The Blob is a 1988 remake of the 1950’s cheese fest of the same name. Except this time, the film is intense as hell. It is fast paced and brutal. The makeup and special effects work is awesome. There’s real tension and fear in this movie. If you’re into gruesome gore effects this is going to be a super fun ride. 

It’s tough to review this one without constantly comparing it to the original, so we’ll get the comparisons out of the way. I love the first film. It’s corny. It’s silly. It’s classic 50’s fun. A giant purple mass slowly consumes an entire small town by slowly rolling over everything in sight. This one follows the same premise, a meteor from space lands near a small town and brings a gelatinous mass that consumes everything. However this time the blob is fast. It moves quickly and consumes in gruesome fashion. It absorbs people quickly and begins digesting their bodies the second it touches them. The first film is cheesy fun as they try to avoid the giant purple mass. This one is scary as the blob can burst out of drains, or even out of people’s bodies as it consumes them from the inside out. If I want to be scared I’ll watch this one. If I want to laugh at some 50’s cheese, I’ll enjoy the other. Both have their place. 

Now, back to the remake on its own merits. The film follows the basic outline of the original but subverts it in a bunch of interesting ways. It is full of surprises not only in when and how the blob eats people but in how the story unfolds. Who our heroes are and who the villain really is turns out to be quite surprising. 

The effects work in the first two thirds of the movie is absolutely awesome. We have practical makeup effects that show the partially digested bodies slowly disintegrating before our eyes. We have some horrific images of the people being distorted and consumed inside the blob. As a man’s face stretches and melts inside the blob with just enough time to look at our heroine before the blob rolls on. It’s gruesome nasty fun if you’re into that sort of thing. I found myself squirming with childish delight every time the artistry of the makeup and effects team was on display in these moments. I have so much respect and admiration for the effects guys who made these come to life for real. No CGI here. 

The trouble is that the effects at the end don’t live up to the effects at the beginning of the film. They use some outdated tricks and effects that don’t hold up very well today. The movie goes for a big finish with the whole town fighting the giant blob, and its reach exceeds its grasp. I found myself pulling away from the finale because the effects just did not hold up compared to the first two thirds of the film. 

But oh boy those first two thirds are great. The movie does a really great job of setting up scary situations. A woman gets in a glass phone booth as the blob slowly consumes the phone booth. Really scary. Our heroine is trying to climb up a slippery wet drain while the blob pursues her. The visceral fear of her feet slipping out from under her with nothing to grab hold of is deeply frightening. 

I also loved the characters. Each character is given real growth and real personality. Our heroine is played by Shawnee Smith and her transformation from a vapid cheerleader to a woman firing machine guns, blowing up trucks, and sacrificing herself to save her little brother is awesome to see. I love her in this movie. The hero is the cliched tough guy outsider, but he has a lot more going on and a much stronger character arc than we usually see from this archetype.

Is it a perfect movie? No. Did I have a great time? Yes. It’s absolutely my cup of tea. A