Movie One Hundred Forty
When a mysterious space rock crashes into Earth, the creature inside terrorizes a small town as it grows immensely in The Blob.
Almost two genres in one, The Blob is part teenage drama and part sci-fi/horror film. Steve (Steve McQueen) and his girlfriend, Jane are out at a make-out point as they see a meteorite crash into a nearby field. When they go to investigate it, they find the meteorite, the meteorite with the blob, and an elderly farmer. The blob then attacks the farmer and attaches itself to his arm and the two teens take him to the doctor. Before the doctor can help the man, the blob consumes him and begins to grow. Soon, the blob is out of control eating everything (and everyone) it can, growing to immense proportions.
Side note, it’s really hard to write “blob” and not “blog”.
Growing up I was more aware of the 1988 version of The Blob which is a remake of this version, albeit a violent remake. The original has a special charm that only 50s sci-fi flicks can really muster and even though it is cheesy and the acting is met with many an eye-roll, I was charmed by The Blob. As a monster, the blob itself is fairly terrifying. It’s unrelenting and it’s only goal is to eat and grow. Being smothered to death by a giant ball of autonomous pink goo is pretty high on my list of “ways I’d rather not die”.
Still, even though I was taken with the setting of The Blob, as well as Steve McQueen before being THE Steve McQueen, it’s not a great movie. As I touched on before, the acting is especially horrendous for some of the townsfolk and watching the film 50+ years later it’s easy to call out all of its faults. The story seems to want to depart and become a teenage drama more than once, which is kind of odd and makes the pacing difficult. One thing I was impressed with was the blob creature, which looks exactly as a pink outer space blob monster should look. While I wouldn’t recommend The Blob outright, there is a lot of entertainment to be had if you’re like me and have a soft spot for movies like this. The 80s version, while violent, doesn’t have the same charm.
I give it 3 how did Steve McQueen pull off being a teenager looking like this? out of 5.
Links:
Always A Personal Favorite.
Love Me Some Steve McQueen, Fo SHO!
Steve McQueen is amazing. He’s the reason I wanted to watch this one, actually
Ditto, Dude.
I actually saw the 1988 Remake before I saw the Original. The Original Was More Fun… the remake, more Gruesome.
Yeah, same here. I suppose being more gruesome may make it the remake more fun for some people, though.
Oh, It Is Fun.
Some Of The Death-Scenes Were Wildly Entertaining, To Say The Least.
The 50s Version was Sci-Fi/Schlock
The 1980s Version Was Sc-Fi/Schlock/Gruesome-Horror Click. Both Are Fun. But Steve McQueen’s Version Is My Favorite hehehehe
Agree… the film sucks. Also it’s only 80 minutes long but it drags a lot, which is odd. It felt like a 3 hour film.
Definitely felt longer than it was. It could almost have just been a Twilight Zone episode or something instead of a full-length. I still liked it well enough, though.
Steve McQueen was a stud. Plain and simple. Good work! Much better then the remake IMO.
Ha! Just re-watched this last week.
Oh yeah? What’d you think?
I kind of enjoyed it as a cheesy old horror film. Far from Steven McQueen’s best, but he’s the bright spot of the film. I’d rate the movie the same as you. Good review.
Oh yeah, I heard that Rob Zombie’s making a remake of the film. I’ll probably skip that.
I can’t even imagine a Rob Zombie version of the film. I will probably pass too.
Just watched this on Saturday. Your review pretty much sums up my feelings. It’s a good watch and the special effects are pretty cool, but nothing to write home about.
This is a great movie and it’s remake, I must add, is one of the few times where a remake almost lives up to the original. I think the reason it works is because it looks like jello and who could be afraid of jello? Until this movie I am sure no one did but the is just something so eerie a rolling, growing ball of goo. Love it.
Since so many sic-fi movies of the 50s were just giant versions of regular things (ants, spiders, lizards, etc.) it is pretty neat to have a creature that looks like someone sneezed out some jello.
i remember watching the original on sunday afternoons and saturday nights when i was a kid. always remember the old guy stabbing the meteorite with a stick and then the blog climbs up his arm. i think chet akins was the sheriff. the movie theater scene always gave me the creeps and made me afraid to go to the movies until i got a little older.
I almost picked that scene as my rating scale but decided on McQueen since he was the main reason I wanted to watch.
Aren’t blogs blobs anyway?!? Nice vintage find!
Lol–I actually like the films from the 50’s to the 80’s that used actors that were a lot older than teenagers because they were a lot more into their acting and characters rather than self-consciously trying to look cool at all times bringing a new meaning to the term “dead pan.” But I agree that the original Blob is a pretty forgettable movie. I like Beware the Blob better.
I prefer it too I just found it amusing that McQueen sounds like a teen but looks like he is pushing 40 (he’s actually in his late 20s). I’ve never seen the sequel but if you like it better it may be worth my tracking down, thanks!
It wasn’t really a sequel–it’s a low-budget, cheesy, seedy version of the blob franchise. But yeah, I would still recommend it.
Nice post, man! A very fun read 😉
Haha, thanks! Probably more fun to read than to sit through 90 minutes of for some
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