1.) So, did the monster eat the dog at the opening of the movie, too? We saw a woman walking a little fluffly white dog get yanked into the sewer, but it's not clear on if the dog got ate too.
• Averted. We find out later in the movie what happened to the pooch. It ain't pretty.
2.) I know living in a big city can be very expensive, bat dang, George and Lauren live in a really crummy building. It looks like it's condemned, to be honest.
• George is a photographer and Laureen is a model. When we first meet them Lauren says she is going to be late for a photo shoot for a perfume ad. You'd think she'd want to live in a less dreary looking building if she's a model getting ad work. Unless it's some really cheap Dollar Store Perfume company.
• Maybe they're broke. As soon as we meet George he's blowing off a reporter that commissioned some photo work. Thats a good way to make sure no one hires you. You think this guy won't tell everyone else not to hire George Cooper because he'll blow your deadline? Trust me, in the 80's a missed a deadline for some artwork for a NON PROFIT AGENCY and they never forgave me for it (even though I did it FOR FREE). The next time I was coming up short on a deadline I freakin' chased the Fed Ex man across town.
3.) Why CAPTAIN Bosch personally investigating a missing person's case? Wouldn't a captain be in charge of directing other detectives?
• Averted. Bosch admits to Shepherd that he's interested in the growing list of missing persons because his wife is one of the people that disappeared. Of course that begs the question of wouldn't the department tell him he can't investigate his own wife's disappearence? For all they know he "disappeared" her. Isn't that a conflict of interest?
4.) Shepherd and Captain Bosch go into the sewer to investigate the missing homeless people that live down there. Shepherd tells Bosch how he found a radiation detector down there and even shows it to him. A few minutes later they find a geiger counter that starts beeping furiously and they hear a monstrous roar. Now I don't know about you, but if I were anywhere near a geiger counter that started making warning sounds I'd be haulin' ass. If I'm near one that does that and then I hear a monster sound I'm going to freaking teleport like Nightcrawler outta there.
5.) After the CHUD throat grabs the old man in the phone both the little kid grand daughter doesn't scream or anything. Heck, she saw the monster before her grandfather even knew it was there and didn't scream or yell. Ok, maybe she was just in shock. But later at the police station one of the cops tells Bosch "She's hysterical, says a monster ate her grandfather!" laughingly. Um, she ain't hysterical. She's either catatonic or she has ice water in her veins. This kid is nothing near hysterical though.
• By the way, what kind of dickhead cops do they have in this city? The cop that tells Bosch this is laughing about it! Hey meathead, whether you believe a monster did it or not, it's a LITTLE KID and she has clearly seen something that traumatized her. Jerk.
6.) Wilson, the Obstructive Bureaucrat from the Nuclear Regulatory Committee sends one of his goons to tail Shepherd after they first meet. Presumably to keep Shepherd from gathering more evidence about the existence of the CHUDs. When Shepherd goes into the sewer to get a slightly crazy homeless man he knows out for his own safety the goon puts a lock on the sewer opening trapping Shepherd down there. (Spoiler, the homeless guys dies in a non-CHUD way). What's the point of that? It's clear that Wilson doesn't think Shepherd can prove anything and the goon has no idea whether the CHUDs will get Shepherd killed real fast or not. Shepherd knows the guy was tailing him, too, so theres the chance that he might get out of the sewer and go axe crazy. I mean would if that creep had done that to me.
• Shepherd had a run in with the guy earlier. He was trying to make a phone call at a payphone when the goon took his coin away and glared at him. So maybe the goon isn't afraid at all of Shepherd. I mean, usually that would get you a throat punch at the very least in 1984. (Nowadays you could get shot) Shepherd did nothing.
HANGOVER MOMENTS
♦ Captain Bosch...a police Captain walks around the station with his gun tucked into his pants. No holster, he's doin' it gangsta-style. It seems like a small detail (and I almost missed it) but it took me right out of the movie.
♦ Bosch sends some New York City police officers on a CHUD hunt in the sewers armed with Flame Throwers! Do New York City cops even have flame throwers? In 1984? ...and for God's Sake, why?
♦ Considering the craptastic way Wilson handles things and that Bosch already has an act to grind because his wife is a victim of the CHUDs why doesn't he just go to the press and blow the wole story all over the media? Yeah there was no internet in 1984 (at least not as we know it today) but it would attract enough attention to bury Wilson and maybe avoid more CHUDing's!
FAMILIAR TROPES
Wilson is the definition of the Obstructive Bureaucrat in this movie. To the point where when it's obvious that his cover up is causing more than good for anyone he still insists on doing things his way just to avoid bad press.
THE BAR TAB
Leaving only the less than .001% chance that you'e wiped a "cult" movie from your bucket list, CHUD will leave you craving for a stronger and more consistent brew. This blend is better for people that really want to watch 80's schlock. If that's not your poison you might want take a beer from the score.
