‘Their first mistake was stealing a corpse. Their second was waking him up.’
C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud is a 1989 comedy horror film about a military experiment to create a race of super-warriors that goes awry.
The movie was directed by David Irving from a screenplay by Ed Naha [as M. Kane Jeeves] (Omega Doom; Dolls; Troll).
The movie stars Brian Robbins, Bill Calvert, Tricia Leigh Fisher, Gerrit Graham, Robert Vaughn and Larry Cedar.
Blu-ray synopsis:
“Kevin, Steve, and Katie are an inseparable trio of friends doing some extracurricular snooping in the school science lab when, among the test tubes and beakers, they discover a corpse! But before they can say “Abra Cadaver,” the body disappears, rolling down Route 51 strapped to a gurney. The kids need a spare stiff, and fast.
What they find is “Bud the Chud,” a half-dead decomposing humanoid, the result of a military experiment gone haywire. When Bud sets out on a killing spree, the kids, the Army, the police, and the FBI are hot on his trail, trying to save the entire town from becoming Chudified.”
Our review:
C.H.U.D. – that’s Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller for those who still may not know – was an unexpectedly fun, no-nonsense variation on the zombie film in 1984; straight-faced, action-packed and pleasingly old-fashioned at a time when horror was rapidly being Tromatised with cynical, deliberately crass, instant cult movie efforts such as The Toxic Avenger.
C.H.U.D. probably didn’t need a sequel. It definitely didn’t need a 1989 sequel that was a dumb-ass comedy with the kind of awful, over-age teenage frat boy characters that every awful film of the 1980s was infected with.
Entirely disregarding the original film, this has two hapless college students – the nerdy guy and his mulleted, ‘cool’ friend – who accidentally revive a C.H.U.D. (which are now zombies, not mutants) – and have assorted, painfully unfunny adventures with him.
Depressingly, there are names in the cast who should have known better. Robert Vaughn looks completely embarrassed during his mercifully brief time on screen. Gerrit Graham must have cursed some ancient God in a past life to have ended up here. I can only hope both were well paid, at least. Everyone else is terrible in the way that late 1980s teen comedy casts can be.
Everything here is unforgivably dismal and horribly dated: the dreadful, overbearing score (complete with a theme song, for crying out loud), horrible, horrible people, bad acting, lousy dialogue and a smug, don’t-give-a-f*ckness to the whole thing. It could hardly be less insulting if director David Irving and scriptwriter Ed Naha had simply filmed themselves pointing at the camera and laughingly mocking you as a complete loser for ninety minutes.
If you want to watch a film about two losers goofing around with a dead guy, there’s Weekend at Bernies, made the same year. There was no reason for C.H.U.D. II to have been made in the first place. And there’s even less reason to watch it now it’s on Blu-ray.
David Flint, MOVIES & MANIA
Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.co.uk
Choice dialogue:
Robert Vaughn “Cut the crap! Where’s the C.H.U.D.?”
Main cast and characters:
- Brian Robbins … Steve Williams
- Bill Calvert … Kevin
- Tricia Leigh Fisher … Katie Norton
- Gerrit Graham … Bud Oliver/Bud the C.H.U.D.
- Robert Vaughn … Colonel Masters
- Larry Cedar … Graves
- Bianca Jagger … Velma
- Larry Linville … Doctor Jewell
- Judd Omen … Sam
- Jack Riley … Wade Williams
- Sandra Kerns … Melissa Williams
- Norman Fell … Tyler
- June Lockhart … Gracie
- Rich Hall … Stan
- Robert Symonds … Proctor
- Priscilla Pointer … Doctor Berlin
- Jo Ann Dearing … Susan
- Frank Birney … Barber
- Marvin J. McIntyre … Farmer
- Ritch Shydner … Mailman
- Jamie Lynn Grenham … Sally
- Clive Revill … Doctor Kellaway
- James F. Dean … Doctor Palmer
- Gregory Phelan … Burger Bobby
- Tony Edwards … Burl
- Zachariah Sage Kerns … Timmy
- Winifred Freedman … Ticket Taker
- Peter Beckman … Cook
- Mark Stuart Lane … Drunk
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