C.H.U.D.

Starring:John Heard, Daniel Stern, Christopher Curry, Kim Greist, Laure Mattos, Brenda Currin, Justin Hall, Michael O'Hare, Cordis Heard, Vic Polizos, Eddie Jones, Sam McMurray, Frank Adu, Ruth Maleczech, J.C. Quinn, Patricia Richardson, Ray Baker, Beverly Bentley, Graham Beckel, Gene O'Neill
Director: Douglas Cheek
Studio: Anchor Bay
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Douglas Cheek's grotty urban horror fable C.H.U.D. deserves to be seen in its natural habitat--a Times Square grind-house theater--but horror enthusiasts will have to enjoy this widescreen version from the comforts of their own homes. John Heard stars as a former fashion photographer now pursuing a "real" career in photojournalism. While working on a piece about the homeless, he discovers that toxic waste, stashed in New York's sewer system, is turning tunnel squatters into the title acronym (Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers). Teaming up with frazzled soup kitchen capo (and fellow Home Alone alumnus) Daniel Stern, Heard uncovers a government conspiracy behind the mutations; horror fans will know exactly how the government handles its uncovered wrongdoings. While Gary Sherman's Raw Meat (1973) remains the final word in homeless horror films, C.H.U.D. has a threadbare charm, thanks to Cheek's poker-faced direction, the endearingly slap-dash effects (courtesy John Caglione Jr. and Ed French), and game performances by a surprisingly A-list cast, including appearances by John Goodman, Jay Thomas, Patricia Richardson, and Jon Polito.

Amazon.com

Douglas Cheek's grotty urban horror fable C.H.U.D. deserves to be seen in its natural habitat--a Times Square grind-house theater--but horror enthusiasts will have to enjoy this widescreen version from the comforts of their own homes. John Heard stars as a former fashion photographer now pursuing a "real" career in photojournalism. While working on a piece about the homeless, he discovers that toxic waste, stashed in New York's sewer system, is turning tunnel squatters into the title acronym (Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers). Teaming up with frazzled soup kitchen capo (and fellow Home Alone alumnus) Daniel Stern, Heard uncovers a government conspiracy behind the mutations; horror fans will know exactly how the government handles its uncovered wrongdoings. While Gary Sherman's Raw Meat (1973) remains the final word in homeless horror films, C.H.U.D. has a threadbare charm, thanks to Cheek's poker-faced direction, the endearingly slap-dash effects (courtesy John Caglione Jr. and Ed French), and game performances by a surprisingly A-list cast, including appearances by John Goodman, Jay Thomas, Patricia Richardson, and Jon Polito.

Customer Reviews:

An 80's gem that is still plenty of fun today.......2007-04-27

C.H.U.D. is one of those hard to find horror gems from the 80's that still remains fun to watch today. John Heard stars as a New York City photographer who, along with a cook (Daniel Stern) and a police captain (Christopher Curry), uncover that the homeless living in the sewers are being mutated into hideous, cannibalistic monsters thanks to the dumping of toxic waste underground. These "Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers" (hence the title of the film) soon start coming to the surface, and they're quite hungry too. Though C.H.U.D. is a bonafide B-movie creature feature, the crew makes the most out of the small budget with imaginitive creature and gore effects, great shots of New York City, and a cast that is surprisingly good to boot. Though it's happy ending detracts from the tone of the rest of the film, C.H.U.D. remains one of the best and most overlooked horror films to come out of the early 80's. Look for a young John Goodman as an unlucky cop in the diner.

C.R.U.D........2007-04-27

Wow, I must be out of the loop on this one,because I couldn't find honest to goodness scare or laugh in this BOMB! WHAT A WASTE OF MY TIME. I guess that I just don't get it! Pewee, this one stinks.

The Benefits of DVD.......2006-08-20

I won't pretend that CHUD is as good a film as Seven Samurai, or The Battle of Algiers, but their is a kind of love affair tht develops between viewers and this film with seemingly very little going for it. The cast is actually quite strong (see other reviews) and the effects are campy, and gimmiky (sp?) but that isn't why you'll like this film. Through several viewings, over several years I tried to figure out what in this strange little movie appealed to me. When the local Mediaplay went out of business I found CHUD in a bin for about 95% off and snatched it up. I got my answer from the commentary. Without a doubt, the commentry for this film is one of the best I've ever heard. Just listen and you'll see why everyone loves CHUD. The humnor, the heartache, the-- Okay, it isn't the Dead Sea Scrolls, but it is almost more entertaining that the film. This is the one and only time I've invited a friend to listen the commentary, rather than watch the film. Enjoy.

