People had no idea when The Blob was released in the fall of 1958 that it would become a cult classic! This independently produced B-movie was made on a shoestring budget and bombed at the box office.
It spawned a sequel and a grittier remake in 1988, and today, B-movie fans consider it one of their favourite sci-fi horror films. Slither by James Gunn and Ghostbusters II were both affected by the film. In fact, in Stranger Things, the Mind Flayer is a byproduct of the Blob.
So, what is it about the film that makes it so unique? The inexorable, undulating monster is one of the film’s greatest assets. Another point of interest is the premise, which was unique among the films created at the period.
During that time, the most popular monster movies featured grown men and women as protagonists. Teenagers were rarely depicted as important characters, and when they were, their duties were limited to being a nuisance.
With skilled, competent kids attempting to save their town from looming disaster, The Blob changed that. There are various additional unique aspects of The Blob, and this video will focus on exploring the depths of the frenzy.
The Blob (1958)
The plot is set in the little town of Downingtown. When Steve, a teenager, and his girlfriend Jane are out and about, they notice something that looks like a falling star. They make the decision to travel to the location where the odd meteor-like object landed. Meanwhile, an elderly guy heard the crash and walked outside to investigate.
he hard exterior surface of the meteor splits open when he pokes it with a stick, revealing a jelly-like material inside. This Blob-like creature turns out to be a living entity that clings to his hand. The old man tries furiously to shake it off, but the glob reattaches itself even stronger.
Dr. Hallen is intrigued by this strange occurrence and sends Steve to investigate further at the crash site. Meanwhile, he plans to amputate the old man’s arm because nothing seems to be able to detach the blob. However, the blob completely consumes the old man as well as Dr. Hallen.
With each prey, the blob increases in size. Steve and Jane get the police, but when they arrive at the clinic, there are no signs of the doctor or the creature, and the cops dismiss their story. They are sent home with their fathers, but they manage to sneak out and gather their friends.
Together, they try to warn the entire town about the presence of this vicious monster. During this time, the Blob goes on a killing spree, devouring a grocery store janitor, a mechanic, and a late-night drinking establishment. It continues to expand in size and appears to become more murderous with each kill.
The town’s fire alarms and air-raid sirens are activated by Steve and Jane. As the drama progresses, the Blob enters a theatre and continues to advance into the sitting area, frightening the audience.
The townfolk are now aware of the Blob’s presence and are adjusting to the hazards it poses. Steve and Jane get trapped in a diner as the Blob grows to gigantic proportions. The police use a power line to try and kill it, but the ploy doesn’t work and the restaurant is set on fire as a result.
The owner uses the fire extinguisher to put out the flames in a frantic attempt to save themselves, and the approaching Blob recoils quickly. Steve recalls the episode at the grocery store when the Blob retreated from the freezer, and deduces that the Blob is cold-sensitive. Jane’s father and Steve’s pals rush to the high school to collect as many fire extinguishers as possible.
They utilise these to freeze the Blob, which is then transported to the North Pole by an Air Force plane, where it may securely stay frozen permanently. The film concludes with the airliner crashing into the Blob in a lonely Arctic region.
Our Take on the Movie
The plot includes everything that one would expect from a drive-in B-movie, but it isn’t only focused on cheap thrills. The tense atmosphere is a pleasurable experience, and the tale departs from traditional horror cliches.
It’s rare to witness a hero who understands the nature of the monster and how to deal with it! Steve is fully aware of the situation, and his sole aggravation is that he is unable to persuade the authorities of the danger. You’ll feel a connection to the characters, and it’ll be horrible every time the blob eats someone.
As for the cast, they did a commendable job, especially because not all the teenagers in the movie were teenagers in real life! Steve McQueen, for instance, was 28, and he is impressive as an earnest and cool young man.
AnetaCorsaut, who played Jane,might be less defined, but when Steve starts doubting himself, she is the one to help him back. She is certainly more than just a romantic partner for the hero, and the narrative shows glimpses of a mature character in her.
You could go ahead and say that the terror bits are not as effective today as they used to be, but we beg to differ. We feel that the scary element in this film has managed to stand the test of time.
Whenever the monster is on screen, you don’t see any goofiness, and the horror is played straight. It is the star of the show, and we are convinced from the very first scene that it is a great threat.
In today’s world of CGI, the practical effects used for the Blob are fascinating. It was made using a mixture of silicone and red dye, and after it consumed more victims, they added more dye to make it appear redder.
The adolescent characters were the focus, as previously stated, and the film definitely aimed to appeal to a younger audience. The climax, in which the blob monster is frozen and transported to the Arctic, is pretty inventive.
“Yeah, as long as the arctic stays frigid,” they conclude at the end of the movie, which rings true in today’s climate change period. The film has a large following in the horror and science fiction genres today, and everything from the antiquated but excellent practical effects to the innovative plot seems to have succeeded well.
