THE STUFF (1985)
Starring Michael Moriarty and Andrea Marcovicci
Larry Cohen at his best!
This director, whose work veers between the sublime ("It's Alive") and the utterly lame ("A Return to Salem's Lot"), did a tremendous job with this kung fu-action-political-horror-comedy about a private eye looking for the ingredients of The Stuff, a pudding-like dessert that is taking America by storm.
After teaming up with martial arts expert Chocolate Chip Charlie (Garrett Morris from the original "Saturday Night Live"), a former cookie factory owner who was put out of business by The Stuff, the hero of the story (frequent horror actor Moriarty) discovers that the dessert turns people into zombies that sound like they just walked out of a commercial. Sort of an army of Stepford stuffies.
It's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"-meets-the Pepsi Generation-meets-"The Blob." There's some cool effects: The Stuff crawls out of people's wide-open mouths and at one point the crap even drowns a man to death.
The good guys finally team up with an ultra-patriotic colonel character obviously inspired by Gen. Jack Ripper from "Dr. Strangelove."
An overlooked camp classic, "The Stuff" wasn't a big hit at the box office or on video, but it still kicks ass.