It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Blistering performances.

"C.H.U.D." is a tedious horror movie with an undeserved cult following.It is like a more horror-oriented version of "Ghostbusters", which was released the same year. It has a similar "average guys vs. the government bureaucracy" plot, but without any laughs.Daniel Stern makes a surprisingly good off-beat hero, but after all these years since I first watched the movie, I had completely forgotten John Heard was in it. This is not a good thing, considering he is the protagonist.It's an odd movie which has a protagonist who is basically unnecessary to the plot, but that seems to be the situation here. They should have had greater faith in Stern and let him carry the film.The plot concerns a government cover-up of mutant homeless people living in the sewer. There is an obvious allegory here about our treatment of the homeless, sweeping this problem under the rug where it just might get worse... though maybe not this worse, but you get the idea.Anyway, there is surprisingly little violence in "C.H.U.D.". It's also not in the least scary. With a plot this silly, you'd expect some humour, but there is also very little of that. What you get is long stretches of tedium and then some sub-par violence, and a pretty goofy looking monster.

I first heard about '80s creature feature C.H.U.D. in the pages of Fangoria, where I was particularly impressed by a selection of gruesome stills featuring mangled corpses, victims of the film's Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers, homeless people who have mutated into hideous monsters after exposure to toxic waste dumped in the sewers. Unfortunately, when I finally caught up with the film on UK home video, I was extremely disappointed: not only was most of the juicy gore absent—which, at the time, I put down to the scissor-happy attitude of the British censors—but the film's pacing was weak and the narrative disjointed.I later learnt that the version I saw on video was actually a heavily butchered TV edit which screwed around with the order of the scenes. The Director's Cut, now available on DVD, not only includes the missing gore, but also puts events back in their correct order; however, even though things are now as they were originally intended by director Douglas Cheek, C.H.U.D. still feels like it could do with more work, the film devoting far too much screen-time to dull chit-chat when it should be delivering monster mayhem. When the creatures do appear, the film is a lot of fun, the creepy critters boasting rubbery claws, snaggle teeth and glowing eyes; there just isn't enough of the good stuff to offset all of the scenes where very little of interest occurs.4.5/10, rounded up to 5 for the decapitated heads, one of which belongs to a C.H.U.D. that meets the business end of a samurai sword.

A bizarre series of murders in New York City seems to point toward the existence of a race of mutant cannibals living under the streets.This is a pretty good 1980s horror film, though there seem to be fewer elements of horror and more elements of a corrupt government. Always a popular theme, and addressed in sort of a light way here. I do not get the impression that anyone was trying to be critical of the real government or make some kind of political statement. The corruption elements are not unlike the films of Larry Cohen, though here it seems to be simply a plot point rather than what Cohen would have done, making some social commentary on nuclear waste or bureaucracy.What works well is how New York City acts as a character in its own right. The background is often grimy, dirty, unpleasant. Production designer William Bilowit did what he could to keep as much of the shooting on location; the only major set built was the sewer, which was actually constructed inside a 10,000 square foot apartment. (Bilowit is quick to point out, however, that such underground systems really do exist in New York -- one could travel anywhere in the city without seeing daylight.)John Caglione and his crew were brought on to design the creatures. Although Caglione is not the biggest name in makeup and creature design, he already had a solid background with "Saturday Night Live" and Woody Allen, not to mention his work on "Amityville 3", "The Hunger" and "Friday the 13th Part 2". There was a great deal of discussion about just how mutated the CHUDs would be, and there was a tendency to push the boundaries. Caglione has reflected that if they ever got to a "CHUD 6", he would have loved to see how far it could have been pushed.Allegedly, stars Daniel Stern and Christopher Curry were displeased with mystery novelist Parnell Hall's rewritten script, and rewrote it extensively, adding the character of the Reverend and the alternate C.H.U.D. acronym. They claim that about 50% of the finished film is their rewrite and chose to remain uncredited. This is disputed by the producer, who gives Hall all the credit. And there is some indication that Stern and Curry were being sarcastic. Which story is true? Who knows? But regardless, the finished product is pretty great, so I have to thank whoever was the hand behind the pen.As a bonus, we get early appearances by both John Goodman and Jay Thomas as police officers. Goodman is especially interesting because he seems to have a thick accent, which is completely uncharacteristic of him in later roles.The Arrow Video Blu-ray comes loaded with goodies. On top of a great-looking new, high-def transfer, we also have plenty of behind-the-scenes features. Leading the way is an audio commentary (carried over from an earlier release) with director Douglas Cheek, writer Shepard Abbott, and actors John Heard, Daniel Stern and Christopher Curry. While it is mostly them cracking jokes at each other's expense, it may be amusing for fans of the "Mystery Science Theater" brand of commentary. There is a new 20-minute interview with production designer William Bilowit, who had already worked on "Sleepaway Camp", "Creepshow" and "The Prowler" alongside Tom Savini by this point. And Oscar winner John Caglione talks about the changing design of the creatures. The disc also has an extended shower scene, in case you want to see a naked body double. And doing the job that would usually be filled by Sean Clark, horror ambassadors Ted Geoghegan (director, "We Are Still Here") and Michael Gingold (Fangoria) give us a tour of New York City filming locations. This is interesting just for how much New York has changed in thirty years -- it is almost unrecognizable!

Ah! The 1980s! The era of crazed mutants and rubber masks! Radioactive waste disposed of in the sewer system brings about a New York infestation of C.H.U.D.s (according to one version Canibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers). The ensuing bloody mayhem, starting off from hobos turning into hors d'oeuvres, before expanding into the premium meat from above ground level. When the wife of police detective George Cooper (John Heard) goes missing the escalating missing person endemic becomes personal, making him join forces with ever-greasy A.J. Shephered AKA The Reverend (Daniel Stern), devoted to feeding homeless, in an attempt to get behind the ravenous outbreak of mutated freakoids."C.H.U.D" is essentially unclassifiable. Brilliantly bad gonzo filmmaking, which will have you reeling in the guilty pleasure of absurd acting, directing and storytelling. Based on a screwball script with little intent of ever being self-indulgent, "C.H.U.D." is a movie, which seems to have only been possible in the 1980s, where adequate technical capacity coupled with gung-ho filmmaking churned out substandard gems full of witty crappiness, never aspiring to be anything other than a chaotically anarchistic joyride. According to audio commentary the movie was conceived under conditions of total turmoil. This ultimately shows, but somehow never takes away from satisfactory, if ridiculous, watching. Funnily enough the whole movie exits without ever really dealing with the cannibal menace, instead side-tracking into a bad government official plot. Absolutely wacko, but somehow so fitting...All in all I found it impossible to truly assess the movie. Just so bad, but so so so good...