THE STUFF

so...our sleepy little upstate town of Accord, NY (off Rte. 209, which is no big deal since everything up there is "off Rte. 209") turns out to have had 15 seconds of B-movie fame by being the exterior location for several scenes in the 1985 horror movie called "The Stuff".

if this weren't cool enough, the plot is a major satirical dig at consumer culture & Big Ag & the lard-assing of America.













[i found the following review on the web - who wrote it?]

We all assume that if an alien creature or strange life form was trying to take over the world, we'd beat it back right? Well sure, unless the creature was a delicious treat with a giant marketing campaign! That's the premise behind The Stuff, which to me rivals John Carpenter's great They Live and David Finch's Fight Club as a commentary on out of control consumerism. This evil creature bubbles up out of the ground. Once it's discovered, the greed and gluttony of people does it's work for it. It's the hottest new dessert treat [sort of like Fluff], and the more you eat, the more control it has over you. At first, you're not cool unless you like The Stuff. Then if you're not under it's control, you'll be hunted down and converted by those who are [Stuffies]. Industrial espionage expert Mo Rutherford [Michael Moriarty from Troll, Law & Order, Taken and The 4400] is hired to find out about the origins of The Stuff, and finds more than he ever thought. He ends up teaming up with a kid named Jason [Scott Bloom] on the run from his Stuff-crazed family, and the former director of marketing for The Stuff [Andrea Marcovicci]. They find that it's hard to fight a menace that's so loved and widespread as The Stuff. I especially love the scene where a large blob of The Stuff comes out of Mo Rutherford's pillow and tries to kill him, and when Jason goes on an anti-Stuff rampage in the local grocery store. It's one of the best effects in the movie. Other memorable cast members include Garrett Morris [from Saturday Night Live and Hunter] as Chocolate Chip Charlie, Paul Sorvino [from Law & Order, Still Standing and Star Trek: TNG] as a nutcase military extremist, and Danny Aiello [from The Professional] as an FDA agent who's corrupted by The Stuff. The movie really has that great 50's invasion movie atmosphere, like either versions of The Blob or Killer Klowns. And the best thing is that everything's done relatively seriously, not just for laughs. Some of the effects shots are funny now because of how unrealistic the people look, but you have to take the age of the movie into account. If you can overlook some of the effects that didn't age well, the rest of the movie is absolutely phenominal! I'd love to see a sequel to The Stuff made with today's special effects technology! Good links for The Stuff are hard to find, The Stuff logo links to a cool site. Here are some other links:
The Stuff at the IMDB. Cast list, trailer, trivia, quotes and more
Larry Cohen all about the creator of The Stuff
The Stuff wikipedia entry
The Stuff review





































look for a "STUFF FESTIVAL coming soon!

cb

PEEVE DE JOUR: one of the exteriors in the film is an old general store right at the turnoff into Accord. the building is now derelict, and supposedly is slated to be torn down.

THIS MUST NOT HAPPEN!

the building is part of B-movie lore, and a piece of American roadside junk culture.

SAVE THE ACCORD GENERAL STORE!!!!!!

N. P. (NOW PLAYING): Sky Saxon [RIP] & The Seeds.



i was the only kid i knew at Orange High School who bought their album, and it stayed on my turntable until it unfortunately got warped by the sun in the back of Chip Fitzgerald's '57 short.

JOIE DE JOUR:

1) fresh strawberries from Kelder's Farm!

2) seeing Graham Green's "Brighton Rock" at the Film Forum. does anyone know where Paul Roselli is? need to talk with him about it!

3) Mary-Louise Parker. have been watching all of the "Weeds" shows on the net, and i think she is now officially my favorite actress.

4) seeing "Anvil! - the story of Anvil". it is not Spinal Tap - it's super moving, and no film has answered the 'why am i doing this rock 'n' roll thing?' question any better. really.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (6/30/09):

RASPBERRY NON-FAT YOGURT

-or-

CHOCOLATE FUDGE CRUNCH

cb...where are you?





NEW YORK CITY