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When I was much younger (1980's), my brother and I recall watching a movie at a sci-fi convention. The premise of the movie is that there's some white paste, resembling marshmallow fluff, that enters the market and everyone eats it and starts acting mysteriously, and becomes addicted to eating it and forcing others to eat it.

There are two very distinct scenes I can remember:

  1. The protagonist, a kid, was being sat down at the table and forced by his (very 80s looking) family to eat the paste. The boy runs to the bathroom and grabs some toothpaste, and replaces his dinner plate with that in order to convince his fanatic family that he has indulged in the stuff.

  2. Later on, possibly after a chase scene, they get to a manufacturing plant which actually turns out to be some machines that were actually just harvesting the stuff out of the ground (possibly via mining) but had been collected into a giant pool.

I seem to remember the name of the product being "Stuff", but I am not 100% sure on this.

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    A good description. I'm surprised that you couldn't find it yourself...
    – Valorum
    Commented Aug 30, 2018 at 20:46
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    I watched it when I was eight years old, or so, so I was never certain about any one detail of the film, other than the toothpaste scene.
    – Erin B
    Commented Aug 30, 2018 at 20:48

2 Answers 2

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This is The Stuff (1985)

Several railroad workers discover a yogurt-like white substance bubbling out of the ground. These workers find it to be sweet and addictive. Later, the substance, marketed as "The Stuff," is being sold to the general public in containers like ice cream. It is marketed as having no calories and as being sweet, creamy, and filling. The Stuff quickly becomes a nationwide craze and drastically hurts the sales of ice cream.

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    I don't get it, what was so bad about the "stuff" ? free food from the ground? Commented Aug 31, 2018 at 3:37
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    @LassiKinnunen - "The Stuff is actually a living, parasitic, and possibly sentient organism that gradually takes over the brain; it then mutates those who eat it into bizarre zombie-like creatures, before consuming them from the inside and leaving them literal empty shells of their former selves."
    – Valorum
    Commented Aug 31, 2018 at 6:01
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    @Valorum Spoilers...
    – Mr Lister
    Commented Aug 31, 2018 at 6:39
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    @MrLister - I think the whole "everyone eats it and starts acting mysteriously, and becomes addicted to eating it and forcing others to eat it" would tend to imply there's something going on. Or, it's avocado toast or something.
    – RDFozz
    Commented Aug 31, 2018 at 16:33
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    @RDFozz - Or that it's pumpkin spice and the townsfolk happen to all be millennial girls
    – Valorum
    Commented Aug 31, 2018 at 16:46
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The Stuff (1985) is clearly what you are remembering.

Several railroad workers discover a yogurt-like white substance bubbling out of the ground. These workers find it to be sweet and addictive. Later, the substance, marketed as "The Stuff," is being sold to the general public in containers like ice cream. It is marketed as having no calories and as being sweet, creamy, and filling. The Stuff quickly becomes a nationwide craze and drastically hurts the sales of ice cream.

[...]

Under their commissions, Rutherford conducts an investigation into The Stuff. His efforts reveal, to his initial horror, that the craze for the dessert is far deadlier than anyone had believed: The Stuff is actually a living, parasitic, and possibly sentient organism that gradually takes over the brain; it then mutates those who eat it into bizarre zombie-like creatures, before consuming them from the inside and leaving them literal empty shells of their former selves.

A young boy named Jason also discovers The Stuff is alive and sees how it affects his family and how they are adamant towards his beliefs on The Stuff. He gets arrested for vandalizing a supermarket display of The Stuff, attracting the attention of Rutherford, who comes to his aid.

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