C.H.U.D.: John Goodman looks back on his time working with the cannibalistic humanoids

2024 marks the 40th anniversary of the creature feature C.H.U.D. (watch it HERE), which is best remembered for its title – which stands for Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers – and for its cast, which included John Heard, Daniel Stern, Christopher Curry, and Kim Griest, with appearances by Jon Polito, Jay Thomas, and John Goodman. To celebrate C.H.U.D.‘s big anniversary, the folks at Dread Central decided to ask Goodman about the film – and found that he was quite happy to reminisce about his experience working with the cannibalistic humanoids!

Goodman said, “I am definitely in C.H.U.D. I’m from St. Louis and I moved to New York in ’75 to do theater and I wanted to do film. I knew if I didn’t go and try to do films, I would kick myself for the rest of my life. C.H.U.D. was made by a lot of the guys I was hanging around with at the time. I don’t remember too much about it, because it was over 30 years ago! I do remember that Jay Thomas and I are cops, we walk into a diner, where we see the waitress. The waitress is Hallie Foote, she’s [playwright] Horton Foote’s daughter, and we talk to her. After we give Hallie our orders (‘cheeseburger and Coke’) and talk to her, the director (Douglas Cheek) then said, ‘Look at the window – here comes the Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers!’ So, when The Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers are coming at us, I did this—” (he points a finger at his own face, as he contorts it into a giant look of surprise and horror) “The director goes, ‘Do it again – more frightened!’ So I did this -” (he does a super exaggerated expression of giant open-mouthed fear and surprise) “And that’s the one they used!”

Directed by Douglas Cheek from a script crafted by Parnell Hall and Shepard Abbott, C.H.U.D. has the following synopsis: Photographer George Cooper is documenting the lives of subterranean homeless people, a population that has mysteriously dwindled. After receiving information from a reporter, George becomes aware of a conspiracy theory about cannibalistic monsters lurking in the sewers. He teams up with the reporter, a policeman and a priest to fight two battles: one against the cannibals and the other against a corrupt government official.

C.H.U.D. spawned a sequel called C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D., which took a different approach to the idea of cannibalistic humanoids, then the franchise went dormant. A few years ago, it did get an anthology novel follow-up called C.H.U.D. Lives!, and copies of that are available on Amazon.

Are you a C.H.U.D. fan, and are you glad to hear that John Goodman is happy to reminisce about his brief experience working on the film? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.