BAD MOVIE REVIEW: The Blob (1958)

It leaps! It creeps! It glides! and slides...across the floor! It's the Blob!  Yes that catchy little tune is still stuck in my head.  I guess that's one way to remember a movie isn't it?  Another would be to actually like the movie...and in this case I did.

The Blob stars ultra cool man Steve McQueen in his first big screen roll.  I guess being as young as I am it really doesn't matter to me who would take the lead roll in a 50's monster movie but knowing that Mr. McQueen was the lead made me want to watch it all that much more.

The 50's will always be to me the decade of the big epic monster movies.  Films like It Came From The Sea or Earth vs. The Flying Saucers all captivated audiences during this time.  Along came The Blob in the later part of the decade.  So how does it stand up against the rest?  Pretty damn good in my opinion.  The film shows The Blob often but its more of a build up film than it is a giant creature attack.  The kids that see it try for the life of them to convince the police and everyone in town that there's a giant killer THING on the loose murdering people.

The acting and dialogue are pretty typical for the period.  It seems a little bland and to the point.  There isn't a lot of heart or personal influence to it but that doesn't bother me.  The acting is well done by everyone in the film.  I've noticed that older movies like this one seem to have pretty good actors.  I don't watch that many older films but when I do I rarely see anyone that is just a god awful actor.

So...what about The Blob?  I will tell you this...some of todays effects, with all of our advancements, all of our technology, none of it can match up with the effectiveness and movements of the 1958 Blob.  It rolls and oozes across the floor.  I spews out slowly between air ducts.  I melts over your arm.  It even expands and engulfs a small diner.  I tell you that even the shittiest of film companies these days need to look back and use these techniques to make movies.  They have to be cheaper to do today then they were back then.  In any case The Blob is cool and The Blob does what it sets out to do...eat everyone and everything.

I guess the only thing I have wrong with it is they don't have much backstory with The Blob.  The remake told of a space experiment gone wrong.  The Blob just lands here on Earth and comes from a meteor.  Oh well, I guess a stupid backstory would probably ruin it.  Besides...it has Steve McQueen doing backwards drag racing.  Hells yeah!