The Blob Remake (1988)
It all begins with a familiar scene: a meteorite crashing near the California town of Arborville. A jelly-like thing grips onto the hand of an elderly transient as he inspects the spherical. Three high school students, Brian, Meg, and Paul, come across this man and transport him to the hospital.
Brian is a law-breaking biker who frequently pushes the boundaries of the law. Meg is a popular and attractive senior, and Paul is a successful football player. Brian leaves the scene after having the man admitted.
Paul notes that the man’s lower half has begun to dissolve as a result of his exposure to the jelly-like substance. He immediately calls for help, but it is too late as the blob now attaches itself to him.
Meg arrives, only to find Paul being engulfed by this growing Blob. She tries to free him from this entity, but one of his arms is torn from his body on impact. Meg gets thrown against a wall and is knocked unconscious.
The Blob oozes out of the hospital, and it is seen disappearing into a manhole inside a sewer. Brian and Meg try to reach out to the authorities and let them know about the bizarre entity that is on the loose.
However, the police don’t believe them, and they meet at a diner to talk about the strange incidents. Suddenly, the Blob reappears and takes down the diner’s handyman headfirst through the sink drain.
Brian and Meg hide inside the walk-in-freezer, and the Blob gives up the hunt because it is sensitive to cold. It goes on to eat the town’s sheriff and the owner of the diner and heads back into the sewers.
Meg and Brian head to the police station one more time, and they learn that Deputy Briggs has headed towards the landing site of the meteor. There is also some military activity that is being led by a scientist named Dr. Meddows.
He orders the whole town to be quarantined immediately. Brian manages to escape from a military van and get to his motorbike, howeverMeg isn’t as lucky, and she is taken to town. She gets to know that her younger brother Kevin has been missing after he went to a local theater to watch some slasher flick with his friend.
The Blob raids the theater, and everyone inside is attacked. It keeps growing in size as it consumes more and more victims, but Meg somehow manages to save her brother. Meanwhile, while listening in on a conversation between Dr. Meddows and his assistant, Brian makes a stunning revelation.
He learns that the Blob is the result of a botched Cold War biological weapons project. Dr. Meddows decides to confine the Blob inside the sewers after chasing Meg, Kevin, and his friend Eddie into the sewers. He seemed to be fine with sacrificing the children for the greater good.
Inside the sewers, Eddie is devoured. Brian manages to save Meg just in time, and now, he confronts Dr. Meddows in front of the whole town. However, the Blob drags him into the sewer using one of its tentacles.
The town’s Reverend is accidentally set on fire, and Meg tries to douse the flames with a fire extinguisher. When some of the blasts hits the Blob, it retreats immediately, and she comes to the conclusion that the creature cannot tolerate cold.
Everyone tries to extinguish the Blob with fire extinguishers, but nothing appears to work because the beast has grown too large. Brian goes to the town’s garage and obtains a snowmaker truck that is loaded with liquid nitrogen.
Brian strikes the Blob with snow just before it is about to engulf Meg and her family. The creature becomes agitated and lunges towards Brian. Meg tries to entice it away from him, and she’s expertly built an explosion with the liquid nitrogen canisters.
The charge is activated, and the Blob is instantly frozen with all of the liquid nitrogen. It shatters into fragments, which are transported to the town’s icehouse.
The Reverend is damaged and in a confused state of mind in the film’s closing scene, which is pretty distressing. He’s giving a doomsday lecture, implying that humanity is on the verge of annihilation. We show him holding aloft a glass jar with a piece of the Blob that he retrieved from the ice house while he preaches to his congregation. The picture draws to a close as we watch it heading inside.
Marvelous Reviews
We don’t usually prefer remakes to originals, but this one hit all the right notes. Even The Thing, directed by John Carpenter, is a remake, yet no one seems to mind! This famous remake of the 1958 film is yet another enjoyable monster movie with plenty of laughs.
The fast-paced story is combined with an entertaining script, and the audience is in for a treat. We enjoyed how they handled the story since the little modification in the Blob monster’s genesis is intriguing.
It isn’t an exact replica of the 1958 original, although there are some similarities. For instance, the Blob is still susceptible to cold, and this film also shows young protagonists in a good way. Kevin Dillon does a good job with his role of a snarky rebellious young man who takes a stand for what is right. Shawnee Smith is impressive as the female lead, and her performance is perfectly suited for a B-movie.
This Blob doesn’t pull back on the punches, and there are times when you will witness innocent, likable characters dying horrific deaths. They even ignored the taboo about killing kids in horror flicks. It is clearly a lot gorier than the original and is not meant for the squeamish.
