Now this is how you do a remake.
A meteor falls from the sky and lands in the woods outside Small Town USA. A bum finds the meteor and pokes a stick into it, always a bad idea, and the gelatinous gunk inside crawls down the stick and engulfs his hand. In utter agony, the vagrant stumbles out into road to be discovered and whisked to a doctor by our heroes, the requisite town rebel, Brian Flagg (Kevin Dillon) and homecoming queen Meg Penny (Shawnee Smith). The blob eats the vagrant and the doctor and Flagg and Meg flee, telling the authorities what happened, but of course no one believes them. As they try to rouse the town, the blob grows, eating and expanding. A group of government scientists and military men, who have charted the meteor and its crash, arrive on the scene to ostensibly save the day. Or have they? People die, the town is torn asunder, and the only hope of salvation rests in the hands of the two teens who discovered the monster in the first place. Can Flagg and Meg rescue the town?
Released in 1988, this Blob remake of the 1958 classic was on nobody’s radar. The horror landscape was almost all Slasher, with some supernatural bits here and there. The Blob, directed by Nightmare on Elm Street III’s Chuck Russell, burst out of the gates like a glorious return of the Monster Movie. It’s full of gooey, gross practical effects and lots of brilliant set-pieces. You get to see a body sucked into a sink drain, another body folded in half backwards, and tons of face melting. I mean, goddamn, this one delivers the goods. It is every bit the equal of John Carpenter’s The Thing when it comes to this kind of work, and I don’t think it’s gotten near enough credit for being as awesome as it truly is. No, it doesn’t share that film’s nihilism; this one is pure 50’s homage in an 80’s body. But it never ceases to be fun and is a true rollercoaster ride. I know people love Nightmare III, and I do, too, but this is Russell’s masterpiece of horror. Sure, it’s pure 80’s, with the mullets and the music and the fashions, but that only adds to the charm. If you want to see what shows like Stranger Things is emulating, look no further. Also, I watched this on the limited release Twilight Time blu ray, and to say everything was even more gorgeous is to say the night is black. They did a terrific job.
I saw The Blob when it came out in the theaters in 1988. I saw its home video version, as well as the DVD release. It has never looked as good as it does on this blu ray. It is available from Scream Factory and is essential 80’s horror viewing. Beware of the Blob, because creeps, and glides and slides its way right into your shiny black hearts.
Four Stars out of Four