I should have watched the original version of The Blob (1958 – Steve McQueen) before watching this version. It seems, to me, that if a movie is a remake, you have to see the original film first to see that movie. That is if you plan on watching either movie. At the same time, the original is often so much better than the remake that it might make you appreciate the newer version even less. And if you are a big fan of the movie, you might also go a step further and read the book (if the film was based upon a book). No matter how much we, at times, don’t want them to, Hollywood is going to keep remaking movies. Whether Hollywood is out of original ideas or they know that a newer version of a film is a fortune waiting to be happy, we don’t know. We understand that some remakes will be good, some will be bad, and some we will shake our heads and ask ourselves, “What were these movie studios thinking?”

Bad movies made in the 1980s are sometimes given a pass and have often become cult classics with the phrase “It’s so bad that it’s good.” This is true with The Blob. It is pure cheese, but it’s a fun ride. It’s a horror movie that is never scary. Its villain is just a piece of acidic slime that grows as it engulfs more and more human life.

If you try to take this movie seriously, you will be disappointed. While there were legitimate scare and believable characters (rather than just actors screaming and running around) in similar horror film remakes such as The Fly, Dawn of the Dead, The Hills Have Eyes, and The Thing, The Blob character development is quite a bit of garbage. The acting is terrible. The dialog is dreadful. There is more than a little bit wrong with this movie. Yet, it is fun, and it will keep you entertained.

The biggest problem that the movie needs help with is the characters’ emotions and reactions to events. If we are supposed to believe that they are so scared of this blob and are supposedly going through the wheel of emotions a person will go through when dealing with a situation like this. Yet, they hardly care when the blob consumes individuals close to these characters. This would be fine if the movie didn’t take itself too seriously. So, going back to my main point, if you don’t take it too seriously and try to enjoy it as a cheesy 80s movie, you’ll be happy with the result. You’ll be disappointed if you are more interested in seeing real acting or reactions to catastrophic events.

This movie stars Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith, and Donovan Leitch. It was directed by Chuck Russell (The Mask, The Eraser). But, in all honesty, none of that matters.

Plot 5/10
Character Development 1/10
Character Chemistry 2/10
Acting 2/10
Screenplay 2/10
Directing 6/10
Cinematography 5/10
Sound 5/10
Hook and Reel 5/10
Universal Relevance 1/10
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