the sewers has begun. Later, the media dismisses the C.H.U.D. reports.
Review: C.H.U.D. , Directed by Douglas Cheek, from a Screenplay by Parnell Hal, (Story by Shepard Abbott), is a thinking man's silly Technology Gone Wild movie, sort of. In New York, John Heard is a photographer working on photos for a journalist's upcoming article about the homeless. When bunches of the city's homeless, who literally live underground in the Big Apple's sewers, begin to disappear, Heard is drawn into an amazing world of hungry monsters and governmental cover-up's. Hall's Screenplay is an uneasy mix of compassionate scenes involving the homeless and standard Sci-Fi movie scenes showing people being terrorized by the C.H.U.D., who apparently are homeless folks turned into hungry monsters by radioactive waste the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has secretly dumped into the city's sewers. Needless to say, the compassionate scenes work better than the monster attack ones. In the lead role of the photographer, John Heard ("Home Alone") is a bit distracted. Perhaps he was thinking of the better roles due to come to him in the near future. As a guy who runs a soup kitchen for the homeless, Daniel Stern ("City Slickers") is hairy, dirty, and not very sympathetic. As a spokesman for the homeless, he stinks, so to speak. The dialogue in Hall's script sometimes clumsily undercuts the film's supposed sympathy for the homeless. At one point heard, John Heard, visiting some street people who live underground remarks, "I don't know why you two can't live in a big cardboard box like everybody else." The C.H.U.D., with big teeth and glowing eyes look adequate, but not remotely convincing, the Special C.H.U.D. Makeup was Created by John Cagjone, Jr., with C.H.U.D. Design Concepts by Tim Boxell. Nobody worked too hard. Director of Photography, Peter Stein, delivers gritty photography and occasionally interesting camera set-ups. Particularly good is a shot at dawn of the water tanks on the roofs of buildings illuminated by the rising sun. The Music, Composed and Performed by Cooper Hughes, waivers between adequate and hokey. I don't suppose the C.H.U.D. soundtrack was a big hit. My favorite scene takes place at the end of the film where two cops, (played by actors who are now stars of popular TV sitcoms), are attacked by a couple of C.H.U.D. By the way, C.H.U.D. stands for either Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller, or Contaminated Hazard Urban Disposal, depending on which character in the film is speaking. If you like Technology Gone Wild films with a touch, (a very small touch mind you), of social responsibility, you may find C.H.U.D. somewhat watchable. Others may wish to avoid C.H.U.D. as they would a nuclear waste dump site!