After recently rewatching 1973’s Soylent Green, I was jonesing for a lighter version of the same kind of cautionary tale because I am all about balance. In my relentless pursuit of the perfect satire in this context, I stumbled upon 1985’s The Stuff, which is not about a food made out of people, but rather a mysterious white goo that turns whoever consumes it into zombies. By taking a more absurdist approach to its subject matter, The Stuff is a satisfying watch because it hits many of the same investigative beats, yet holds its own when criticizing corporate overreach, mass manipulation, and consumerism in ways that Soylent Green does not fully explore.
This is not to say that Soylent Green is lacking in any way, just operating in a different lane than The Stuff. Honestly, you should watch both films back to back as a double feature. Start with the bleak, hopeless, dystopian groundwork that Soylent Green lays out, then end the night with the levity and cautious optimism that The Stuff has to offer.
Gimme Some Of That Sweet, Sweet Goo!!!
The Stuff centers on a mysterious white substance sludging its way out of the ground in Georgia. For reasons beyond my comprehension, a quarry worker decides to taste it, immediately becoming infatuated with its flavor. Nearly overnight, the product is packaged, branded, and shipped nationwide as a sweet yet sugar free alternative to ice cream and yogurt, simply known as The Stuff.
Everybody loves The Stuff except for a young boy named Jason (Scott Bloom), who begins to suspect something is very wrong after witnessing the goo crawling around inside his refrigerator. Jason believes the wildly popular treat is a living organism that could pose serious health risks. Former FBI agent turned investigator David “Mo” Rutherford (Michael Moriarty) similarly suspects The Stuff is dangerous and teams up with advertising executive Nicole (Andrea Marcovicci) to track down the product’s origins.
Along the way, Mo, Jason, and Nicole learn, with help from junk food mogul Chocolate Chip Charlie (Garrett Morris), that The Stuff is actively turning people into zombies and can only be destroyed with fire. The real problem is Mr. Fletcher (Patrick O’Neal), the CEO of The Stuff Company, who has no intention of letting profits evaporate without a fight. Net profit is the name of the game, and it is up to our heroes to resist the temptation of that sweet, sweet goo and warn the public before they are fully consumed by the substance they are now eating at every single meal.
Low-Budget, High Concept
What is most charming about The Stuff is the urgency baked into its storytelling. Produced on a reported budget of around $1.7 million, the film delivers some impressively clever practical effects, most memorably involving The Stuff pouring out of people’s eyes and mouths before they are set on fire. For a low-budget 80s film, it looks solid, but the real reason to watch The Stuff is not the effects. It is the ideas.
Writer and director Larry Cohen uses the premise to take sharp aim at consumerism, corporate greed, market manipulation, and herd mentality. Nobody knows what The Stuff is made of, and nobody really cares. It is sugar free, widely available, affordable, and once people take that first bite, it becomes highly addictive. That is all the justification the masses need.
The Stuff has fun with what Soylent Green treated with deadly seriousness. Both films offer pointed criticism of consumer culture, but from wildly different tonal perspectives. Since the world rarely operates in black and white terms, The Stuff provides another way of engaging with the same anxieties through a sci-fi horror lens. The underlying message remains intact. Be aware of what you are putting into your body, especially when the newest, shiniest product is being sold as something you simply cannot live without.
The Stuff 1985
For the horror, the satire, and to see exactly what kind of havoc The Stuff can wreak on society, you can stream the film for free on Tubi as of this writing.
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