Monster #11—Mole People

Last week, we took a look at humanoids from the deep. This week, we're doing the exact same, only the deep in question this time around isn't the murky waters where all manner of slimy and scaly monsters lurk. This time, the deep is right below your feet, in the sewers below! Well, assuming you live in a city. If you're in a rural area, count yourself luck that you don't have to worry about mole people!

There's rumors they're real, of course. Entire societies of people living down below, dwelling in tribes below the city streets. Of course, if those rumors are true, they're still people. What I'm talking about here are those who've undergone transformations from human to monster.

Of course, the "Casablanca" of mole people movies is C. H. U. D. I'm pretty sure that's the first time anyone's ever compared those two movies, too. C. H. U. D., as most folks know, stands for Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers. And those of you who've seen the movie know it also stands for Chemical Hazard Urban Disposal. That acronym, although it's less cool, is more accurate, especially since the chuds in the movie aren't strictly cannibals; they don't eat each other, just humans. But who am I to argue with the brilliance of C. H. U. D?

On a more serious note, while there's certainly a giant dose of campy fun in the movie, there's also some pretty spooky stuff in C. H. U. D. Similar to how zombie movies present us with our own selves, transformed into deformed monsters that want to eat us, the chuds are, after all, us. With a heavy dose of mutation-causing chemicals, of course.

One of the top three things I'd rather not see on a city street at night...

But if C. H. U. D. is too corny for you... then there's always the Japanese movie Marebito. It's as much a vampire movie as a mole person movie, but it's also not corny at all. Very spooky, and with some Lovecraft stuff as well!

Over on the reading side of things, there's the obvious mole person story, "The Time Machine." There's also Clive Barker's Midnight Meat Train, which made for a rather good (if very gory) movie in my opinion.

But my hands down favorite? T. E. D. Klein's short story "Children of the Kingdom," which combines some creepy mole men shenanigans with a blackout in New York City. Klein's actually one of my favorite authors, even though he's only ever written a handful of short stories and one novel. They're all brilliant, though. Hmm... it's also been way too long since I've read those stories. Might need to fix that tonight!

Hmmm... Just realized. C. H. U. D., Midnight Meat Train, and Children of the Kingdom all take place in New York city. Maybe there's something to those urban legends after all?

Recommended  Reading

• The Time Machine, by H. G. Wells
• "The Midnight Meat Train," by Clive Barker
• "Children of the Kingdom," by T. E. D. Klein

Recommended Viewing

• C. H. U. D, dir. Douglas Cheek
• Marebito, dir. Takashi Shimizu
• The Midnight Meat Train, dir.  Ryuhei Kitamura