If you're in the business of reviewing films for marginally esoteric fashion content, specific genres are generally to be avoided. Even in the ‘80s, teens in horror movies did not typically find themselves in oversized fox fur coats. That's not to say there aren't exceptions to the horror movie rule, and if you're making a high-concept, horror satire of fast food consumerism, you're dialing up Antonovich Furs for some wardrobe support. Let's dip into The Stuff.
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The Stuff (Special Edition) [Blu-ray]
Genre: Horror
Format: Anamorphic, Dolby, HiFi Sound, NTSC, Surround Sound, Widescreen
The Stuff – The Film
The movie is about discovering a thick white goo bubbling up from the ground that is marketed as an alternative to ice cream. Ice cream execs hire “industrial saboteur” David “Mo” Rutherford (Michael Moriarty) to sabotage The Stuff and put ice cream back on top. The fact that The Stuff eventually turns you into a zombie is a minor detail that has little to do with the film at the point we arrive. As of this writing, Wikipedia has a painfully detailed plot synopsis of The Stuff, which I'm sure will disappear by the time I click “publish” on this post.
The Stuff – The Furs
There are 2 fur scenes; the first is one of a few faux commercials for “The Stuff” that clearly suggests The Stuff's marketing team went back to the well later. This is “special guest star” Tammy Grimes in a black mink fur coat telling us she left ice cream behind for The Stuff.
Later, Rutherford arrives on the same set where new commercials are being filmed. Look, while I generally endeavor to accurately list who is doing the fur wearing in the films I review, that is just not an option here. The credits list only Lisa Crosby and Christine Angelica as ”Stuff Girl.”
There are way more than two models and not even a batch of uncredited performances in IMDb to help out, so just enjoy the show. Literally. The sequence mostly shows the models in oversized ‘80s fur coats doing runway walks with cartons of The Stuff.
This is basically a short video essay entitled “Why the ‘80s Are Awesome.”
For people reading this in 2022, you need to understand. The film included this because fur was fashionable, desirable, and sexy in the 1980s. That's how you get credits like these in lots of 80's flicks.
And in the 1980s, “fur coat' was just shorthand for large, power fox coats.
Eventually, all good things must be ruined by directorial choices. The camera loses interest in featuring the fur fashion show and relegates it to the background as Rutherford talks with the director. It is not ideal, but we get to who I will presume is either the credited Lisa Crosby or Christine Angelica centered on the screen in a magnificent silver fox coat.
There is some value in the wide shot, as the models are shown milling around the stage in their fox and lynx coats or passing across the scene in the background. Bonus points for the mannequins in the background also in huge fox coats.
After that, the movie had nothing else to offer on the fur fashion front. Suffice to say, pre-Law and Order Michael Moriarty saves the world. I feel compelled to point out, should anyone be… concerned… at no point in the film does any of the thick, white “Stuff” come into contact with any of the large, sumptuous fox fur coats. Readers may choose to do with that information what they wish. The ratio is thin because this is basically a “one scene wonder” even though there are, technically, 2 fur scenes.
Fur Runtime: approx 2.25 minutes
Film Runtime: 87 minutes
On-Screen Fur Ratio: 2.6%
Find-A-Fur: The Stuff
- 03:57 – 04:19 – Black Mink Coat
- 10:33 – 13:57 – The Modeling Scene
Timecodes are approximate.