The director, Chuck Russell, does a brilliant job when it comes to recreating the suspense-filled atmosphere of the original film. The budget for this film was several times that of its predecessor, at $19 million, and it shows in the spectacular effects and aesthetics.
Almost $9 million was spent on honing the visual effects, and it paid off handsomely. The absence of a CGI-generated disaster is refreshing, and the picture makes superb use of old-school special effects.
They used methocel, a thickening ingredient for milkshakes, to portray the Blob slime and juices.It might sound a tad condescending, but the special effects are quite good for the times. Yes, it is cheesy, but it is so much fun to watch the Blob consuming people in a disgusting manner.
Inside the beast, you can see the half-melted outlines of the victims, which had some excellent shock value back in the day. The climax, if we have one criticism of the story, has to be it. With that finish, they definitely planned for a climax, but it never came.
One of the most impressive achievements was The Blob’s ability to combine the old and new into something beautiful. This is a must-see for fans of the original movie as well as those who want to learn more about the Blob.
Beware! The Blob (Son Of Blob) (1972)
In 1972, this lesser-known sequel to the original film was released. The plot picks up fifteen years after the events of the first film, with a pipeline engineer returning to Los Angeles after working on a project in the North Pole.
Chester has brought a little sample of a peculiar frozen substance discovered with a bulldozer on his job site. He had no idea that this odd frozen object is actually a Blob fragment.
He takes it to the laboratory to be analyzed. All hell breaks loose when the scientists allow it to thaw, and the Blob is re-animated! It immediately goes on an eating spree and consumes a fly, a kitten, and even Chester’s wife.
In a bizarre fourth wall sequence, we see Chester being devoured by the Blob just as he is watching a television broadcast of the film The Blob! One of his friends, Lisa, walks in at that moment as Chester is being consumed. She somehow manages to escape, but nobody believes her ridiculous account.
The Blob keeps growing to gigantic proportions and starts consuming victims from all over the town. Slowly, the list of missing individuals starts to increase, and people start to comprehend the presence of something sinister.
The Blob even attacks Lisa and her boyfriend, but they stay put inside Bobby’s truck. The creature starts to figure out a way to get inside the vehicle when suddenly the air-conditioning is switched on. Since the Blob is averse to anything cold, it retreats immediately.
The Blob then preys on victims in a bowling alley and a skating rink. As more people succumb to this creature, its bulk continues to rise, and it becomes unstoppable. Bobby ignites the ice machine in the skating rink just in time to freeze the Blob.
When the television crew arrives and begins recording the frozen Blob, their powerful torches generate enough heat to melt a small portion of the creature. It quickly moves on to the sheriff, who is doing a national television interview, and the film concludes on this unsettling note.
Our thoughts on this movie
Beware! is nothing more than a parody of the original horror film. It may have an all-star cast, but there’s a reason it’s not well-known! You can watch it for the thick, pea soup-like atmosphere of the 1970s, but don’t set your expectations too high. You’ll see some cheesy additions to the story’s laid-back tone.
The narrative is a little clumsy and unrefined, but that is part of the film’s appeal. There are several amusing scenes, such as when the bald victim in the bathtub witnesses the gelatinous threat spreading beneath his bathroom door and rushes through the streets screaming while hilarious music plays.
It is believed that the director, Larry Hagman, had a week or two free in his schedule and used it to make this movie and have some fun! He put together a bizarre storyline and some fun cameos to create a direct sequel to the original film.
The cast delivers an average performance, with the likes of Robert Walker Jr. and Gwynne Gilford doing justice to their individual roles. Robert even did his own stunts despite the presence of a professional stunt person on the sets.
You might be disappointed to learn that this film offers nothing new and depicts the same cast of characters and the same old pandemonium surrounding the Blob monster. The Blob’s die-hard fans may be disappointed, but this film will still be entertaining for a casual movie night with a few beers.
Future Of the franchise
Few people know that horror legend Rob Zombie had intentions to create his own version of the Blob. He intended to represent the Blob as a darker version of what had previously been seen, and it would be a massive red gloop ball.
The humans it consumed would be possessed by the Blob, and they would be converted into zombies. The thought of Rob Zombie battling the Blob sounds exciting, but his ideas never came to fruition.
Later, Simon West took over as the director in charge of a remake. In 2015, it was announced that a remake would be created with Richard Saperstein and Brian Witten as producers alongside the producer of the original, Jack H. Harris, who would be the executive producer. There has been a long period of silence on this, which isn’t always good news for a forthcoming film.
Harris suddenly unexpectedly at the age of 98, putting the project’s future in jeopardy. The one saving grace is that Goldcrest Films, the production company, has stated that they are still involved. We only hope they don’t ruin this fantastic brand with cheesy CGI effects or a wacky plot! We wouldn’t put our hopes up too high because we despise being let down, so let’s just cross our fingers on this one.