Nerds That Geek Movie Review: 'The Stuff'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

I’ve always been fascinated with the horror genre’s obsession to try and make every single thing in our world as scary as possible. Granted, there’s been some solid success when it comes to this idea, take Stephen King’s IT for example, since hey…it made Bobo the Clown something to fear. But for every quality idea that makes it to production like that one, there are plenty more that are simply as silly as they come.
 
After all, who can forget such classics as Jack Frost? Or, The Gingerbread Man? These were all goofy ideas that embraced their inner silly when all was said and done. But once in a while, a doofy horror film comes along that does its absolute best to play its silly story as straight as possible and one such film that meets this criteria is 1985’s…The Stuff.    
 
There is a new taste sensation sweeping the nation. It is known as The Stuff and ask anybody who has tried it, it is delicious. In fact, it is so scrumptious and so popular that others want to know how to make it so that they too can share in the excitement and the profits. Enter corporate spy Mo Rutherford, who is now tasked with discovering everything he can about The Stuff. But Mo won't like what he finds. For The Stuff is more than an incredible dessert...it is also alive. 

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The sinister nature of that synopsis ties directly into my earlier point as since The Stuff really does try to play it straight. But the end result is a horror film that comes off as silly because of one fundamental flaw here...how the hell do you make a dessert scary even when it is a living organism? I'm not sure there is a good answer to that question. Dessert is delicious. Plain and simple. But this movie tries its best to terrify you. The Stuff can move and it eventually controls those who consume enough of it but that's not exactly terrifying because those it ‘infects’ or ‘Stuffies’ as they are referred to, are only scary when The Stuff decides to leave the body in gross fashion. 

Yet even then what should be a creepy moment goes back to comical since well, once The Stuff escapes you have to contend with a big white fluffy blob rolling around. So yes, that's your monster. No dripping teeth or razor-sharp claws or red eyes glowing in the dark, just a fluffy dessert that will smother you if don't manage to out run it.  

But despite the fact that this is a horror film that isn't scary, it's still a movie that manages to suck you in thanks to how over the top this sucker turns out to be. You simply have to know what wild things are going to happen in the next scene. So, by all means check this one out. You won't be terrified to look in the fridge to see if the Ben and Jerry's is moving after you’ve watched it, but you'll definitely have yourself a good laugh. 

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