C.H.U.D. is set in New York City where Flora Bosch (Laure Mattos) disappears, her husband New York police Captain Bosch (Christopher Curry) is obviously concerned. Captain Bosch knows that his wife isn’t the only person to disappear recently & a man named A.J. Shepherd (Daniel Stern) has reported the disappearance of a group of homeless people who live in the sewers, interested Bosch goes to visit Shepherd & working together they discover that due to toxic waste being dumped under the city the homeless people who live underground have mutated into hideous monsters (with glow in the dark eyes!) who feed on human flesh & they are ready to go up top to find food…
Standing for either Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller or Contamination Hazard Urban Disposal C.H.U.D. was directed by Douglas Cheek & I vividly remember renting C.H.U.D. on VHS here in the UK because of very impressive looking video cover artwork (when will we learn not to judge a film on a few decent looking stills on the back of it’s box?) & I didn’t like it all that much, I just finished watching it mere minutes ago & I have to say I didn’t like that much now either. C.H.U.D. is one of those frustrating films which is available in two different versions, the original theatrical cut & a more recent director’s cut which is eight minutes longer, adds scenes, eliminates any humour & has the John Goodman diner scene where it is supposed to be rather than tacked onto the end as an awkward sequel driven twist. The script by Parnall Hall & it’s two stars Daniel Hall & Christopher Curry uncredited had potentially the making of a great horror film but the pace is so slow it’s untrue, there just isn’t enough dramatic incident to maintain ones interest. The script focuses far too much on how the C.H.U.D. monsters were created, boring politics & arguing between different Government agencies & lots of little various sub-plots which amount to nothing & as the end credits roll on reflection feel like padding. The ending on this director’s cut is poor too, it seemingly completely forgets about the C.H.U.D. monsters (nothing new there then since it does for most of the film) & just stops rather than ends. I respect C.H.U.D. for trying to be a serious, well thought out horror film with depth & meaningful character’s but Jesus Christ is anyone out there going into it for those elements or are they going into C.H.U.D. looking for some good old fashioned monster fun? I’d wager it’s the monster angle every time & since that’s the most neglected element of C.H.U.D. it must go down as a disappointment & a missed opportunity.
Director Cheek does a really good job & C.H.U.D. is a great looking & feeling horror film, there’s a real sense of atmosphere & the constant threat that it will burst into life at any moment which unfortunately it never does. There are plenty of opportunities for the filmmakers to show some solid C.H.U.D. action but refuse on almost every occasion, you can count on one hand how many times the C.H.U.D. creatures are involved in a scene, we hardly ever see them & that has to be a bad thing since when we do actually get a look at the things they are pretty impressive & nasty looking monsters. The special make-up effects are really good as well with one or two decent gore scenes, there’s a couple of ripped in half bodies, there are several severed limbs seen, someone is shot in the neck, there’s a gory leg wound & a couple of really yucky looking decapitated heads. For those interested no John Goodman isn’t seen being killed. No nudity either.
With a supposed budget of about $1,250,000 C.H.U.D. is a really well made film which was shot on location in New York with high production values. This is the New York of two decades ago though with it’s grimy streets, the New York in C.H.U.D. no longer exists. The acting is alright, even pretty good but the film spends too much time focusing on the human cast rather than the monsters.
