C.H.U.D. (1984) Review: Sewer Monsters, Government Conspiracies, and a Mermaid From Hell!
What if I told you that underneath the streets of New York City, something hungry is crawling through the sewers? Something with glowing eyes, radioactive skin, and a serious appetite for human flesh?
And no, I'm not talking about the subway rats.
Welcome back, all you ghouls, goblins, fiends, and fiendettes! Johnny Spoiler has returned for another round of SPOILAWEEN, where we dig up forgotten horror movies, explore Hollywood's strangest headlines, and decide what's worth watching with our signature BINGE NOW, BINGE LATER, or BINGE NEVER ratings.
A fan once told me that if you say "Johnny Spoiler" three times, I'll appear and spoil your movie.
Well, somebody must've said it.
This week, we're crawling underground for my first-ever viewing of C.H.U.D. (1984), exploring a bizarre new horror-comedy called Mermaid, checking out Parker Posey's return to horror, and discussing why Lucio Fulci's The Beyond is getting remade.
Let's scare up some movies!
C.H.U.D. (1984): What's Really Living Beneath New York City?
Before we go any further, let's address the giant radioactive monster in the room.
C.H.U.D. stands for Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers.
That's a title that practically screams 1980s horror. It's ridiculous, memorable, and exactly the kind of thing you'd expect to find staring back at you from a dusty VHS shelf.
Directed by Douglas Cheek, C.H.U.D. stars John Heard, Daniel Stern, Christopher Curry, and Kim Greist in a science-fiction horror story about mysterious disappearances beneath Manhattan.
People are vanishing from the city's underground homeless communities. A photographer and a homeless shelter manager begin investigating, only to discover something much worse than ordinary urban crime.
The government has been dumping toxic, radioactive waste beneath the city, and the people exposed to it have transformed into flesh-eating creatures.
Now those creatures are coming to the surface.
It's part monster movie, part conspiracy thriller, and part urban nightmare.
And here's the thing: I'd never actually watched the original C.H.U.D. before this episode.
I'd already experienced its goofy sequel, C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D., which is practically a comedy. So I wasn't entirely prepared for how seriously the original approaches its wonderfully absurd premise.
Why C.H.U.D. Is Better Than It Has Any Right to Be
One of the biggest surprises was the opening.
C.H.U.D. gets right to business, creating a grimy, uncomfortable atmosphere that makes New York City feel like it's hiding something terrible just below the sidewalk.
There's an effective mystery at the center of the movie. People are disappearing, authorities aren't providing answers, and the deeper our characters investigate, the uglier things become.
But the real reason the movie works?
John Heard and Daniel Stern actually take this nonsense seriously.
These two aren't winking at the audience or behaving like they're trapped in a cheap monster movie. They play their characters with enough conviction that you start buying into the conspiracy.
That's an important ingredient in low-budget horror. The actors have to believe in the monsters before the audience can.
And when the fully formed C.H.U.D. creatures finally appear?
They look pretty damn good.
The glowing eyes, grotesque faces, and practical monster designs are exactly what I want from an old-school creature feature.
There's also something genuinely fascinating about the premise.
Think about it. Millions of people walk around major cities every day without giving much thought to what's beneath their feet.
Abandoned tunnels. Forgotten infrastructure. Underground communities. Miles of dark passageways.
What could be growing down there?
That's the kind of question that can turn an ordinary walk through Manhattan into a horror movie.
C.H.U.D. takes that anxiety and adds radioactive cannibals.
Naturally.
C.H.U.D. Movie Trivia: John Goodman, Home Alone, and Jordan Peele
One of my favorite things about revisiting older horror movies is discovering all the strange connections to films that came later.
And C.H.U.D. has some good ones.
John Goodman Was There Before He Became a Star
Look closely during the diner sequence and you'll spot a young John Goodman playing a police officer.
It's one of his earliest film appearances, long before he became a household name.
A Strange Home Alone Connection
John Heard and Daniel Stern would both eventually appear in Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992).
Heard played Kevin McCallister's father, while Stern became one-half of the Wet Bandits alongside Joe Pesci.
From radioactive sewer monsters to getting hit in the face with paint cans.
That's quite a career trajectory.
