THE BLOB follows in the footsteps of THE THING and THE FLY as being 1950s science fiction films remade in the 1980s all of which had mixed fortunes . John Carpenters remake of THE THING totally bombed at the box office , though it's now considered a classic . Cronenbergs remake of THE FLY was a big hit and is still fondly remembered perhaps because there were strong human elements amongst the gore and effective make up . THE BLOB remake from 1988 directed by Chuck Russell opened to very lukewarm reviews and disappeared after spending a total of one week in the American top ten box office . It's not a particularly good horror film but one would have expected it to do better since gory horror were very fashionable in that decade
The screenplay co written by Rusell and Frank Darabont ( The director of THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION ) takes the basic structure of the original and embellish it . Unfortunately whilst the original is remembered as a rather camp affair the remake tries to shock and disturb the audience This is summed up by the scene in the cinema . The heroine Meg sees a patron lying on the ground , she turns her over only to find a face that has been totally eaten away by the blob . Some commentators have mentioned that this film has a mean streak and they're right, it's actually quite sadistic . People die graphic deaths . Men , women and children all become victims of the blob regardless if they deserved to die horribly or not , which seems to clash with the light hearted tone in the early part of the movie
The is an interesting plot twist that the screenwriters have brought to this version . I say interesting but I don't necessarily think it's a good one and that is the eponymous blob was created by military scientists . It's interesting in that it goes against the grain of what was coming out of Hollywood at the time where John Rambo and his action clones were traveling across the world killing commies . and in many ways this version of THE BLOB mirrors George A Romero's THE CRAZIES with white suited soldiers holding a middle American town hostage . Sadly the villain Dr Meadows is written and acted with no moral ambiguity and is such an obvious baddie that he's impossible to believe in as a real character when the potential for a multi-layered character was there
Looking on the bright side this is a movie made before the advent of CGI so that means we have a big man eating jelly that wasn't created on a computer . It doesn't always convince however and isn't helped by a lack of internal continuity where some people are dissolved out of existence but some others are still recognisable when they're absorbed like the sheriff during the phone booth scene . Being a 1980s film also means the fashions have badly dated and if you think Kevin Dillion has a bad hairstyle they you'll be shocked to know a mullet was the height of fashion in those days . Now that really is frightening
The screenplay co written by Rusell and Frank Darabont ( The director of THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION ) takes the basic structure of the original and embellish it . Unfortunately whilst the original is remembered as a rather camp affair the remake tries to shock and disturb the audience This is summed up by the scene in the cinema . The heroine Meg sees a patron lying on the ground , she turns her over only to find a face that has been totally eaten away by the blob . Some commentators have mentioned that this film has a mean streak and they're right, it's actually quite sadistic . People die graphic deaths . Men , women and children all become victims of the blob regardless if they deserved to die horribly or not , which seems to clash with the light hearted tone in the early part of the movie
The is an interesting plot twist that the screenwriters have brought to this version . I say interesting but I don't necessarily think it's a good one and that is the eponymous blob was created by military scientists . It's interesting in that it goes against the grain of what was coming out of Hollywood at the time where John Rambo and his action clones were traveling across the world killing commies . and in many ways this version of THE BLOB mirrors George A Romero's THE CRAZIES with white suited soldiers holding a middle American town hostage . Sadly the villain Dr Meadows is written and acted with no moral ambiguity and is such an obvious baddie that he's impossible to believe in as a real character when the potential for a multi-layered character was there
Looking on the bright side this is a movie made before the advent of CGI so that means we have a big man eating jelly that wasn't created on a computer . It doesn't always convince however and isn't helped by a lack of internal continuity where some people are dissolved out of existence but some others are still recognisable when they're absorbed like the sheriff during the phone booth scene . Being a 1980s film also means the fashions have badly dated and if you think Kevin Dillion has a bad hairstyle they you'll be shocked to know a mullet was the height of fashion in those days . Now that really is frightening