C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud

The original C.H.U.D (1984) was a pretty poor horror starring John Heard & Daniel Stern. It wasn't awful but was an instantly forgettable effort.

Understandably going into the sequel I expected more of the same and prepared myself for mediocrity only to come across a very pleasant surprise.

It tells the story of a couple of friends who accidentally lose their schools biology cadaver. Fearing expulsion they set about stealing a corpse from a nearby facility only for it to come to life!

In traditional zombie style the infection spreads and before you know it the town has been overtaken. These aren't normal zombies however, our "Chuds" only take a nibble on their victim and have a low level of intellect.

What sets this apart from the first movie is the humour, there is plenty here and does a lot of good for the film. It simply doesn't take itself seriously and for that reason it comes across really well.

Starring industry legend Robert Vaughn and Gerrit Graham as the titular Bud the Chud this is a fantastic little movie that is considerably better than it should have been.

With a rocking 80's soundtrack, a surprising budget behind it and some real laughs Bud The Chud has to be considered an underrated 80's classic.

The fact this never became a proper franchise saddens me.

The Good:

Robert Vaughn & Gerrit Graham are great

Great 80's soundtrack

Actually looks quite good

Some funny moments

The Bad:

Nothing springs to mind

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The old cat jumping scare cliche never gets old

There are anals of history

So basically you should forget everything established in the first movie and about the cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers as this movie has absolutely nothing to do with that movie. That movie while not all that good did at least look like a major motion picture while this one has the looks and is a B movie that tries to be a comedy. Basically, this movie is more of a zombie feature than the creature feature the first movie was. I am betting they did this to save money on make-up and monster effects as these creatures only have dark circles around their eyes and some deformed teeth. They did not bother making this movie a true zombie movie as that would have had to perhaps have decaying effects and wounds. In the end this movie is more like the film "Night of the Creeps", but not as nearly as good as far as the effects and gore or the humor for that matter. In the end the movie is a sequel in name only. The only reason this movie is called CHUD II it seems is to have the little subtitle Bud the Chud for the cuteness factor and comedy factor which is basically none existent for my tastes. The plot just has Bud infecting others and the horde of zombie like creatures grows and grows. Nothing new or funny being brought to the table in this one, but I did rather like the infected poodle.

Well... many years ago, in all my naivety, I rented this one expecting a serious, scary and foul sequel to the original "C.H.U.D.", one of my 80's favorites (not even a guilty pleasure, mind you). After approximately 20 minutes I turned this turkey off, insulted and rather angry. It had absolutely NOTHING to do with the original (other than a very vague reference to the cannibalistic tendencies of the alleged Chuddies portrayed in this movie).

Now - the year of writing is 2007 - more than a decade later, with the right mindset and under the influence of a certain person, I decided to give this film another shot. This time determined to watched it all the way through. And, yes, it's totally retarded, but... still some fun and worth a few laughs. It's a pretty dumb horror-comedy that tries to be something like "Night Of The Creeps" or "Return Of The Living Dead, part 2". But it fails completely in being as good. If you like mind-numbingly stoopie horror-spoofs, you still might have some fun with it. Even I did, I'll admit that much. And the climax in the swimming pool was even quite amusing. But I still hold a grudge against it for nearly traumatizing me more than a decade ago. And in the end, it's not much better than, let's say, the zombieësque equivalent of an 80's slasher-spoof like "Killer Party". Hence my rating.

Okay, so this wasn't "Night of the Living Dead." It was not a great film, but nowhere near as horrendous as everyone says. Gerrit Graham made me giggle a few times as Bud the CHUD. While Brian Robbins, Bill Calvert, and Tricia Leigh Fisher aren't Oscar-winners, Robert Vaughn did a great job with an otherwise horrible script. I watched this on TV at 3 am and it kept me awake. Rent it if you have nothing better to do.

My rating: 4 out of 10

Okay, first of all forget ALL that you know about the C.H.U.D.s (providing you have seen the first movie, that is), because this sequel has nothing to do with that at all. Well, sure they mention them by name and that they apparently have something extracted from them, but that is where the comparison ends.

"C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud" is a downright comedy, where as the original C.H.U.D. movie was a horror. However, there weren't really any laughs throughout the movie, so it kind of failed on that front as well.

Now, if you are familiar with the C.H.U.D. then you know that it is some kind of mutant humanoid being, not a shambling undead zombie, right? Right! Well in the sequel, a C.H.U.D. is now a living dead corpse; a zombie, if you will. What? How does one go about totally changing the layout of a horror movie creature into something completely overnight and expect the audience to just eat it raw? That was a bad mistake.

The storyline in "C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud" have a frozen C.H.U.D. specimen frozen down in containment by the military. But some frisky teenagers manage to steal the corpse and bring it back to life. And Bud is hungry, thus goes the neighborhood and the school dance... There you go, the general outlay of the story.

Being a late 80's movie, "C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud" is fairly stereotypical for its age. So it might be a trip down memory lane for some people to watch this.

The cast in "C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud" was fairly good. Most memorable was Gerrit Graham (playing Bud Oliver/Bud the C.H.U.D.), and he did managed to get something cool out of the C.H.U.D. role, despite it being a comedy zombie movie! Duh! Robert Vaughn (playing Colonel Masters) was a welcomed face as well, though he was a bit difficult to fully take seriously as a military officer in this movie.

I remember watching this movie when I was a young teenager, and I recall parts of the title song (Bud the C.H.U.D.) even after these many, many years. I did recall it was living dead creatures as well, but decided to revisit the movie for old times sake. Now that I have, I feel a bit disappointed with the experience. The movie is a low-end comedy, so unless you like cheesy comedies that cash in on former titles, then this movie is not really worth the time. (No offense to fans!)