This and John Carpenter's The Thing both didn't do well at the box office but Carpenter's The Thing went on to become a bigger cult following than this. Both are great films, but I never understood why this never gained as big of a cult following as Carpenter's The Thing did.
shareI agree!
This is one of my favorite horror movies, and it's far better than most of the junk today! I first saw this in the late 80's, when I was seven or eight, and loved it then and wasn't scared by it!
Now, there's a few flaws, such as the blob destroying human tissue with ease, yet never dissolving anything else it touches, like the cinema seats, the ground etc. Also, the little defrosted blob at the end doesn't seem to have much effect against the little glass jar it was in lol. Even with this, and some other small flaws, they still aren't enough to take away from the sheer fun of this movie!
The characters were pretty decent for a movie like this, and at least had a bit of character development, so they made you care when someone was killed.
The camera work and lighting was fun and atmospheric, just how a horror movie should be!
The ideas were also very clever for the death scenes!!! Loved the dissolving jock in the hospital, the vulnerable woman imploding from the blob being inside of her, the phone booth death, the old man's lower half melted off, the military dude killing himself with the grenades before the blob tree smashes him, the melted kid (Ghastly!), sink death and especially the cop being broken in half through the book shelf! Oh, and how could I forget the projectionist being melded to the ceiling!!!
This movie was crazy with those types of moments, and the last half hour really kicks into gear and never lets up! Also, most of the practical FX still look spectacular today, which says a lot! Even the less effective shots of the giant blob going at a quick speed or taking out a few people on the street (Shot separately and plated with the other footage with people) still kind of works and is fun. There were also other fun moments such as the motorcycle riding above the blob in the sewer, the scientists finding the meteor, the cinema scene even before the blob attacks
The ending was clever with the Nitrogen truck saving the day, and I liked how the movie ended on a cliffhanger with the weird priest. I still want to see a sequel to this lol.
It's a really fun movie/remake and highly under appreciated. The real sad thing is that most audiences don't really understand fun movies like this.
"The battle for the soul is fought in the forum of art."
It's an excellent remake i saw in theaters as a kid and dug it.
"*beep* the law, i want meat"-Nightbreed.
This is the superior film of the two. The Thing sucked.
shareThe Thing is a great movie, with a top notch cast, but The Blob is a more enjoyable time, and not as much of a downer.
shareI didn't think The Thing sucked because it was a "downer." "The Mist" was a downer, but it was an excellent film, and very underrated. I find The Thing to be very overrated by horror fans, and remember being intensely bored throughout the film, and very disappointed with it.
The Blob, however, was entertaining throughout, very well made, and as you said, very enjoyable. It was a very fun horror film. A lot of the effects still hold up today -- practical and visual -- and that's saying something for a modestly budgeted film from 1988.
Fair enough, but do you mean the original The Thing from 82', or the lame remake from a few years back?
I love the FX from the original movie, and I like the creepy vibe, but I do love The Blob equally.
The original. The remake was an abomination.
shareOK :)
Actually the original was in 1951 called The Thing From Another World. John Carpenter's The Thing is a remake and is known as one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever! See the IMDB rating! I agree that the Thing prequel (not a remake) from 2011 is awful! If you're going to insult an amazing movie like 1982's The Thing, at least get your facts right.
Get away from her, you BITCH!!!
Talking to me or the other person?
share[deleted]
on Carpenter's The Thing Jenven as a "remake"? not really a remake of the earlier film The Thing from Another World, that's a big misconception. They are 2 very different films, it's actually a separate new adaptation of the John W Campbell 1938 book Who Goes There and actually follows that story more than The Thing from Another World did which was a very loose adaptation.
Now The Blob is a pure remake in every way since it's actually based on the movie produced earlier and the original screenplay.
"If this is torture, chain me to the wall"-Oliver and Company
After the 50s version I didn't see this one for another decade, thought it would a lame 80s adaptation and that's it. Was pleasantly surprised to see it's pretty good, great deaths and terrific special effects. Too bad the main guy can't be as charismatic as Steve McQueen.
shareI watched both movies Carpenter's The Thing and The Blob again in the past few days. It was maybe my seventh or eighth viewing of The Thing and my second viewing of The Blob. The Blob is a fun, fast-paced horror thrill-ride but it's definitely not in the same league as The Thing.
The Thing is a near-masterpiece of science fiction and horror. The atmosphere, pacing, acting, special effects, cinematography, and even the sound (just hearing the whipping noises the arctic wind makes is chilling) are all absolutely top-notch. Its ambiguities are also fun to speculate on, which is why the message boards for this film are chock full of questions about who was infected when, whether an infected individual still maintains their consciousness up to a certain point, whether The Thing has a true form, etc. Such questions add to the film's intrigue and make repeat viewings almost essential.
The Blob is very enjoyable and I would say that its kill scenes are even more viscerally effective than those in The Thing (Donovan Leitch, Jeffrey Demunn, and Candy Clark all played very likeable characters, making their brutal and prolonged deaths quite horrifying). But its flaws are very prevalent. I didn't like the Blob being revealed as part of a government biological experiment. Its mysterious origins as a space creature were a lot more intriguing and fun to speculate on. The musical score, while not bad, doesn't really add anything to the film the way that Ennio Morricone's did for The Thing. And probably most damaging of all, Kevin Dillon's performance is only a fraction of that of Kurt Russell's in The Thing; he simply doesn't make for a very strong or convincing lead.
Cool.
shareI would agree with this assessment. There were three great horror remakes in the 80s - The Thing, The Fly, The Blob - and I like how these span the decade. But The Blob was the weakest of the three, despite being a very well-made and enjoyable film. I think one of its strengths is the script by Frank Darabont. But again, it's not a match for Darabont's own The Mist, 20 years later.
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But its flaws are very prevalent. I didn't like the Blob being revealed as part of a government biological experiment. Its mysterious origins as a space creature were a lot more intriguing and fun to speculate on.
Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Criedshare