I’ve decided to subject myself to 31 days of horror films for the month of October. It will be a mix of rewatching stuff I haven’t seen in a while and brand new things. Day 13:

THE BLOB (1988) – dir. Chuck Russell

THE BLOB was always the missing piece from the holy trinity of horror remakes from the 1980’s for me. I’ve watched THE THING and THE FLY so many damn times that I’ve lost count but for some reason I never got around to watching THE BLOB. I think it was simply because I didn’t really think a movie about killer slime from outer space could be that good but turns out I was half wrong.

The story isn’t much to write about as it is something you’ve seen a million times. Outsider teenager (Kevin Dillon with a crazy head of hair) becomes a hero over the course of the night defending the town from a threat.  It’s not bad but it doesn’t really push any new ground and no character really stands out to me.

What really makes the movie stand out are the special effects by Tony Gardner are something to behold. Every death in this movie looks great and still stands the test of time. The practical effects of the blob liquifying people are so gnarly that they beat out most horror movies today.  I recommend the film solely on these effects because it’s something we should try to achieve today in film. Practical still looks the best. Give it a watch and get really grossed out.