The Blob
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Movie Reviews of The Blob
Movie Review: the best remake
Summary: 5 Stars
this has to be the best remake that has ever been this is by far one of the greatest movies of the 80'sMovie Review: Oh ya. The Blob.
Summary: 5 Stars
The original was great. But, this one had so many more special effects. I is really a treat to watch.Movie Review: The Blob
Summary: 5 Stars
A very scary movie about an alien invasion that will be scary for people to watch.Movie Review: Scream now, while there's still room to breathe.
Summary: 4 Stars
I really enjoyed this remake. I love the original, and I think a good job was done staying true to the original, while managing to update it for a new generation. I've seen a lot of remakes, and very often you get a sense like the director is trying to avoid ties to the original movie, but not here.I thought this movie was fast paced and fun. It kept me interested all the way through. It was quite violent at times, and gory, but when your subject matter is about an all consuming space blob, you sort of expect that kind of thing.
The interaction between the characters was pretty well done. Kevin Dillon plays Brain Flagg, our hero who is also an outcast due to his rebellious nature. Shawnee Smith plays the female lead, the all American cheerleader homecoming queen type. The two are thrown together to fight the blob.
This version starts off essentially the same as the original, the blob arriving from space and attacking an old man in the woods. The old man is found by the teenagers, and is taken to the hospital, where it proceeds to consume some characters. Brian Flagg is initially suspected by the police, as he's no stranger to them, but they have no physical evidence to hold him, so they have to let him go. Soon, people in this small town start disappearing, and the police have their hands full. Brian and Meg are the only two who have some idea what's going on, but when Meg tries to relate her story, what she saw, no one really believes her, and Brian isn't very credible, due to the reputation he has with the town in general.
Soon, the blob starts making itself known, consuming many people. Some kind of government agency shows up, and seals the town with the purpose of capturing the voracious organism. Facts about the origin of the blob come to light, and it seems the government agency has a larger agenda than they originally stated. I thought it was quite funny how a number of people would fire at the blob with pistols and automatic weapons, only to find it had no effect on the creature. There were some pretty horrific scenes with people getting consumed by the blob, showing them basically dissolving as if bathed in acid. One scene in particular was when a ten or twelve year old boy gets taken. I was surprised to see this happen, as it's seems pretty rare to me that kids get hurt or killed in these monster movies. I did see this when it came out, which was like 15 years ago, but I didn't remember that part. I didn't mind so much, as the kid was pretty annoying. There's a climatic battle at the end, and the teenagers save the day, but in the last scene we are left wondering if the horror is truly over.
The main differences between this movie and the 1958 version are the effects and the level of violence. In the 1958 version, the violence was more implied, where this version expands on that, showing us many people being consumed. Also, the teenagers in this movie can really pass themselves off as teenagers, while in the 1958 version, Steve McQueen and his colleagues seemed a little older than was suggested. Also, some interesting plot elements are added which suggest the creature may not have originated from space, but here on Earth. Also, the special effects are weel done, and show us more of what we didn't see in the 1958 version.
I think the 1958 version, which I also own, is and always will be a classic, and this makes a nice companion and is a good movie in it's own right.
Cookieman108
Movie Review: IT'S A BIGGER, BADDER, AND MUCH HUNGRIER BLOB: BUT PROBABLY NOT THE LAST
Summary: 4 Stars
The first "BLOB" starring Steve McQueen is a "reel" cult classic, but this remake, 30 years its junior, has to survive on its own merit. With Shawnee Smith and Kevin Dillon matched as the unlikely hero couple pitted against an updated, more extravagant, and much more menacing blob, only the plot can hold them back.
But the plot actually works in this 1988 quasi-gorefest. It is basically an almost-exact remake of the 1958 film with some minor nuances added like the government's complicity in harboring this "biological weapon" and the hero being actually a couple with more of an emphasis on her than him. Basically the other differences were in the precise roles of the various co-stars and featured players, plus the tendency in this remake to kill off more audience-friendly characters, including children. There is also much faster-paced action throughout, as this blob really goes after its meals like each one is its last.
SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS:
This "Blob" really frightened my 16-year-old daughter who likes horror movies and is presumably not easily scared, whereas the original was a yawn for her. I just found it quasi-gory-but-interesting, if not a little too explicit. The plot really booked and the movie went at an almost real-time pace toward its inevitable climax; i.e., the presence of a huge blob which noone could deny actually existed. The only problem I saw is that the special effects depicting the blob (which were great for the entire film) seemed to waver at the climax. When the "Blob" was its biggest and most menacing to the largest number of people it somehow looked a bit unreal for the first time in the film. Since this was the most important scene in the movie, it would seem imperative for the effects to be as perfect as possible at this point. I was sure of this decline in visual effects when my chatterbox daughter, who had been silent for most of the film, confirmed this as she suddenly began commenting on the "cheesiness of the effects" at that moment and specifically about the creature itself during the climax of the film. Too bad, because otherwise the film is a real knock-out.
The film, of course, ends with the characteristic nod to the 1950s creature features by implying rather loudly that there could be a "Return of the Blob" again. You'll have to see the epilogue to find out exactly how. In the original blob, the ending just showed a large military transport dropping the blob in the arctic and the sheriff and Steve McQueen musing over how we will all be safe as long as the Arctic stays cold - followed by a screen sized "?" [question mark].
ABOUT THE DVD:
You get the standard scene-selector feature and theatrical trailers from this film and several others. This is in Widescreen and the transfer is clear and crisp and the audio is much better than the video which I have had for years. The audio is a Digitally Mastered 2-channel Dolby surround in English, French, Portuguese or Spanish. Subtitles can be selected for all of the aforementioned plus Chinese, Korean and Thai. A featurette or documentary about how the special effects were achieved would have been nice. Although shy on features, this DVD presentation is first-rate and is the best way to see this film today.