I'd first heard of this movie when it was given out as a door-prize at last year's B-Fest (a 24 hour "B movie" marathon held at Northwestern University annually. I went to school elsewhere but the event sounded way too fun to pass up), and the title grabbed me as a "killer B" (essence of B movie, fun for a fan of the genre). The title of this movie is also referenced in an episode of Angel, so if you intend to catch all of the references in that series (a feat to be sure) then you'll want to add this film to your homework.
Partway through the film, the main characters are informed
by government officials that this is and acronym for Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground
Dwellers. Basically radioactive monsters
have been attacking people out of the sewers and homeless sewer-dwellers have
been disappearing (and surprise! the police
haven’t been making a heroic effort to help). The the first main characters we're introduced to are a magazine/freelance photographer named George (played by John Heard from Home Alone and Big), his wife, police Captain Bosch and "Reverend" A.J. who runs a soup-kitchen and works with the homeless (played by Daniel Stern, the narrator in The Wonder Years series, also in Home Alone). My favorite characters (the most sympathetic characters) were A.J. followed by the wife and Bosch... pretty much the inverse order of appearance and of seeming importance to the plot (though AJ's screen time increases later in the film).
Overall I was expecting it to be much lower quality and more campy than it was. While radioactive monsters in the sewer attacking people does indeed qualify as camp, a lot of the dialogue was actually reasonable. The production quality was pretty decent for the era, but the fact that many of the scenes took place in sewers and tenements or normal office buildings (easy to construct or go to) might have masked a lower budget. If you like creature features, this one doesn't have as much of the creature as some you may like but the movie itself is solid enough that it should satisfy you. If you're not a fan of 70's-80's monster movies, then don't bother (though it is kind of cool to see the dad and the thief from Home Alone working together at a younger age).
Overall I was expecting it to be much lower quality and more campy than it was. While radioactive monsters in the sewer attacking people does indeed qualify as camp, a lot of the dialogue was actually reasonable. The production quality was pretty decent for the era, but the fact that many of the scenes took place in sewers and tenements or normal office buildings (easy to construct or go to) might have masked a lower budget. If you like creature features, this one doesn't have as much of the creature as some you may like but the movie itself is solid enough that it should satisfy you. If you're not a fan of 70's-80's monster movies, then don't bother (though it is kind of cool to see the dad and the thief from Home Alone working together at a younger age).
Step. Step. Step. Closer and Closer. Step Step Step. and then nothing. I stayed as quiet as possible, even stoping by breathing, but i coulndt hear a thing, save my beating heart. "well hi there buddy" came a familiar voice shatering the silence. I looked up and there he was. My drug dealer billy. It turns out the coffee i drank this morining was laced with a mixture of PCP, LSD and red bull, which he was intending to deliver to one of his clients this afternoon. He picked me up off the floor and offered to buy me In and Out for my trouble. I got a 2X2 animal style, and he just got fries. Then on the way out we totally think we saw Bruce Campbell drive by. Best day ever.
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