Product: The Blob (1988)
Rating: 3.0
The Blob (1988)
Director: Chuck RussellCast: Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith, Donovan Leitch, Jeffrey DeMunn, Candy Clark, Joe Seneca, Del Close, Paul McCrane, Jack Rader, Billy Beck.Running Time: 95 minutesRated R for violence, gore, and language."The Blob", a glorified, special-effects injected remake of the 1950's classic, opens to the eerie and totally deserted streets of a small American town called Arborville with everyone attending the big game. One of the football players Paul Taylor (Donovan Leitch) asks an attractive cheerleader out named Meg Penny (Shawnee Smith). That night an old man (Billy Beck) who lives out in some woods near Arborville sees a flaming meteorite land nearby. He investigates, he sees a purple jelly substance moving around inside. He unwisely decides to poke it with a stick. The purple jelly slides along the stick and attachés itself to his hand. The towns local petty criminal Brian Flagg (Kevin Dillon) is repairing his bike when the old man jumps out from behind some tress at him and tries to cut his own hand off with an axe. The man disappears into the woods, Flagg runs after him. Paul and Meg are on their date when the old man runs out in front of their car and is hit. Paul and Meg take the old man and Flagg to the local hospital. Before long the old man has been more or less completely eaten by the blob and decides Paul looks tasty as well. The blob is loose, it's growing at an extraordinary rate and will eat anything or anyone that moves! The local police, Sheriff Herb Gellar (Jeffrey DeMunn) and his deputy Bill Briggs (Paul McCrane) don't believe a word of their story to begin with, but as the population of Arborvile rapidly decreases they have a race against time to stop the blob before it eats the entire town and possibly the whole of nation. Soon after, Government agents turn up, lead by the sinister Dr. Meddows (Joe Seneca) and Colonel Hargis (Jack Rader), and it soon becomes clear that they aren't the towns saviours as they at first appeared to be.The special effects are often silly, but nevertheless very effective, with sequences that are very imaginative and take advantage of the 80's style humur that make that decade's horror films what they are. The acting, as you would expect, is nothing to write home about; but the cast approach their roles with gusto, and the fun performances help to make the film what it is. Kevin Dillon as the reluctant hero and Shawnee Smith as the only living witness to what's behind all of this are likable in their roles, and pleasingly, the story gives the latter's character a lot more fire and guts than you'd imagine a the role of a cheerleader to have. Dillon's character is your regular badboy turned good, but he plays it well, despite his shocking mullet! A diverting subplot involving the origins of the blob adds a good twist near the end, and there's a creepy ending that hints at the possibility of a sequel. Chuck Russell does a great job of creating the right sort of atmosphere for the film and the screenplay is better than you would expect for a trashy eighties horror flick. Overall, an entertaining remake that will undoubtedly satisfy those who love cheesy horror flicks or who just enjoy watching good, hokey fun, no matter the genre.