Jordan Peele's Us Has a C.H.U.D. Connection
Jordan Peele has cited C.H.U.D. as one of the inspirations behind his 2019 horror film Us.
A VHS copy of C.H.U.D. even appears in the movie.
When you consider Us and its unsettling underground population, the connection makes perfect sense.
C.H.U.D. Has Two Meanings
While the famous acronym stands for Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers, the film also uses the phrase Contamination Hazard Urban Disposal in connection with the toxic materials.
Government bureaucracy somehow makes radioactive cannibal monsters even creepier.
C.H.U.D. II Was Almost a Different Sequel
Here's another strange bit of horror history.
C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D. was originally conceived as a sequel to Return of the Living Dead.
That explains why the second movie feels so different from the first.
It also features an uncredited cameo by Robert Englund, the actor forever associated with Freddy Krueger.
Johnny Spoiler's Verdict: BINGE NOW... Barely!
So, after finally watching the original C.H.U.D., where does it land?
But we're talking about a mild Binge Now.
The mildest possible Binge Now.
A Binge Now that's barely holding on by its radioactive fingernails.
The film has some pacing issues, and not everything works. But the creepy premise, committed performances, effective opening, and surprisingly good creature designs kept me interested.
There were even a few unexpected moments that pushed the rating higher. One death in particular actually got me.
And here's something I appreciate: the movie makes you care enough about the characters that you don't want to see them eaten.
That's more than I can say for plenty of monster movies.
If you're into 1980s horror, practical creature effects, urban legends, and conspiracy thrillers, C.H.U.D. deserves a look.
Just don't expect the goofy comedy of the sequel.
Horror News: Parker Posey Returns in Sleepover
Moving into this week's Home Video Headlines, Parker Posey is returning to the horror genre.
The actress, remembered by horror fans for her scene-stealing performance as Jennifer Jolie in Scream 3, is set to star in Sleepover, an upcoming collaboration between Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, and Universal Pictures.
Directed by Jacob Chase, whose credits include Come Play, the film is based on an original short story by Bryce McGuire, the filmmaker behind Night Swim.
The project has been described as a sleepover nightmare, although specific plot details remain under wraps.
The theatrical release is scheduled for October 8, 2027.
Posey has the kind of eccentric screen presence that can make even ordinary dialogue feel slightly unhinged, so putting her back into a horror movie is an intriguing choice.
Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant: Body Horror Gets Weird Again
Speaking of movies that sound like somebody lost a bet...
Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant is a 2026 New Zealand sci-fi body-horror comedy from filmmaking duo THUNDERLIPS.
The story follows Mary, a struggling millennial who unexpectedly becomes pregnant by an extraterrestrial.
As if regular pregnancy wasn't complicated enough.
Now she's dealing with skeptical doctors, an unhelpful baby daddy, an oversharing mother, and a situation that definitely wasn't covered in high school health class.
The movie mixes gross-out practical effects, absurd comedy, and the uncomfortable realities of family relationships.
If you're a fan of early Peter Jackson horror, particularly that wonderfully disgusting New Zealand filmmaking tradition, this sounds like something worth investigating.
Following its Sundance premiere, the film is scheduled to arrive on U.S. digital platforms October 27, 2026.
Just in time to make your Halloween movie marathon a little more uncomfortable.
Lucio Fulci's The Beyond Is Getting Remade
Now here's a horror announcement that's bound to make cult cinema fans nervous.
Lucio Fulci's 1981 Italian horror classic The Beyond is getting a remake through a partnership involving Hangtime International Pictures and Severin Films.
For anyone unfamiliar with the original, The Beyond follows a woman who inherits an old Louisiana hotel that happens to sit on a gateway to hell.
Which is exactly the kind of detail you'd hope a real estate agent would disclose.
The original is famous for its nightmarish imagery, surreal atmosphere, and grotesque violence.
It's also part of Fulci's informal Gates of Hell trilogy, alongside City of the Living Dead and The House by the Cemetery.
The proposed remake is being positioned as an experimental horror reimagining, with the possibility of expanding the story into additional films.
No director, cast, or release date has been announced.
Can a modern filmmaker recreate Fulci's strange, dreamlike horror?
Or is this another case of Hollywood opening a door that should've stayed closed?
