Movie Review: The Blob (1958)

Number 9 on the Countdown to Halloween

The Blob

Movie Review by Siobahn Harris

Today’s Wickedly Way back Wednesday is a fan requested film! I was so excited when I heard that someone wanted me to watch the creature feature classic, The Blob (1958). As a kid, I believe I watched the 1988 version, but I’ve never seen the original.

Before we get into the Breakdown, let’s just take a second to appreciate that there is a theme song for The Blob. Yeah, you read that right, a theme song. A rather bouncy, cute song for a creepy gelatinous blob that eats people.

Take a listen:

Breakdown:

A couple out for a late night slap and tickle, spot something fall from the sky and crash near by. Unable to resist the urge to drive fast, Steve (Steve McQueen) takes his girlfriend Jane (Aneta Corsaut) down the road to find out what it was. Unfortunately, they couldn’t figure out where it landed. On their way home, an old man stumbles out of the woods with some jello attached to his hand. The old man rolls around in pain saying that he can’t get the thing off his hand and it hurts. They quickly rush him to the local doctor.

Once there, the kids introduce the old man to the doctor and point out the icky thing on his hand, so no handshakes tonight. They notice that the thing has gotten bigger. The doctor tells Steve to jump into his car and drive really fast to the crash site. Steve says yes, but first he agrees to a car race with some other kids. He wins, because he’s Steve MF McQueen.

Anywhoo, the doctor calls the nurse and asks her to come in to help out with the old man. She does, but she quickly regrets it. When she attempts to check the old man’s pulse, he’s gone. All that’s left is a pink blob on the floor. The doctor tells her to throw acid on it, which doesn’t work. So he does the only logical American thing to do, he leaves her alone with it and grabs his gun. It doesn’t take long for the nurse to fall down… because this is a horror movie, that’s why. Soon she becomes one with the old man. A match made in heaven.

However, now the blob is out of control. It’s up to the kids in the town to convince everyone that there is some sort of monster on the loose. But no one wants to believe pesky teenagers! Will Steve, Jane, and their friend’s be able to convince the town or will the whole town be eaten by The Blob?

Thoughts:

This was such a creepy creature feature! I loved it so much! The fact that The Blob is almost unstoppable made it really scary.

I think Steve was my favorite character is the movie. He was cute, funny, and smart. The weird part was that he was a 28 year old trying to be a teenager and you could tell. It only made it weird in the beginning, but after that you kind of stop thinking about it.

I literally wanted to slap the cops. The kids are telling them the truth and nothing they say gets through to them. I get it, the kids tend to prank the cops, but I doubt they prank them by saying that someone died. That’s not much of a joke. Thankfully, the kids got a lovely “I told you so” moment, so that made up for it.

My only real complaint about this movie would be that there wasn’t enough of the blob. I wanted to see it all the time! But they focused a bit more on the kids. The real star of the show is the gross red lump of jello that is quickly eating the town!

True Fear?

Yes. That thing was creepy. There is something about uncontrollable situations that really rub me the wrong way. When it comes to ghosts and aliens, there is no knowing what they can do and how to stop them, and that scares me. This was such a great creature feature that I hope you watch soon! If you watch for the first time, please let me know what you thought!