Product: The Blob (1988)
Rating: 4.0
IT'S A BIGGER, BADDER, AND MUCH HUNGRIER BLOB: BUT PROBABLY NOT THE LAST
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.