We'll see.
Street Fighter Trailer Reactions: Is Hollywood Starting to Look Like AI?
During this week's Fan Service segment, we're returning to the comments on the upcoming Street Fighter movie trailer.
And the internet has thoughts.
A lot of the reactions have been positive, with fans excited to see the legendary fighting game franchise return to theaters.
But there's also skepticism.
Some viewers are questioning the visual style, wondering whether the footage looks artificially generated, and worrying that the finished movie might feel more like a video game commercial than a satisfying action film.
That doesn't establish that AI was used in the trailer. It does show how quickly audiences have started associating certain digital aesthetics with AI-generated imagery.
It's an interesting conversation, especially as Hollywood continues pushing the boundaries of visual effects.
Sometimes the internet doesn't need a movie to be bad.
It just needs a trailer to argue about.
Staff Pick: Mermaid (2026) — A Florida Man Finds His Dream Girl in the Ocean
Now for something completely different.
And somehow even stranger than radioactive sewer cannibals.
This week's Staff Pick is Mermaid, a bizarre dark comedy and horror film from director Tyler Cornack.
The movie stars Johnny Pemberton as Doug Nelson, a down-on-his-luck Florida man whose life has fallen apart.
He's lost his job cleaning strip club aquariums, he's struggling with addiction, and he's reached a desperate point in his life.
Then he discovers something extraordinary near the Gulf.
A wounded mermaid.
Not the beautiful, singing Disney variety.
We're talking about a grotesque, mysterious creature that looks like it belongs in a very different kind of fairy tale.
Doug takes her home, hides her in his bathtub, and names her Destiny.
Because apparently when you discover an impossible aquatic creature, the natural response is to introduce her to your bathroom plumbing.
Unfortunately, keeping a mermaid secret isn't easy.
When outsiders discover what Doug is hiding, things take a violent turn.
Featuring Robert Patrick, Kevin Nealon, Kirk Fox, Tom Arnold, and Kevin Dunn, Mermaid blends creature horror with dark comedy and a strangely emotional story about loneliness, desperation, and protecting something nobody else understands.
It's weird.
It's disturbing.
It's exactly the kind of offbeat cinema that belongs on Binge-Watchers Podcast.
Bonus Horror Watch: Carrie Returns
Stephen King's Carrie is also returning with a modern interpretation of the classic story.
This new take places Carrie in a world of viral bullying, social media cruelty, and the relentless pressure of growing up under constant digital scrutiny.
After her father's sudden death, Carrie finds herself navigating public high school, where humiliation can spread across an entire community in seconds.
And as her emotional turmoil intensifies, so do her mysterious telekinetic abilities.
The original story was already a nightmare about adolescence, isolation, and cruelty. Adding modern social media dynamics could make those themes even more uncomfortable.
Interested in watching Carrie on Prime Video?
Explore Prime Video with my affiliate link:
Affiliate disclosure: I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases.
Final Thoughts: Sometimes the Best Horror Is Hiding Underground
What I enjoy most about revisiting movies like C.H.U.D. is discovering that even the strangest horror premises can work when filmmakers commit to them.
Radioactive sewer cannibals shouldn't necessarily make for a compelling movie.
But give me a mysterious underground world, actors who take the danger seriously, some decent practical effects, and a conspiracy worth investigating, and you've got my attention.
Does C.H.U.D. belong among the greatest horror movies ever made?
Absolutely not.
Is it worth digging out of the VHS graveyard for a Halloween movie night?
Surprisingly, yes.
And that's why it earns a very cautious BINGE NOW.
Meanwhile, if you're looking for something even weirder, Mermaid might be the strangest creature-feature recommendation of the week.
What's your favorite horror movie about creatures living beneath the city? Is C.H.U.D. an underrated cult classic or a radioactive relic best left buried?
Drop your picks in the comments, subscribe to Binge-Watchers Podcast, and join me for more SPOILAWEEN horror discoveries.
Because if you say Johnny Spoiler three times...
Well, you know what happens.
BINGE NOW. BINGE LATER. BINGE NEVER.
Happy Spoilaween!
Johnny Spoiler
Binge-Watchers Podcast
https://www.bwpodcast.com
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