The Blob

The Blob (1988) was a bloody and nasty update to the fifties "classic" horror/science fiction film THE BLOB. I actually prefer the remake (one of the few times you'll hear me say that) because it covered ground that the original failed to cover and the Blob looked meaner and nastier than the original pile of goo. Kevin Dillion stars as the reluctant hero. The story to the remake is very much the same (except for the expected eighties additions and themes). No hokey pokey stuff here folks. If you like the original then you probably wont enjoy this update. More horror than science fiction and the gore level is real high.

I hope they don't try and remake this movie again. I felt that once is enough. Kevin Dillion was enjoyable as the rapscallion who does good and Shawnee Smith is in hot mode, Bill Mosley, Donavan Leitch, Art La Fleur and Candy Clark co-star as well.

Recommended.

This movie takes the classic made in 1957 and updates it with a modern tone and special effects. If you are unfamiliar with the plot; A meteor crashes to Earth, and contained within is a gelatinous creature with an insatiable appetite for humans. As it eats more and more people, it grows in both mass and red color. How do you stop a creature that is impervious to bullets? Beware the blob. Comparing apples to apples here, the original movie is like a Sunday drive with your grandparents, slow but ominous. The remake is more like a Grand Prix race with a driver on speed. What the different tempo and special effects could not do is vastly improve upon the original. If this was your first exposure to The Blob, I would say you would hate the 50's version. If you saw that one first, then you will like this movie, just not quite as much. All in all this is a great updating, but it lacks some of the heart.

Brimming with an unmistakable 1980s flavour, jam-packed with truly impressive special effects, and also amongst the better examples of its genre(s), The Blob may feature a simple premise & serviceable set of characters but it still manages to make the most of its available resources by making sure that its foundation is strong, the basic fundamentals are covered and the technical execution is sound.

Co-written & directed by Chuck Russell, the story follows a deadly entity from space that crash-lands in a small town and starts growing by dissolving & devouring anything n everything that's in its path. The character introductions are bland and the setup is meh too but once the horrific creature surfaces, everything get dialled up and unfolds with relentless intensity to deliver truly terrifying moments of horror.

The plot navigates rebellious youth, government conspiracy, biological warfare & secret cover-up in ways that forward the narrative but the main highlight is the spectacular make-up effects & stellar craftsmanship that goes into bringing the strange, gelatinous life form to life. The gory kills & mayhem it has in store have that grindhouse quality to it and although the performances aren't strong enough, they do meet the brief.

Overall, The Blob is another quality addition to the list of sci-fi horror remakes that are superior to their original entries and remains a gripping, thrilling & amusing offering after all these years. Having effectively stood against the test of time and still retaining its ability to shock & surprise, this nightmarish yet entertaining fare is very much reflective of the cynical era it belongs to and delivers the desired violence in gleeful doses. Highly recommended.

(70%) Along with "The fly", and "The thing", this is a member of a trio of fine remade 1950's B-movies that did a great job of recreating some pretty gross ideas by adding some 80's style gore, yet still keeping the basic premise, as well as maintaining some of the better ideas roughly the same. This is the lesser of the three movies, but the other two are fantastic, while this is just plain good. The plot is well told with enough time on the main characters, but not too much to ruin the pacing, and the effects are really well done throughout with great gore and creature based attacks. Overall though it's just a very entertaining movie to watch that I'd recommend to all horror fans.

A remake of the 1958 Steve McQueen film of the same name which follows a jelly-like, amoebic organism that crashes down to Earth from a meteorite n dissolves anything in its path, thereby growing in size.

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs. Revisited it recently. As a fan of McQueen, i consider the original as a classic monster film of the 50s, this one i consider as a creature film of the 80s.

It is more violent than the original with lots of body counts including that of a small kid. It has humor n action too. While the original is a simple one, this one functions as a biological weapon gone haywired as well as an authoritarian one where the military doesn't care about the citizens. We have Matt Dillon with mullet n leather jacket n a very young Shawnee Smith.

The sheriff's death scene was ahead of its time n later imitated many times in horror movies. Dr Meddows' death sequence, i believe, inspired the one in Deep Blue Sea involving Morgan Freeman. Watch out for Bill Moseley in a tiny role of that of a soldier (watch closely the sewer scene).