The main characters include an evil federal bureaucrat (George Martin), a police chief (Christopher Curry), a wild-eyed dope-smoking ex-con hippie soup kitchen proprietor (Daniel Stern) and a bunch of 7-foot purple and green guys with glowing eyes and no noses – the C.H.U.D. (the acronym stands for “Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers”).
The C.H.U.D. creep through the New York sewers and emerge from manholes in the SoHo section of Manhattan and feed on innocent passersby.
C.H.U.D also stands for Contaminated Hazard Urban Disposal. When new York City prohibited hazardous waste from being transported through the city, the feds began to store drums of deadly contaminated and radioactive waste in sewers and subway tunnels where homeless people found the stuff in the drums, and it made them all big and slimy and mean.
John Heard co-stars as slovenly freelance fashion photographer George Cooper (pictured above), who – in search of “relevance” and “integrity” – ventures underground to photograph homeless people . . .
With such subject matter, the film is obviously not without humour: Besieged by C.H.U.D. at one point, Cooper’s live-in model Lauren Daniels (Kim Greist) screams from a third-floor window. “Somebody help me” and someone in the street suggests she call Ghostbusters.
Possibly the first film to see NYPD officers issued with flamethrowers – so they can defend themselves against the dastardly Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
George Cooper
John Heard
A.J. ‘The Reverend’ Shepherd
Daniel Stern
Captain Bosch
Christopher Curry
Lauren Daniels
Kim Greist
Flora Bosch
Laure Mattos
Francine the Landlady
Brenda Currin
Justin
Justin Hall
Fuller
Michael O’Hare
Officer Sanderson
Cordis Heard
Hays
Vic Polizos
Chief O’Brien
Eddie Jones
Officer Crespi
Sam McMurray
Interrogation Cop
Frank Adu
Mrs Monroe
Ruth Maleczech
Murphy
J.C. Quinn
Ad Woman
Patricia Richardson
Ad Man
Ray Baker
Doris
Beverly Bentley
Val
Graham Beckel
Jackson
Gene O’Neill
Hugo
Rocco Siclari
Victor
Bill Raymond
Gramps
Peter Michael Goetz
Cindy
Shana Lee Farrell
Commissioner
John Ramsey
Wilson
George Martin
Shadow Man
John Bedford Lloyd
Coroner
Henry Yuk
Benson
Robert Toupin
Sgt. Parker
Frankie Faison
Gooney NRC Man
Ivar Brogger
Judson
Parnell Hall
Newscaster
Jon Polito
CHUDs
Lou Leccese
Sanford Clark
James Dudley
Carey Eidel
Director
Douglas Cheek
