D V D C R Y P T

C.H.U.D.

Directed by Douglas Cheek
Produced by Andrew Bonime
Written by Parnell Hall
Cast: John Heard, Daniel Stern, Kim Greist, Christopher Curry & Laure Mattos

1984/96 mins/Color/Mono
1.77:1/English/US/NTSC Region 1

Review from the Anchor Bay DVD

CANNIBALISTIC HUMANOID UNDERGROUND DWELLERS. Douglas Creek's first and last film was butchered by New World for it's theatrical release. More than 26 minutes were trimmed and dialogues were actually changed! Anchor Bay has done a pretty good job at restoring the materials that wasn't in the big screen version.

New York residents are disapearing at an alarming rate (for a change!). A soup kitchen cook played by Daniel Stern (who gives the best performance of the film) is seeing his "clients" vanishing. Photographer George Cooper (John Heard) has been doing photos on homeless and people living in the sewers. Together they will join force to undercover a terrifying secret the police have decided to cover up (Nope not that Macaulay Culkin kid that they faced years later in HOME ALONE). There's more to these disapearences than meets the eye. One police captain turns this personal when is wife ends up missing too. They will end up fighting the worst looking monsters ever.

C.H.U.D. is by no mean a great film or as a matter of fact a good film, there's too much characters for no reasons, the whole conspiracy angle is badly handled, the fx are cheap looking and dialogues are awful. The best thing about it is the fact there's so much well known faces in it that it's the only reason to endure to flick. Look out for John Godman as a police officer in a restaurant amongst others.

What even a scarier is the fact that a sequel called C.H.U.D. II: BUD THE CHUD was actually made and i won't even talk about the tv miniserie!

Anchor Bay did a good job with the transfer. For a film so dark and grim looking, the image is quite good. There's no signs of compression or artifacts, the darker scenes are well rendered. The film is presented in a 1.77:1 ratio, enhanced for 16x9 tv. The Dolby Digital mono track sounds ok, it's a little deaf and would need more punch and aggressivity though. The main menu has music and some animations. The DVD comes in the usual keep case with an inlay card with the chapters on one side and the poster artwork on the other. The film is separated in 27 chapters.

Extra wise, the DVD includes a very cool trailer, a 59 behind-the-scenes photo gallery which shows how they did the monsters, there also an Easter Egg, accessible by clicking on the glowing eyes of the C.H.U.D. gracing the Features screen where we get to see the uncut version of the body double of Kim Greist breast naked.

The best thing about this disc is without a doubt the hilarious commentary track featuring Daniel Stern, John Heard, Christopher Curry, Douglas Cheek, and writer, Shepard Abbott. It's an no holds barred commentary track where they make fun of everyone and everything. This is the funniest track i've heard since CANNIBAL THE MUSICAL!

This DVD is for fans only. Beware since they're not staying down there anymore... even if they should.

Thanks to Anchor Bay

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