TRY WATCHING THIS AT NIGHT BUT KEEP THE LIGHTS TURNED ON!, .......2006-04-21

***** WIDESCREEN VIDEO EDITION *****

This is a recommended film for sci-fi/horror/creature-feature fans who can view R-rated films. Children are strongly cautioned.

FIRST OFF - -

To call this an epic would be misleading, yet this very creepy film is quite eerily effective without gore or CGI. It has actors we have all heard of. It has a plot -- YES, a plot, of sorts. Watch C.H.U.D. alone and you may start feeling queasy. Watch it alone at night and you may find yourself turning on lights and talking to yourself while you quickly try to locate another human being ... as if another human could save mere mortal humans from "C.H.U.D."! Has anyone lived to tell us anything about THEM firsthand?

So this is a mystery and there are people vanishing. We have homeless people that may be the victims, or the fiends, or both. We have what looks like a big government cover-up, but what is it about and who is doing the covering up? We have something coming out of the sewers in Manhattan, of all places, and it gets scarier all the time. Who will be next and where is this story going? Like I said, "YES, THERE IS A PLOT"!

WHAT IS "C.H.U.D."?

C.H.U.D. is an anachronism as films go, something which is already extinct when it was made, which is probably how it surprises audiences and scares them a little without terrifying or grossing them out. You might say that they just don't make films like C.H.U.D. anymore and its a darn shame.

-- * PRINCIPAL CREW MEMBERS -- *

Douglas Cheek - Director
Larry Abrams - Producer / Executive Producer
Andrew Bonime - Producer
Shepard Abbott - Screenwriter
Parnell Hall - Screenwriter
Peter Stein - Cinematographer

-- * ABRIDGED LIST OF PLAYERS -- *

John Heard - George Cooper
Kim Greist - Lauren Daniels
Daniel Stern - The Reverend
Christopher Curry - Capt. Bosch
George Martin - Wilson
John Ramsey - Commissioner
Ed Jones - Chief O'Brien

SOME VIDEO SUGGESTIONS

If you like "C.H.U.D.", you may also enjoy "Tremors", "The Crawling Eye", "Boogens" "Creepshow", and the remake of "The Blob" for similarly creepy cinematic experiences.

"Something's gone wrong and it's so bad no one even wants to talk about it!".......2006-03-15

In the film C.H.U.D. (1984) 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 (Heaven Help Us, The Pelican Brief) and Daniel Stern (Diner, Blue Thunder). Also appearing is Christopher Curry (The Return of Superfly), Kim Greist (Brazil, Manhunter), in her film debut, Eddie Jones (Invasion U.S.A.), J.C. Quinn (Brubaker), George Martin (Quiz Show), Jon Polito (Highlander, Miller's Crossing), Frankie Faison (Hannibal), and Sam McMurray (Addams Family Values), with John Goodman ("Roseanne") and Jay Thomas ("Cheers") appearing in cameo roles as a pair of New York City cops.

As the film begins we see a woman walking her foo foo dog down a lonely, darkened city street, and you just know something bad is going to happen...and it does...next we meet George Cooper (Heard) and his live-in girlfriend Lauren (Greist). Seems George, a once prominent fashion photographer, has since forgone the fame and fortune of taking pictures of scantily clad models in pursuit of artistic credibility, his most current project photographing New York's homeless population, specifically those known as `undergrounders', or people who reside within the bowels of the city (the sewers, unused subway tunnels, etc.). We also meet a police captain named Bosch (Curry), who has a personal interest in the recent spate of missing persons being reported to his precinct (mostly the homeless), so much so he interviews A.J. 'The Reverend' Shepherd (Stern), who runs the local bum shelter and believes recent events to be a part of some massive, gooberment cover up, and has the evidence to prove it...Bosch's superiors know more than they're letting on, and seem to be taking their cues from an overly glib, weasely type named Wilson (Martin), who works for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Turns out there are monsters lurking beneath the streets, beings that were once human, since mutated by toxic waste into hideous, flesh eating creatures preying on those homeless who live beneath the streets...and guess what? Given the recent drop in the underground transient population, the creatures have resorted to coming to the surface (through sewer manholes) in order to feed. Through a series of events, both George and A.J. find themselves trapped in the sewers, a reporter gets involved (and eaten), Lauren has a problem with both a clogged shower drain and an unexpected visitor (one who came up through the sewer access point in the basement of the apartment building), while Captain Bosch argues with Wilson as how to best deal with the beasties (Wilson wants to seal the sewers, open up some gas lines, and asphyxiate the nasty despite the inherent danger in blowing up half the city). Oh yeah, we also learn Wilson isn't who he appears to be, and is harboring a much bigger secret than originally thought...

