La masa devoradora

I look at this page, and it seems disapproving to me to have to listen to someone ramble and rant at a real classic. Sure, I agree to let everyone have their opinion, but here's mine:

This movie should not be missed by any classic horror watcher, and should be seen many casual viewers around the world. Sure, it has lost some of it's flair and greatness with age, especially in todays world of CGI effects, but that's not why you should like it.

You should like it because it actually is a scary movie, even for today's standards. It's overall ickyness will creep you out just as much as the original audiences, so don't slam a classic if you haven't given it a chance. Watch it, but not with a critical attitude. Watch it to have fun, how it was originally intended.

I first saw "The Blob" on TV back in the '70s when I was about eight years old and it scared the unholy crap out of me. (I was a nervous type kid.) Seeing it again as a grown man, I smiled a lot at how relatively mild-mannered it is by today's standards, but "The Blob" is still a ton of fun. A young Steve McQueen (billed as "Steven" here for the first and only time in his career) plays the plucky, square-jawed teenage hero (despite the fact that he was 27 when he made the movie) who battles valiantly against the usual group of unbelieving grown-ups (who's gonna take the word of a teen-age hot rodder?) in order to save his small town from a man-eating alien hunk of goo that crashes to earth inside a meteor and begins absorbing townspeople at an alarming rate overnight. The title creature may resemble a wiggling, chewed up hunk of bubble gum, but you gotta love those attack scenes shot from The Blob's point of view (did they use a "Blob Cam?") and that oh-so-catchy theme song ("It creeps! It leaps! It slides, it glides across the floor!"). Admittedly "The Blob" suffers a bit from a few slow patches in the middle of the film where Steve and his fellow teens do more talking than anything else, but once the third act begins and the creature oozes into a sold-out midnight horror movie show at the local theatre, causing mass panic, it's golden. "The Blob" is an iconic piece of 50s sci-fi/horror, no doubt, and it's just as much fun to watch today as it must've been "back in the day." "The Blob" was remade in the late 80s by "Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors" director Chuck Russell (I like that version as well), and now I'm hearing that Rob Zombie's next film project will be yet another new version of "The Blob." What puzzles and worries me is that Zombie says the first thing he's going to change in his remake is that there won't be "a big, red Blobby thing. I hate that." Now, how the hell are you going to make a "Blob" movie WITHOUT a big, red Blobby thing? Blasphemy!!!

A horror film that is both goofy and strangely terrifying. One has to wonder about what the Creator/Deity was thinking when The Blob was made. What kind of world did it come from? When it's in it's normal habitat what does The Blob feed on? When you think about it The Blob is your ultimate doomsday weapon.

The soon to be legend Steve McQueen got his first starring role in The Blob, a 28 year old playing a teen who is out getting down to business with Aneta Corsaut when a passing meteor lands, cracks open, and out pops this Jello like creature which just absorbs whatever is living around it on contact and just grows. In the end it is covering your average greasy spoon diner with McQueen, Corsaut, and others inside.

Most of the film is McQueen trying to warn folks about it with the help of Corsaut. Of course the adults, especially law enforcement don't believe him after all he's a typical Eisenhower era teen with girls and hotrods on his mind. In fact in the middle of a mission, he takes time for a little drag race.

But it's Steve who actually discovers the secret of if not killing The Blob at least rendering it helpless and inert. McQueen was paid $2500.00 for the film, in two years that might have paid for one of his entourage.

The Blob was the farewell film of character actor Olin Howlin who usually played rustic types in a couple hundred films. He's The Blob's first victim that McQueen and Corsaut discover.

After over 50 years still an interesting and camp film.

This hugely entertaining b-movie starts off with an insanely catchy rockabilly song that perfectly sets the mood for what's to come. This movie never makes the mistake of taking itself seriously, which is what made it such an effective thriller.

The acting was actually pretty stiff, and the main characters aren't that interesting, but the director is really good at keeping this viewer in suspense. The blob was pretty ridiculous, but I still tensed up whenever I saw it on screen. And like I said in the summary, this movie has a sense of humour, which is important in low budget science fiction.

I also found the special effects to be clever. The Blob slithered under doorways, through vents, and up people's legs. It was kind of obvious how they did a lot of it,but I personally think that's part of the charm of pre-cgi effects.

Bottom Line: If you're expecting great acting and character development, skip this, but if you like b- movies, it's a masterpiece.

I have read many of the user comments and I think that the film is generally not getting credit for being a smart thriller. Why does the monster have to be on-screen to make it good? Hitchcock said that suspense plays better than action and although this film missed many opportunities to be more suspenseful, it's is at least not stupid.

In how many horror films today does the hero know the monster and its nature when he should? Steve knows what he's dealing with almost from the beginning and his frustration is not being able to convince the authorities.

Yet the authorities act in a totally credible way as well, even the annoying sergeant. Who would believe such a story from a bunch of "kids" (we know Steve wasn't a kid, but his character is).

One key example of the movie's intelligence: Steve is yelling to Dave to get CO2 fire extinguishers long after Dave has already gotten the message and dispatched people to get them. How many movies made in the 90s would be smart about this subtle detail?

I'm really tired of watching movies and having people behave in ways different than they really would in real life (the most irritating recent example is Tom Hanks falling asleep with the flashlight on in Cast Away). Horror films in particular do this in spades (which is why the Scream films have been so popular), but The Blob, to me, stayed pretty true to its characters, and in so doing made a smarter and better film.

Yes there are many flaws, perhaps biggest is Steve McQueen's very uneven performance, but I think they missed key opportunities for suspense that could have turned this above average, kinda scary, kinda funny movie that's a cult favourite into a true classic.