The 1980s were the battleground for countless B-horror movies which revelled in their own trashiness and absurdity, and some forty years later a surprisingly inspirational one is getting reminisced upon by the genre’s hardcore.
1984 saw the release of C.H.U.D., a film forgotten by mainstream audiences that has now resurfaced thanks to the memories of the internet and a resurgence in B-movie culture. The monster flick features some truly awful acting and highly questionable effects, but gels together in such a fun way you won’t care.
C.H.U.D., of course, stands for Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers., obviously.
With a surprisingly decent cast punctuated by the likes of Emmy Award-nominee John Heard, and Home Alone’s Daniel Stern, it managed to avoid box office failure despite its very obvious talent limitations. Some even view C.H.U.D. as a prequel to Home Alone, because why not.
If you’re after a movie about subterranean beings rising up out of the gutters to kill people, look no further than C.H.U.D..
Bad movie enthusiasts often line it up as an all-time favorite, with the perfect mixture of ingreidents which make a movie go from “bad bad” to “good bad”. It’s a fine line between the two, but C.H.U.D. masterfully navigates it, to some acclaim.
If you’re a big Chudhead, you’ll be very pleased to know there’s even a sequel. Grossing $4.5 million off a budget of $1 million, a follow-up was greenlit titled C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D., a subtitle so good it should replace “electric boogaloo” as the cliché sequel joke.
Surpisingly influential, a C.H.U.D. VHS can be seen in Jordan Peele’s Us, as well as a smattering of references across the likes of The Simpsons and Futurama. Matt Groening confirmed for Chudhead.
C.H.U.D. is available to stream from Scream Factory.
