The Blob on DVD

Schlock Horror at its Gooiest

The 1988 remake of the old Steve McQueen vehicle ups the special effects ante while paying homage (or is it ripping off?) to many other genre flicks along the way.

Kevin Dillon is Brian Flagg , a juvenile delinquent about to become an adult. A loner, he’s the one always blamed for trouble in the little town in which the action is set.

Then a meteor lands, with a gooey substance inside. The first one to see it, an old man, gets attacked and comes across Dillon and Meg Penny (Shawnee Smith), his “eventually-to-be-girlfriend” with her current beau (Donovan Leitch ). They take him to the hospital, but the Blob keeps getting bigger and takes over the old man, killing him. Then it kills Leitch’s character before oozing off in search of more victims.

The story’s pretty predictable, as are the characterizations, but that’s okay. This is at heart a popcorn movie that doesn’t pretend to ask a lot of the audience other than they simply turn off their brains for an hour and a half and enjoy themselves.

Meanwhile, you’ll be treated to any number of clichés, from the bad guy who’s good at heart (Dillon), the Sweet Young Thing (Smith), the evil government agency, the brave (or is he whacko?) preacher. Yadda yadda yadda .

The new version offers much better special effects than the 1950’s original, not surprisingly. They’re reminiscent of John Carpenter’s “The Thing” with a bit of David Cronenburg’s “The Fly” thrown in for good measure – though they aren’t nearly as gross as either of the other films. In fact, this movie’s “R” rating must be due to its coarse language than anything else, because otherwise it’s a pretty mild scarefest .

The performances are as good as you’d expect, or want, as are the production values. The script is hackneyed, but appropriately so for this type of flick.

The DVD is presented in anamorphic widescreen (16x9 TV compatible), with Dolby Digital Surround audio. Video quality is good, and the audio is also okay, though there’s little or no surround in evidence.

Extras include the trailers.

The Blob, from Columbia Tristar Home Video
95 min, anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1), 16x9 TV compatible, Dolby Digital 2 channel surround
Starring Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith, Donovan Leitch , Jeffrey DeMunn , Candy Clark
Produced by Jack. H. Harris and Elliott Kastner

Written by Chuck Russell & Frank Darabont , Directed by Chuck Russell

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