The Blob
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Beware of the Blob! |
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A horror/monster film from 1958, about a killer amoeba from outer space. The film is notable not only for its memorable villain, but also for being Steve McQueen's film debut. It spawned a sequel in 1972 and a remake in 1988.
As the film begins, a small meteorite drops to earth near a small town. It contains a tiny, jelly-like substance which quickly attaches itself to a nearby hermit, who is subsequently brought to town for medical attention. Unfortunately, The Blob grows and consumes the hermit and the medical staff, observed only by a pair of teenagers. Of course, when they try to raise the alarm, no one believes them -- until The Blob attacks a crowded movie theater. Eventually deducing that the creature can be defeated only by extreme cold, the town collects all available fire extinguishers and blanket it in CO2, freezing it solid. In the end, The Frozen Blob is deposited deep in the Arctic, where it is presumed it will remain frozen.
In the sequel Beware! The Blob (also known as Son of Blob), a construction crew working on a new Alaskan oil pipeline has uncovered the frozen Blob. Not knowing what it is, the construction foreman brings a small chunk of it home to southern California with him, upon which it promptly escapes, grows and terrorizes the community, slinking through the sewers. Eventually entering the brand new bowling alley (and attached, still-under-construction ice-skating rink), The Blob is ultimately defeated by freezing the ice rink floor. A decidedly campy film, Beware! nonetheless plays many monster movie tropes dead straight, particularly the Cassandra Truth-spewing heroes and the Obstructive Bureaucrat who runs the bowling alley.
The Blob was remade in 1988, using the original story with a few minor changes:
- The Blob was no longer an alien creature, but instead a secret government project gone wrong; and
- Being made in The Eighties, the deaths were much more visceral.
- And instead of the Blob being beaten permanently, a crazy preacher finds and keeps a piece of it, planning on using it to fulfill his own predictions about the apocalypse.
Another remake of the original film was announced in 2006, to be penned by the writers of the House of Wax remake.
For generic monsters (and Cute Monster Girl) made of slime and other types of goo, see Blob Monster.
Not to be confused with a certain X-Men villain, or any Wii games.
- Absurdly Spacious Sewer: In the '80s version.
- Anyone Can Die: In the 1988 remake, this cannot be more true.
- Attack of the Killer Whatever
- Billing Displacement: Beware! The Blob was directed by Larry "J.R." Hagman, resulting in the recent Tagline "The Film That J.R. Shot!"
- Badass: Brian, Meg. Also Col. Hargis who elects to remove the grenade pins before getting munched so that he can kill the blob. Unfortunately, it doesn't work.
- Blob Monster: Trope Namer.
- Bloodier and Gorier: The '80s remake.
- Came From the Sky: How The Blob got to earth.
- Camp: The '70s sequel.
- Cassandra Truth
- Death by Sex: The 1988 version. A guy gets his date drunk on alcohol so she'll pass out. The Blob gets to her, sucking her innards out, while he's mixing another batch. When he sees she's passed out, he goes in for the Date Rape, only to discover there's nothing there but The Blob.
- Which is another Fridge Logic moment. The Blob is not one for subtlety, so why would it go to great lengths to hide itself inside a victim rather than ooze over every edible creature in the vicinity?
- Too busy finishing digesting the girl's innards? To the Blob's credit, it doesn't appear until the guy touches her skin, and odds are the Blob wasn't aware of the guy's presence until it was obvious.
- There's a few subtle hints that the the Blob is intelligent - even malicious.
- Which is another Fridge Logic moment. The Blob is not one for subtlety, so why would it go to great lengths to hide itself inside a victim rather than ooze over every edible creature in the vicinity?
- Decoy Protagonist: In 1988 remake, Paul Taylor is the likeable jock dating the heroine Meg while Brian Flagg is a James Dean-like anti-authority dude with more than a few run-ins with the authority. Then Paul gets munched on by the blob and Flagg takes over the Hero role.
- Drool Hello: In the remake, just before The Blob kills the quarterback.
- Government Conspiracy: In the '80s remake, this is the source of The Blob.
- Hockey Mask and Chainsaw: In a movie shown in a theater in the remake.
- Immune to Bullets: And pretty much any other physical weaponry.
- Infant Immortality: In Beware! The Blob a junior campers troop is attacked (offscreen) by The Blob. The scout leader is killed, the kids escape.
- Averted to brutal effect in the remake. The heroine rescues her child brother and his friend. Right before they climb out of the sewer, the friend is pulled underwater screaming. Moments later, he pops out of the water again. Half eaten. Still screaming for help.
- It Came from Outer Space: At least, in the original.[context?]
- Kid Hero
- Kill It with Ice
- Police Are Useless: Subverted. In the original, the police are actually helpful once they are presented with proof of the teenaged heroes' (admittedly wild) story, while in the '80s remake, the town sheriff comes across as quite reasonable... but unfortunately is one of the Blob's early victims, leaving his churlish deputy in charge. Who also comes around in the end and dies trying to help.
- Recursive Canon: Beware! The Blob has the Blob devouring a man while he's watching the original film on TV.
- The Remake: One in the '80s; purportedly another in preproduction.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: In Beware! The Blob, a foreman for an oil pipeline construction crew brings home a chunk of The Blob from Alaska (where it had been deposited in the original film) in a sealed thermos.
- Also, in the '80s remake, a (somewhat unhinged) preacher has kept a small sample of the Blob at the end.
- Shout-Out or Mythology Gag: The '80s remake contains a scene which hearkens back to the '70s sequel, in which The Blob slinks up through the sewer lines into a sink and pulls a hapless victim literally down the drain.
- Thematic Theme Tune: Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, of all people.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: What happened to the puppy?
- You Have to Believe Me: Particularly notable in Beware! The Blob, in which the leading lady is not believed...mainly because she just keeps mewling "It came after us!" ad infinitum.