The Blob was a movie that really could have used a do-over; he original 1958 film is a fun science fiction film, but the special effects and script are very dated and needed a bit of fine-tuning. It was movie in desperate need of a remake, and when the film's 30th anniversary rolled around, we finally got it. The 1988 remake is just as good if not better than the original. It has its flaws, but it manages to do the 1958 version justice. It's gory, intense and a lot more revved up than the original.
The plot is pretty basic, an alien life form lands on earth and eats people. It's not a very original premise, but considering it's based on a B-movie from the 1950's, I'll cut it some slack. There's also the generic "this seemingly unimportant scene in the first act that pays off later" scenes, and a lot of generic characters, but the movie has a very likable charm to it that washes away the camp of the remake. I'll also give it props for being one of the only movies ever to kill off a child. It's somewhat of an unspoken rule that kids under the age of 15 or so can't die in a movie unless it's some sort of drama, and the death is the focal point of the film. The Blob treats the kid as just another casualty, and it takes serious guts to do that in a movie.
The remake doesn't veer too far from the original film's plot, but there are a few changes. Our cast of characters is slightly different, thankfully no longer the silly 1950's character archetypes, and thankfully not any equally silly 1980's character archetypes. The only major plot change, and an unfortunate one, is the addition of a government conspiracy subplot. In the original film, nobody believed the protagonists about the blob, and they ended up having to draw a large crowd before anyone would listen to them and get something done. In the remake, the local authorities still don't listen to the heroes, but about halfway through the film a legion of guys in hazmat suits show up and quarantine the town. These guys actually listen to our heroes, but have sinister ulterior motives. In a disappointing twist, it's revealed that the blob is a failed result of the USA's attempt at germ warfare. In the original film, the blob is just deadly space goo, which is far creepier than overgrown pathogens.
The main attraction to this film, however, are the special effects. The original film had some very clever but campy special effects, mostly involving miniature angled sets and whatever kind of jelly the blob was made from. The remake doesn't hold back and gives us the grossest special effects in a science fiction movie this side of 1982's "The Thing". We get gruesome imagery of the blob melting people, pulling them down drains, and coming out of people's faces. The special effects for the actual blob are questionable, though. When it isn't eating people, the blob is moving around, and it more often than not looks like a pile of scrambled eggs. The blob in the original film was actually made from some sort of gelatinous mixture, but it's quite obvious that they used an abundance of latex for the remake. It's still pretty cool that we get to see the blob so much, but I wish it looked more like the creature in the original.
Overall, this is a solid remake of the original film, and for the most part is actually better than the original. The first half of the film is great, but it starts to get really campy once the government guys show up. That besides, this is still a very fun movie and a definite must for fans of creative special effects. It's not perfect, but it's a close as you're going to get with a movie about killer silly putty from space.
Enjoyment- 4/5
Quality- 3/5
IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094761/
June 24, 2012
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