The Stuff (1985)
January 16, 2025 10:26 AM - Subscribe
[TRAILER] A dairy conglomerate hires David Rutherford (Michael Moriarty), an FBI man turned industrial saboteur, to investigate a popular new product called "The Stuff," a new dessert product that is blowing ice cream sales out of the water. Nobody knows how it's made or what's in it, but people are lining up to buy it. It's a delicious flavor to die for in Larry Cohen's wild satire of food industry capitalism.
Starring Andrea Marcovicci, Garrett Morris, Paul Sorvino, Danny Aiello, Patrick O'Neal, James Dixon, Alexnader Scourby, Brooke Adams, Patrick Dempsey, Mira Sorvino, James Dixon, Abe Vigoda, Eric Bogosian.
Written and directed by Larry Cohen. Produced by Paul Kurta for New World Pictures. Cinematography by Paul Glickman. Edited by Armand Lebowitz. Music by Anthony Guefen, with additional advertising jingles by Richard Seaman.
73% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Find out what services this is streaming on in your area on JustWatch.
Starring Andrea Marcovicci, Garrett Morris, Paul Sorvino, Danny Aiello, Patrick O'Neal, James Dixon, Alexnader Scourby, Brooke Adams, Patrick Dempsey, Mira Sorvino, James Dixon, Abe Vigoda, Eric Bogosian.
Written and directed by Larry Cohen. Produced by Paul Kurta for New World Pictures. Cinematography by Paul Glickman. Edited by Armand Lebowitz. Music by Anthony Guefen, with additional advertising jingles by Richard Seaman.
73% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.
Find out what services this is streaming on in your area on JustWatch.
This is a modern classic.
posted by mrphancy at 11:24 AM on January 16 [1 favorite]
posted by mrphancy at 11:24 AM on January 16 [1 favorite]
This is great. I mean, it’s a B movie, but it’s great. I saw it when I was just old enough to understand the satire but also young enough to be genuinely freaked out. (The poor dog—him yelling “I’ll buy more!”—still a gut punch.) It did not teach me not to eat processed food, but every time I have some Halo Top, I think of it a bit.
I always thought this could do with a remake, but now that The Substance has done so well, people would think it was a ripoff of that. (I haven’t seen that yet; I mean to—it’s about a beauty drug rather than a food, right?)
posted by Countess Elena at 11:49 AM on January 16
I always thought this could do with a remake, but now that The Substance has done so well, people would think it was a ripoff of that. (I haven’t seen that yet; I mean to—it’s about a beauty drug rather than a food, right?)
posted by Countess Elena at 11:49 AM on January 16
Oh my god, so Shepherd and I watched this as part of our 30 Days of Horror last Halloween. This movie is wild. Absolutely wild.
I love that Michael Moriarty is like some sort of bad-ass...a bad-ass that gets the girl.
posted by Kitteh at 12:31 PM on January 16
I love that Michael Moriarty is like some sort of bad-ass...a bad-ass that gets the girl.
posted by Kitteh at 12:31 PM on January 16
I first saw this film last year. What a hoot! Loved it.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 2:42 PM on January 16
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 2:42 PM on January 16
This movie freaked my brother and I the FUCK out when it wound up in more or less constant replay on one of the cable channels at the top end of the dial. AND we'd never even heard of that marshmallow fluff dessert before - just wasn't part of the landscape where we were living - and one day I run up to him in the aisle of our local Safeway with this....this...jar. This...clear jar..full of HORROR and we chased each other through supermarket. To this day I've never touched the stuff - oh, i'll eat some marshmallows - have a yummy s'more - dine on your meringue - but i'll never for the rest of my LIFE eat any of the STUFF.
posted by ssmith at 3:14 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]
posted by ssmith at 3:14 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]
I think The Substance owes more to Society than The Stuff (especially at the end), but Society and The Stuff feel like companion pieces to me. I also thought both of them were better movies than The Substance. Now I gotta watch The Stuff again!
posted by queensissy at 4:57 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]
posted by queensissy at 4:57 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]
This movie has a particularly specific place in my heart - well, actually my cervical column.
A woman in bed deliberately cracks her neck (nothing important plot-wise).
I tried it that night and there began an enduring compulsion. I don't do it as much now - it used to be multiple times a day, now only a few times a month.
I try to save it for quiet times in an elevator or on the bus. I can get quite the loud snap-crackle-pop.
I can't seem to find a clip of the scene, however :( (though the incorrect search results are quite interesting)
Regardless, I love this movie.
posted by mephisjo at 7:24 PM on January 16 [2 favorites]
A woman in bed deliberately cracks her neck (nothing important plot-wise).
I tried it that night and there began an enduring compulsion. I don't do it as much now - it used to be multiple times a day, now only a few times a month.
I try to save it for quiet times in an elevator or on the bus. I can get quite the loud snap-crackle-pop.
I can't seem to find a clip of the scene, however :( (though the incorrect search results are quite interesting)
Regardless, I love this movie.
posted by mephisjo at 7:24 PM on January 16 [2 favorites]
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![poster](http://dha92jo6cen2v.cloudfront.net/images/fanfare/bT0PxmeePfzX8YrZHGaAXau9RLN.jpg)
So a guy sees stuff oozing out of the ground that looks sort of like ice cream, so naturally he... eats some?
So it's delicious, non-fattening, but also addictive and maybe kills people? Ehhh, corporate America says. We can work with that.
Larry Cohen is a strange, strange man, operating on his own frequency. This does not exactly make sense, but it flows and is coherent in its own weird idiom, and has plenty to say.
Michael Moriarty plays his character like an alien who has only heard about humans second-hand. Love it.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:27 AM on January 16 [7 favorites]