Director:
Douglas Cheek
Writers:
Parnell Hall Shepard AbbottCast:
John Heard – George Cooper Daniel Stern – A.J. “The Reverend” Shepard Christopher Curry – Captain Bosch Kim Greist – Lauren Daniels Laure Mattos – Flora Bosch Brenda Currin – Francine the Landlady Justin Hall – Justin Michael O’Hare – Fuller
This one came out about a year before I was born, it seems to me that many people either don’t know about this movie or is unwilling to even give it a try and I have no watched it twice. I felt it was appropriate to rewatch the film for review instead of going off of memory. I remember watching this movie and thinking it was the dumbest thing I had ever seen but now I have watched a lot of different movies and figured it would be good to see if my opinion changed as well.
The movie follows a couple of different characters and their storylines. The main character is George Cooper, a photographer who was a big deal in the fashion industry and was not photographing the homeless. Even though he has no desire to shoot glamour shots he is forced to do so by his girlfriend Lauren who is a model. Due to his work with the homeless he was dealing with the “undergrounders” which is exactly what it sounds like, homeless living underground. Captain Bosch of the local police district has been searching for his wife who went missing along with a lot of other people. He meets up with a A.J. who runs a soup kitchen that sees a lot of the undergrounders as well. The movie goes back and forth between these four people and how each of them ends u coming into contact with the C.H.U.D. (Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller).
This movie is dirty looking, I know a good portion of it underground but it seems like everyone except Lauren looks like they haven’t bathed much. I don’t know if it is the lighting that gives of that effect in some cases but everything seems to have a layer of grit. For example if I was a photographer I would want to stay in a place that was a little nicer than the studio to work in but that is just me. The grittiness does lend itself to the subject matter, in a story like this a clean environment doesn’t work and it connects well with a spoiler later on in the movie which I won’t reveal here.
The kills in this movie are rather tame, in fact a good portion of the kills are done off screen. There is a beheading of one of the creatures with very little blood involved. There is a good deal of blood splattering in this movie but more often than not it comes from a off screen source or is left for the view to see later on. Body parts can be seen but nothing too far out there for people to watch. I think the only real reason it got the R rating is because of profanity and not the violence.
The acting is alright, I didn’t like Lauren’s character all that much but I think that was because of how they treated her in the script and not the actress. There are some stars in this one, in fact a couple of them like John Heard and Daniel Stern went on to be in the first two Home Alone films. I actually Like Stern’s and Christopher Curry’s character arch’s the best if I had to pick.
Before I give my verdict I would like to say that the first time I watched this movie I was way to hard on it. It will never replace some of my favorite films but it is a far cry from an F. If you have Netflix you have no reason not to watch this movie.
In the end I would have to say that I think this movie is better than I remembered but it still isn’t great. The kills were boring and it was hard to believe that any of the characters were in any real danger. So instead of being an exciting movie it kind felt a little boring at times.
Grade: D
arlivingston
kevinsullivan85
tentekewl
Oh! The Terror! 