First of all I want to say I thought the creature design to be excellent here. They're appropriately gruesome looking with sharp, pointy teeth, maintaining just enough human characteristics to infer that they once were human (the glowing eyes bit was a nice touch). This was back in the good old days before computer generated effects were affordable enough to be used on as wide scale basis are they are today. The creature shots are limited to mainly shots of their claws, arms, and heads, but there's enough to provide the illusion you're seeing more than you actually do...what we don't see are scenes of the creatures gnawing on the flesh of their victims, but usually only the aftermath in that of dismembered body parts left behind. 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 bullsh*t 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. Once they see the lengths Wilson is willing to go to in an effort to cover up whatever nastiness his agency's has been perpetrating on their community, they actually develop a sense of concern for their constituents, if only to save their own ashes during election time. Overall a relatively strong and experienced cast populates the cast, and it shows. The direction by Cheek is solid, and it makes me curious as to why he hasn't done more (his credits since all involve editing). One aspect I really appreciated was the gritty realism added to the film by the various scenes that looked like they were actually shot within a grimy, dirty, rank, filthy, mucky, dilapidated network of tunnels/sewers one would expect beneath a large, metropolitan city. There was one plot element I didn't fully understand and that was near the end. Wilson, in an effort to kill the creatures, has his flunkies seal all the manhole covers within a specific area by parking city trucks on top of them, the intent being to cut off any means of escape, and then flooding the sewers with gas. Apparently the trucks were rigged with explosives on purpose (one of the drivers was warned about looking out for potholes)...why? I have no idea, but an exploding truck does play a part in the climatic finale.

Anchor Bay Entertainment provides a sharp looking widescreen (1.77:1), enhanced for 16X9 TVs, transfer on this DVD, along with a decent Dolby Digital mono audio track. As far as extras, there's an extremely entertaining commentary track with director Cheek, writer Abbott, and stars Heard, Stern, and Curry, along with a theatrical trailer, behind the scenes still gallery, and a 5X7 movie poster reproduction card insert. I've also heard there's a hidden feature in that of an extended sequence of Lauren in the shower, one that uses a body double for actress Greist, but I haven't seen it...the shower sequence included in the film, while fun and bloody, was pointless and most likely thrown in as an afterthought if only to include some skin. This feature was followed up by a sequel titled C.H.U.D. II - Bud the Chud (1989), which I haven't seen.

Cookieman108

Average customer rating:

Street Credit - Derby Edition
Starring: Mista Tony; Kevin "Nice" Starks; Qiwi; Jon Woo; MBz; Pro; Mac D; Native; Gemini; B Simm; Frequency Records; Ms P; B.U.C. Force; Young Phon; Young Keith; UNP; Miraj; Fed; Chris Style; Mafia; Slick; Slaughterhouse Music; Peep Game Entertainment , Kevin Starks , Jon Woo , Native , and Mac D
Director: Anthony L. Johnson
Manufacturer: Qiwi Entertainment
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ASIN: B0009R38FI
Release Date: 2005-05-05

Product Description

Showcases talent from the underground world of hip hop. This edition features artists from around Ky, a number of whom have record deals, or are in negotiations. Raw and virtually uncut, this video shows one-on-one interviews with rappers, producers, and writers candidly talking about their life in the music business. Some of the artists include Native, Mista Tony, Mac D, and Kommittee. Among some of the producers are Jon Woo, Slick, and Kevin Starks. This video is full of freestyle and battles for the hip hop enthusiast.

