Rating: R
Genre:
Horror
Release Date: 01/30/2001
Dubbed: English
Sound: 1/5.1
Run Time: 96 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Graphic Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Adult Language, Profanity
Distributor/Studio: Anchor Bay
People are disappearing all over the Big Apple. Nobody cares, though, because most of the missing are homeless. But when investigative reporter
Murphy (
J.C. Quinn) tips off principled photographer
George Cooper (
John Heard) to a government conspiracy involving the dumping of nuclear waste beneath the streets,
Cooper decides to dig a little deeper. Soon he discovers the existence of
C.H.U.D.s, or "Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers," derelicts who have become grotesque monsters after being exposed to the mountains of hazardous waste. Meanwhile,
Captain Bosch (
Christopher Curry), a cop whose wife is among the missing, forms an unlikely alliance with
the Reverend (
Daniel Stern), a leftist soup-kitchen cook who knows the score.
Murphy,
Cooper,
Bosch, and
the Reverend soon run up against the stonewalling tactics of
Wilson (
George Martin), a government toadie. As the titular monsters begin to tire of their underground habitat, the protagonists -- including
Cooper's wife, beautiful model
Lauren Daniels (
Kim Greist) -- face a race against time to defeat not only the
C.H.U.D.s, but the government's cover-up. The debut, and only film, from writer
Parnell Hall and director
Douglas Cheek,
C.H.U.D. was followed by 1989's
C.H.U.D. 2: Bud the C.H.U.D. Co-stars
Stern and
Heard would later appear together in the first two
Home Alone pictures, while
Curry would appear in the third.
~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide