Steve Roberts on What Was Scary About C.H.U.D. II: Bud the CHUD
There were three scenes, upon re-watching, that I remembered scaring me as I watched this movie on television, probably through commercials, when I was nine or ten years old.
The first was a scene with trick or treaters invading an old couple’s home. The kids couldn’t have been older than myself, and they had been turned into CHUDs off screen, which implies children being murdered, something most horror movies don’t go for. But as an adult, the premise is obvious: old people being surrounded by zombified children, making a bunch of “kids today are so rude” comments until they are attacked. They fall over the couch, are eaten out of sight, and pop up themselves as mumbling CHUDs. In the movie’s defense, the makeup was not horrible—it was enough to disconcert me, a literal child who had never seen something deliberately scary before. Plus, I think I was somewhat disturbed by the fact that the CHUDs could conceivably get me, that my youth and innocence didn’t preclude me from tragedy.
The second scene that troubled me was near the climax of the film: the pretty girl co-leading character distracts Bud the CHUD who has fallen in love with her (please don’t ask) and now gets him and all other CHUDs to follow her because she’s in a black bathing suit? I don’t know, but it works. They all chase after her and get stuck in the high school gym’s pool, where they then freeze them all with liquid nitrogen. But because this movie is stupid, they also have to then electrify them, and “suspense” builds while they try to figure out how to do that. There is a brief moment or two, perhaps just two shots, of a CHUD partially breaking out of the ice, splitting his body in half, and then crawling towards the heroes. Lots of horror movies and other movies do this, usually by hiring an actor who is missing limbs in real life. No big deal; in fact, good for them. But childhood me probably didn’t realize that and was scared of CHUDs who could chase after you even with no legs. Also, Bud the CHUD gets his head cut off and still has the ability to speak in a dumb monster voice and then they axe him in the face. Clearly these choices were made for comic timing but they could be considered kind of cruel to a sensitive widdle boy.
Lastly, the end of the movie scared me, though as an adult it thoroughly confused me. The CHUDs are easily identified as having dark makeup around the eyes and gross, decaying teeth. Our main character leaves the two less interesting leads to live their lives as he hitches his way out of town. He is picked up by Bianca Jagger, driving an old pickup truck as sexy exotic rock star wives are known to do. We find out that Robert Vaughn and the CHUDified dog from earlier (again, don’t ask) are hiding in the back seat. Robert Vaughn, still in his general regalia and with what looks like CHUD makeup on, says to the dog that he is going undercover, which means absolutely nothing in the scene’s context. Then we find out that our main character Steve is ALSO a CHUD because he got bit earlier, but then we also find out that Bianca Jagger is also a CHUD? Her CHUD makeup is also ambiguously CHUDified. She says they’ll stop on the road “for a bite.”
Here's what any halfway decent screenwriter would have done. Jagger picks him up, she’d be in a sports car or something but is a normal human, who then says they should stop on the road, for a bite, etc. Then Steve looks back to the camera with a grin made of CHUD-like fangs. Uh-oh, Bianca’s gonna get bit! This is what I believed did happen for all these years—I edited the ending in my mind for clarity. And that reimagined ending scared childhood me. I didn’t want to be Bianca Jagger with a CHUD hitchhiker in my car! Yikes!