A strange lifeform consumes everything in its path as it grows and grows.
It’s very rare that I enjoy remakes, especially over the original but this remake won me over from my first viewing. That’s not to take anything away from the original, it;s a great 50’s b-movie and I still love to watch it, I’ve just always felt the remake was a much better version of the story. For some reason it seemed to grip me more and I just can’t figure out why.
On paper a film about a killer blob of jelly-slime is laughable, but on screen it works so well. This is mainly down to some amazing visual effects, great acting and good work from the writing and directing. It’s in the same vein as what Carpenter did with “The Thing”, taking a b-movie classic and giving it a modern makeover without disrespecting the original.
The effects team deserve huge praise for their work the blob looks amazing and actually quite frightening. The death scenes are amazingly done, they’re so gruesome, gritty and gory that they stick in your brain for a long time. They’re that good that they still hold up-to today’s standards, even bettering some, I just cringe at the thought of a blob done with C.G.I.
The acting is great, especially a young Shawnee Smith who puts in an amazing performance that draws you in-to the unfolding events throughout the film, so much so you can feel yourself tensing up as she tries to escape from the blob itself. The suspense is quite high and Director Chuck Russell deserves a ton of credit for that as he did a really spectacular job.
Yes it is quite cheesy in places but that just adds so much charm to the film, plus how can you expect a film like this not to be at-least a little cheesy?! It’s a fun film to watch, mixing elements of a typical slasher with sci-fi and to pull it off is a great achievement. Films such as this along with the likes of “The Stuff” are long overdue a comeback, it needs to happen.
“The Blob” is a fantastic film that I highly regard as essential viewing. A remake I enjoy that much, who would have thought it?!
Miscellaneous facts about the film:
Donovan Leitch Jr., who plays Paul Taylor, had to have a full body cast made of himself for one of the more complicated scenes where Paul is underneath the blob. There were about 50 people running the unstrung Paul. However, Chuck Russell did not tell Shawnee Smith it was really Donovan Leitch Jr. underneath the Blob for the first part of the scene. She believed it was going to be an unstrung person. This was so he could get more of a shock out of her. That is the take that is now seen in the movie when Meg screams out Paul’s name upon discovering him.
Two minor roles were played by Playboy Playmates. Vicki De Soto was played by Erika Eleniak (July 1989) and Susie was played by Julie McCullough (February 1986).
Rock salt was dyed purple to create the crystallized Blob for the ending of the movie.
Of the film’s US$19 million budget, US$9 million went toward visual effects.
Michael Kenworthy fondly recalls on-screen sister Shawnee Smith as his first major crush in real life. According to him, “She and I hit it off pretty well… Whenever she went to hug me, I’d give her the hug plus a kiss. That *always* made her blush!”
Theatrical trailer shows part of deleted scene in which Fran is chased by the Blob through the restaurant. In this deleted scene she is running towards the doors while the Blob is knocking down tables and chairs. When she gets to the doors she realizes that they are locked and that she doesn’t have a key so she jumps out of the window. Another scene was filmed but deleted in which Blob kills and eats a squirrel. Also, some versions of the movie had alternate death scenes of Paul and Eddie, with different editing (Paul’s death) and different gore effects (Eddie’s death).
All of the exteriors for the movie were shot in a small south Louisiana town called Abbeville. Abbeville is laid out almost exactly the same as Arbeville, Colorado, where the movie takes place. Abbeville was used because filming took place in late 1987 and Arbeville was covered in snow. It’s just a weird coincidence that the names are so similar.
Shawnee Smith (“Meg Penny”) was once asked whether or not the producers remembered to heat the sewer-water she plunged into while fleeing the Blob. Chuckling, she answered, “Well, they TRIED.”
The motorcycles used by Kevin Dillon in the film are a 500cc T100R Triumph Tiger and a 200cc T20 Triumph Tiger Cub for the jumps.
The sheriff was named after famous jazz musician Herb Geller.
The M16A1 Kevin Dillon uses near the end of the film is a prop M16A1 typically used in movies from the 70’s and 80’s. Easy to spot by the horrible reproduction of the forward assist mechanism on the upper receiver.
In this scene, he also had the charging handle to the rear, which means the bolt would be locked to the rear and not under tension from the recoil spring moving the bolt carrier into battery.
The sheriff mentions to Brian how his birthday is coming up in real life this was released two weeks before Kevin Dillon’s 23 birthday August 19th.
Shawnee Smith was also in Stephen King’s ‘The Stand’.
Joe Seneca and Sharon Spelman previously appeared in separate episodes of _”The Golden Girls (1985)”_.
The 2014 Limited Edition Blu-ray release of The Blob (1988) by Twilight Time featured new Q&A with the director Chuck Russell at Cinefamily. Thanks for this is due to Friday Night Frights, Ryan Turek & Ewan Bourne.
The film, co-written by Frank Darabont – who has adapted a number of Stephen King’s works for the screen – contains several references to King’s novel ‘The Stand’:
In the novel, a viral “superflu” is engineered by the U.S. government in a biological weapons laboratory that is accidentally unleashed, resulting in a worldwide pandemic; in the film, the blob is likewise the result of experiments in biological warfare accidentally unleashed by the government. Additionally, though the government agents know the blob’s true nature, they tell the citizens of Arborville that they are dealing with a highly contagious disease.
Kevin Dillon plays Brian Flagg; the demonic Randall Flagg appeared in several of King’s novels, making his first appearance in The Stand.
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.
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In addition to Frank Darabont making many references to The Stand throughout the film, actress Shawnee Smith and her onscreen family all have the last name “Penny,” a nod to King’s “Pennywise the Clown” from his novel, It.
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