Satire about our obsessions to consume, horror about our obsessions consuming us. And vice versa. The backdrops; a deserted town, a mining compound, a photo shoot where models advertise the thing from a catwalk, crowded New York streets with street vendors selling it like candy, a sleepy suburbia shattered from inside.
As with so many of these 80's horrors, we get a sloppy, cheesy, garish, gleefully absent-minded concoction. But for all those reasons, a film that is ultimately easy to relax in, strangely soothing because we know it's so harmless it can never bite back.
It's not a better gooey mess than The Blob, From Beyond, or Night of the Creeps, but it makes a pretty fine mess just the same. You can spend some time with it and be sure you'll be easily able to clean yourself off and forget about it the minute it ends.
Eventually, the victims who consumed the gelatinous substance are shown to be hollow inside, eaten up by their desire to consume. The reckless corporate bosses get a taste of their own medicine. Society we're led to believe is restored - until something else comes along.
As with so many of these 80's horrors, we get a sloppy, cheesy, garish, gleefully absent-minded concoction. But for all those reasons, a film that is ultimately easy to relax in, strangely soothing because we know it's so harmless it can never bite back.
It's not a better gooey mess than The Blob, From Beyond, or Night of the Creeps, but it makes a pretty fine mess just the same. You can spend some time with it and be sure you'll be easily able to clean yourself off and forget about it the minute it ends.
Eventually, the victims who consumed the gelatinous substance are shown to be hollow inside, eaten up by their desire to consume. The reckless corporate bosses get a taste of their own medicine. Society we're led to believe is restored - until something else comes along.