Le Blob

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.

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.

One night, just outside of a quiet and small town, a bizarre meteor crashes. A man who goes to investigate finds a weird glop that jumps on his arm and puts him into a state of frenzy. Some young people take him to the hospital and we soon see that the weird substance has eaten most of him and it is still hungry...

The result is a very entertaining monster flick with a very unusual monster - an amorphous blob. After films like Alien, Predator, The Thing, and others thinking of a good monster idea can be tough. Even John Carpenter's well crafted The Thing is a remake, but that didn't stop the film from becoming one of his best due to a good visceral interpretation of the story. The same goes for this film - a remake of an old movie with a very visceral and gory style. Featuring top-notch aesthetic and even some obviously aged, but nonetheless fun, old computer effects it is more of a thorough re-imagination like The Thing was.

However, the film falls a bit on its face when it comes to creating suspense. Many scenes with the title monster are tense and the action good and the gore first-rate, but the connective scenes between them surprisingly lack in tension. With material ripe for an eerie atmosphere it is a shame to see this horror element not fully developed in the film. The result is a fun movie, but it could have been much better. Also the mad scientist/cold war element is a bit stale by today's standards.

But, overall it is a fun little flick featuring a truly merciless monster that gobbles up just about anyone (even kids!). Horror/sci-fi fans will definitely want to check this flick out. 7/10

Rated R: violence, horror images, and profanity

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).

In the 1980s there were 3 remakes of Popular 1950s Horror films, first there was THE THING (1982) then THE FLY (1986) And in (1988) We got THE BLOB, which is often overlooked and considered to be the lesser of the 3 remakes, and to me that's really sad because THE BLOB is in my opinion is Just as good as the other two remakes from the 80s, The 1950s version of The Blob is a classic B-Movie worth watching for a good laugh, as for the Remake it is a truly scary film, the suspense is there, the special effects are incredible to this day, the only effects that are dated are the green screen effects which don't show up until the latter of the film and there's only a few of them.

The Plot is the same as the original but with a slight twist, Like in the original, A meteorite hits earth and a strange blob creature oozes out of it and starts to devour anything and anyone in its path, the film has 2 heroes played by (Kevin Dillon and Shawnee Smith) who both do a good job with their roles, and the supporting cast is good also.

The film succeeds as being a good remake because it gives you something old and something new, it pays homage to the original without completely ripping off the original, In fact there are only 2 major scenes that are lifted from the original, but they are Done in good taste, unlike many remakes today where they just add an overabundance of scenes from the original making feel like a total repeat of the original and not add anything new, But the real show stealer is the Blob itself, the biggest improvement being the special effects, the blob has never looked more threatening or scarier.

Overall: The 1988 remake of THE BLOB is a classic but sadly overlooked Horror/Sci-Fi film, The Only problem with it is some cheesy dialog and maybe the new twist on the plot is not the best, but the biggest problem is, WHEN WILL WE GET A SPECIAL EDITION DVD/BLU RAY? It would be good to see some bonus features as well as some remastering, they could surely Polish up some of the bad green screen moments. But overall the film is a lot of fun, Highly recommended for Horror/Sci-Fi Buffs.

8/10 4/5