Average customer rating:

C.H.U.D. II
Ridiculous but Hilarious!
I give this a ZERO, but that's not an option.
It's a COMEDY, people.
hahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

C.H.U.D. II - Bud the Chud [Region 2]
Starring: Brian Robbins , Bill Calvert , Tricia Leigh Fisher , Gerrit Graham , and Robert Vaughn
Director: David Irving
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B00005N9FC

Customer Reviews:

C.H.U.D. II.......2006-04-06

I seen this movie several times. Its a cult classic. Not a scary movie but a farce. Bud the CHUD is great. If you're looking for a serious horror movie, skip this one. However, if you are looking for a fun horror spuff see this movie. I just wish I could find it on DVD in the USA format. I'd buy it.

Ridiculous but Hilarious!.......2006-02-19

I watched C.H.U.D. 2 for the first time when I was about 10 years old and it is still one of my favorite movies of all time. Don't expect Acadamy Award winning performances, but some ridiculous laughs! I can't tell you how many times I have quoted this movie - especially the "Eat 'em up, Eat 'em up, YUM YUM YUM!" and the "Bobby Burger" scene is classic.

I give this movie two thumbs up if campy, cheese-tastic horror movies are your thing!

I give this a ZERO, but that's not an option........2005-05-31

It is total crap, has NOTHING in relation to the original for the most part. Nothing creepy, no social commentary, no decent effects NOTHING! It is just trying to cash in on the C.H.U.D. name. Leave it be!

It's a COMEDY, people........2004-08-24

C. H. U. D. II: Bud the Chud (David Irving, 1989)

The original C. H. U. D. (for those with short memories, it stands for Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers), Douglas Cheek's 1984 basement-budget thriller with a surprisingly high-caliber cast, was my best friend in high school's favorite movie. We must have watched it fifty times over the course of three years. It struck a perfect blend of horror and humor, with enough gross-out to make it a cult favorite from the get-go; it remains so to this day. Somehow, though, I never got round to seeing the sequel till last week. David Irving, who had previously shot the Cannon Movie Tales for the Golan-Globus stable, ventured out on his own for this. It seems he and screenwriter Ed Naha (Dolls, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids) knew they weren't going to be able to pull off the same trick twice, so they did what any self-respecting sequel director would have done: make a comedy.

Multiple Law and Order special guest Gerrit Graham (Beware! The Blob, One True Thing) is Bud, the lone surviving CHUD from the first film. The Army puts him in deep-freeze until they've worked out a few of the program's kinks. Cut to five years later, where school screw-off Steve (Brian Robbins of Head of the Class, now a successful producer-director [Varsity Blues, Popular]) and his industrious pal Kevin (Bill Calvert, who has the distinction of having minor roles-- as different characters-- in both Spider-Man films) have managed to screw up by losing the body the biology class was scheduled to dissect the next day. (My wife pointed out, quite correctly, that storing a dead body in a non-refrigerated warehouse was not a good idea. But I digress.) They need to find another one, quick. "Hey. There's that place on the hill..." You know what's coming next.

The newly-revived Bud falls for Steve's (girl?)friend Katie (Tricia Leigh Fisher, who played the title role in The Making of a Hollywood Madam), and will stop at nothing to get her, not even plowing through the two guys who revived him (for which he does, to be fair, feel a shred of gratefulness). Along the way, of course, he has to turn most of the town into CHUDs as well, because, well, that's what CHUDS do. One also wonders why, if CHUDS reproduce (like most movie monsters that live to reproduce) asexually, Bud is so hot and bothered over Katie. But I digress.

The movie succeeds, for the most part, in keeping the laughs coming, helped out by a stable of minor roles filled by major stars (Robert Vaughn, Bianca Jagger, Larry Linville, Norman Fell, June Lockhart, Larry Cedar, Robert Englund, and a host of others make appearances here). Sure, the humor's somewhat juvenile, but this was a teen flick. Naha took the conventions of the teen horror movie and subtly satirized them, much like he did in Dolls. Combine that with the hair and clothing, which are so painfully bad that even in 1989 they couldn't have been meant as anything but satire, and you have a comedy that works on a number of levels. But if you don't feel like analyzing satire, Bud the Chud is pure, brainless fun, as well. ***

hahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.......2003-10-29

with a title name like CHUD2: BUD THE CHUD, this is a classic, horrible sequel that makes the first one seem like a classic horrible orignal. for fans who think both of the movies are super and cool. why would anyone think that anyway and I agree with Leonard Maltin

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