Wonderfully goofy sci-fi / horror monster movie stars John Heard and Daniel Stern as George Cooper and "Reverend" A.J. Shepherd, two NYC denizens. They soon learn of the existence of monsters living in the foul, dripping catacombs beneath the city. Monsters that are now coming up to street level to munch on human flesh. Police captain Bosch (Christopher Curry, a friend of Heard and Stern) realizes that something will have to be done about the spate of disappearances that result. They all find out that there's a bigger plot underlying it all.While the cast charge that the movie would be better if the monsters *weren't* so goofy looking, the C.H.U.D.s lend this low rent movie a great deal of cheesy charm. They have big, bulky bodies, glowing eyes, and can extend their necks if they take a notion to do so. Director Douglas Cheek (another member in the circle of friends that made this classic) and company gain memorable atmosphere by shooting on and under NYC. It's quite the grimy, aesthetically unappealing tale indeed, all enhanced by delightful electronic music. And it all comes complete with a subtext about society's treatment of the homeless.Heard and Stern, especially Stern, are very amusing to watch, with the absolutely lovely Kim Greist cast as Heards' wife, a fashion model. One truly amazing thing about the actors & actresses assembled is how many familiar faces there are in supporting and bit parts, from future stars (like 'Home Improvement' wife / mom Patricia Richardson, 'Roseanne' husband / dad John Goodman, and Jay Thomas) to top character actors like George Martin, Peter Michael Goetz, John Bedford Lloyd, Jon Polito, Vic Polizos, Eddie Jones, Sam McMurray, J.C. Quinn, Ray Baker, Graham Beckel, Bill Raymond, and Frankie Faison. Heards' sister Cordis plays a cop; the first on screen victim, Laure Mattos, is Sterns' wife.The script (on which Curry and Stern worked, uncredited) has some priceless lines, especially when Stern saves Heards' ass and Heard improvises.To somebody such as this viewer, it's immaterial how "good" or bad it is. All that matters is how damn entertaining it is!Followed by "C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud" five years later.Eight out of 10.

EPA dumps toxic radioactive waste under the city underground dwelling homeless people into man- eating monsters. Bravo, that, is a darn fine B- Movie plot...though they really weren't human any more so technically were they actually cannibals?Not poorly directed at all, this dirty, gritty little inner-city flick gives you a great feel for a part of big cities and its homeless denizens you rarely see. You could practically smell the urine and filth in the underground scenes/sets, good stuff - makes you curious as to what is really down there beneath there streets of huge old cities. Performances range front great to rough, there are a surprising number of actors who became big names involved, Heard, Stern, John Goodman cameo,Ruth Maleczech, Jay Thomas and many more, someone knew a lot of people! say what you will you won't forget Val! ;) Daniel Stern makes the film, his performance as the ex-con soup kitchen operator is spot on. Sparce, negligible musical score actually works, most scenes don't need it, gives it a more realistic touch. Monsters are great,cheesy special effects- the neck stretching scene, hanging stuffed dog, bravo.Fun all the way through, some actual suspenseful scenes, perfect ending, this film well-deserves a healthy cult status/following!

George Cooper (John Heard) is a burnt out photographer who's trying to take his career in another direction. After spending years shooting fashion and commercial campaigns, he's finally received some acclaim for a piece he's done about the homeless. Now he's being pigeonholed all over again and has been roped into doing a second story on the homeless; this time one about "subterranean bums" living in the tunnels and caves beneath New York City. George doesn't really seem sure what he wants, but his model girlfriend Lauren (Kim Greist) is pregnant and he's happy about it, so I guess he has that much going for him. Elsewhere in the Soho district of Manhattan, people have been disappearing at an alarming rate. Soup kitchen worker A.J. aka The Reverend (Daniel Stern) has noticed a lot of his regulars haven't been showing up for dinner, but the police - headed by Captain Bosch (Christopher Curry) - don't bother starting an investigation until Bosch's own wife and other more esteemed members of the community start turning up missing.C.H.U.D. stands for two things in this film. Seeing how one of those is "Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers," you can probably guess just what has been responsible for the sudden rash of disappearances. The creatures, which are clawed, fanged and have glowing eyes, had once been bums living in the sewers beneath the city until being mutated by exposure to radioactivity and picking up a taste for human flesh in the process. They stay out of sight until they're hungry and then pop out of manholes long enough to drag dinner down there with them. Our trio of heroes eventually learn that Wilson (George Martin) and his cohorts at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have been dumping toxic waste into the NYC sewers for years, and the city's police chief (Eddie Jones) has been helping them cover it all up.I have no clue what some others see in this dreary and completely routine film aside from the fun title. Hardly anything surprising ever happens. Nearly every frame has been shot before, every character has been seen before, any chance at fun is consistently undermined by the depressing, grimy setting and the whole cover-up subplot is THE laziest possible way to structure one of these things. Other moments, like Greist's character (who contemplates getting an abortion earlier on) getting sprayed down with blood after trying to unclog a bath tub with a clothes hanger, seem like botched attempts at social statement. The creature design isn't exactly awful, but you can certainly see much better-looking creatures elsewhere. C.H.U.D. is also excessively talky. There's a surprisingly low amount of horror scenes, nearly all of the carnage takes place off screen and the creature action is slim, which are the only things that could have possibly made the useless plot worth sitting through.The only real pluses here are a few good lead actors (whose talents are wasted in service of a film beneath them) and some amusing lines of dialogue (apparently much of it improvised on the spot). There are also brief appearances from some up-and-coming (and now fairly well-known) actors like John Goodman, Sam McMurray and Patricia Richardson. None of them are given much of anything to do here. In fact, the scene with Goodman and comedian Jay Thomas was completed removed from some prints of the film and was also moved around in the narrative to several different places in other cuts. The fact you can put an entire scene in the middle of a movie, at the very end of a movie or remove it altogether and it doesn't make any difference whatsoever pretty much says all that needs to be said about the movie in general.The film received terrible reviews upon release and wasn't a big hit or anything, but a sequel nobody asked for was made anyway. It turned out to be a follow-up in-name-only and was a zombie comedy that has nothing at all to do with this original film.

Captain Bosch (Curry) starts an investigation when his wife doesn't come back from a walk one night. People have been disappearing near this city block for awhile and Bosch meets A.J. Sheppard (Stern) who runs a soup kitchen. He notes that a lot of his regulars who live underground have also come up missing. The city has dumped toxic waste below the streets and the Homeless people are turning into mutant monsters. A photographer (Heard) gets mixed up in the mess while trying to do a story on the homeless people. This low budget horror film has a very good cast for a B movie monster flick. The monsters have a cool look to them but we don't see much of them. There's a lot of rubbery clawed hands pushing doors in and pulling people out of frame, instead of them showing full on monster attacks. There is a decent amount of gore all though it is pretty fake looking. The cover-up by the city is an interesting storyline and Stern as the dirty revolutionary is a lot of fun. Unfortunately the movie never gets scary at all and seeing the mutant monsters more would have helped this. The movie has developed a cult following through the years, but as a monster flick it is pretty tame.