The Blob
**This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn’t exist.
When I was preparing my discussion with my mom ready to be released on the podcast, I had forgotten that she mentioned 1958’s “The Blob” as a film she thought fondly of going to in the theatre. That was the impetus to finally watching it myself (although I’m fairly certain I saw at least some of it as a kid). It’s interesting that, when most people think about a film called “The Blob,” it’s more the 1988 remake directed by Chuck Russell, which I’m sure is good, but there’s a charm to this one that not even the sub-par acting by Steve McQueen, in his first film, can dampen.
The cycles of teen horror movies from the ’50s til now would be a fascinating subject to study. Movies like “The Blob” and “The Giant Gila Monster,” to use another recently-watched example, are a far cry from the slasher films of the ’80s and ’90s to the ironic, winking spins the genre has endured in the past decade in films like “The Cabin in the Woods” and “Bodies Bodies Bodies.” But ultimately, a lot of the same rules apply- dark portents of danger, authority that doesn’t believe them, people being knocked off one at a time, and teens having to begrudgingly work together to stop it. McQueen is still rough around the edges as a performer in this film, but he and Aneta Corsaut as Steve and Jane are as engaging protagonists (in my opinion) as any we’ve gotten over the past few decades.
Steve and Jane are in a car, parked, on a date. They see a meteor in the sky, which they go to check out. However, an old man gets there first, and by the time they arrive, his entire hand is encased in a red goo from the meteor. They take him to the local doctor, and the reign of terror for the titular blob begins.
The thing I enjoy the most about these ’50s monster movies is how goofy the soundtracks can be. The opening title song for “The Blob” very much feels like a relic of its time, which is trying to give you that pop music sound of the time, but also begin this film’s soundtrack proper. It’s a wild one, and sets the tone perfectly for the silliness to come. This is not a movie intended to be a serious horror film, but one that engages younger audiences for 80-plus minutes on a Friday or Saturday night. While one wishes we got more from the blob itself, I think what we get is great, and makes up for the how little it shows up.
Overall, I enjoyed watching “The Blob,” and can see why my mother probably had fond memories of it. I am curious to watch the remake, though, and see if it makes a shift in how the ending played at a time when man-made climate change was starting to take hold of the discussion. The original film’s resolution makes sense at the time, but all I could do was laugh when the characters were hoping that the arctic’s temperatures don’t increase. This could be ripe for another remake.
