Most remakes fail, whether at the box office, among the critics or fans of the original. Sometimes that fate is undeserved, like in the case of The Blob, 1988 science fiction horror film directed by Chuck Russell.
The film represents remake of eponymous 1958 B-film, famous for having silly theme song that became a hit, but even more so for turning young Steve McQueen into a star. The plot of the new version is set in ski resort town of Arborville. One night high school jock Paul Taylor (played by Donovan Leitch) goes on a date with a cheerleader Meg Penny (played by Shawnee Smith), while local vagabond (played by Billy Beck) investigates meteor that crashed in the woods. Brian Flagg (played by Kevin Dillon), motorcycle-riding rebellious teenager prone to trouble with a law, later witnesses that man being affected by strange corrosive substance that stuck at his hand. He asks Paul and Meg to take him to a hospital where it would turn out that the substance is actually a living thing – amoeba-like organism that melts and consumes its victims, growing in the process. While teenagers desperately try to warn the authorities the organism grows and creates murderous mayhem in the town. Group of US government scientists led by Dr. Meddows (played by Joe Seneca) arrive in Arborville, but their mission is not to actually help citizens, but to contain the organism and hush up the affair which started as secret biological weapons experiment conducted in space.
The 1958 original has developed something of a cult status, making the job of 1988 version’s creators quite challenging. Director Chuck Russell knew that he had to do something different. The easiest thing was to rely on improvements in special effects and The Blob had half of its budget allocated to efforts to make the unstoppable ever-growing monster as impressive and scary as possible. Some of those effects, especially in the beginning, are quite effective, especially when combined with various make-up effects that allow Blob to feature recognisable remains of its victims while moving. The effects, however, look somewhat less impressive at the end and at times give away their age, making The Blob less impressive to the audience accustomed to CGI.
However, those technical issues are compensated by very intelligent script by Frank Darabont, author who would later became famous for successful film adaptations of Stephen King’s novels. He keeps the general tone of the film serious, while occasionally indulging in satirical jabs directed at conservatism of Reagan’s America (and increasingly hypocritical Hollywood that saw nothing wrong with exposing young audience to violence, while chasing away all sexual content from the big screen). Darabont’s script is, however, best in the way that plays with audience’s expectations. Many characters are established only to be quickly eliminated by Blob, sometimes in very gruesome way. Darabont clearly breeches unwritten rules of Hollywood, providing such fate not only to characters who are supposed to be protagonists, but also to children. His script also add deeply cynical anti-authoritarian tone that describes government in a way that recently could have many people get banned from Facebook and other social network. There are some weak and not particularly needed scenes, but Chuck Russell generally does good directing job and keeps good pace. The epilogue featuring mad preacher (played by Del Close) is hardly surprising to those accustomed to 1980s horror genre rules. The Blob failed at the box office and among the critics, but, as times went by, its reputation grew and nowadays is seen as one of those rare cult film remakes that have built cult status of its own.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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