The Blob (1988) Review

When deciding what to watch one night I had this film in my head, I had watched it as a kid and as such couldn’t remember any of it at all other than it’s got a big blob in it. I had a quick look on IMDB and saw that it starred Kevin Dillon who I like from Entourage and Shawnee Smith who’s done a few things that I’ve enjoyed. So it was a good chance to see them at the start of their career.

“This film is worth watching obviously it’s not as scary as I remember it being when I was in my early teens but I guess that’s to be expected!”

Budget – $19 million

Trivia – Of the film’s $19 million budget, $9 million went toward visual effects.

Trivia – The blob’s first victim, the homeless man, is credited as “Can Man,” a reference to The Stand character “Trash Can Man.” Trash Can Man was Randall Flagg’s most devoted follower; in this film, Can Man shares nearly all his scenes with Brian Flagg which is a reference to the villain of The Stand Randall Flagg.

Poking a crashed meteorite with a stick, it was never going to turn out as a good decision was it?

A meteorite whizzes through the air and crashes in a small town called Arborville, as it flies through the air the local tramp/shack dweller old man sees it. He goes to the landing site and investigates what has just crashed to earth, unfortunately for him he discovers a jelly like substance that lunges forward and attaches itself to his hand. It’s from here that he ends up meeting the front end of a car driven by Paul who’s the schools football jock along with Meg (Shawnee Smith) the hot cheerleader girl on her first date with him. With Brian (Kevin Dillon) the local bad boy closely behind the old man Paul blames him for chasing him onto the road.

Eventually they all get the old man to hospital but things go from bad to worse as Paul witnesses the bottom half of the old man getting melted or absorbed by the jelly like blob substance. When he calls for help he is also attacked by the blob, the police believe that all the deaths are by Brian and he’s arrested but soon released after a complete lack of any evidence. Brian heads for some food at the local diner where Meg finds him and tries to tell him about the blob but he doesn’t believe her until he sees first hand a really good (good for us the viewers anyway) death.

Some of the effects are a bit dated but I still enjoyed them!

After returning to the police station they end up meeting some scientists who claim they want to help but this doesn’t turn out to be true. There’s several chase scenes as the blob goes after Meg and her brother who she rescued from the cinema, through the sewers. This is where she meets up with Brian again who escaped from the scientists. The blob is attacked but it just consumes everything in it’s path getting bigger and bigger, leading to a final confrontation with the towns folk at the town hall.

The Good

The effects for the time of the film are excellent but some appear pretty dated now, so I guess this could be a good or bad point depending on how you look at it. Dillon and Shawnee Smith are both great in their roles as the main stereotypical characters of 80’s America. The film has a good pacing from start the finish, I loved that it didn’t take  too long to get to the monster like some films do. The blob creature going after the main characters was fun to watch as well.

A scientist using flames when it’s discovered by two teens that the blob doesn’t like the cold

The Bad

Other than the two main characters the rest are quite poor but did make good fodder for the blob I suppose. As I mentioned some effects are quite dated but some still look really good. The ending was a bit too convenient but I suppose given the clues earlier on it was the only way of ending the blob.

This film is worth watching obviously it’s not as scary as I remember it being when I was in my early teens but I guess that’s to be expected! I mostly liked seeing an actor and actress I like at an early stage of their careers. Overall an enjoyable 80’s monster movie that you should give a watch.

Overall Score