B movies hold a important place in the history of film and cinema. Nothing everything can be a top shelf feature or prime blockbuster. Audiences want and need the “singles” and “doubles”, so to speak”, that B movies have given throughout their inception. Sure, a lot of the B movies are extreme genre films with questionable content and quality. Some, however, rise above the stigma B movies have been branded with and present a genuinely entertaining and well made motion picture. Some remakes of B movies even rise above the status of the original film. “The Blob”, Chuck Russell’s 1988 remake of the original 1958 film, is a prime example of something that would qualify as a B Movie that far surpasses its original source material due the intelligence of the script and the goriness of the special effects.

This version of “The Blob” opens in the town of Arborville, California, an ordinary hamlet near the mountains. Things immediately start to develop when a meteorite crashes nearby, and a pink slime attaches to the hand of a local vagrant. High school students Brian Flagg (Kevin Dillon), Meg Penny (Shawnee Smith), and Paul Taylor (Donovan Leitch) happen upon the man dealing with this unknown substance and take him to a nearby hospital. The fate of these teenagers and the town then take a turn for the worse as the Blob consumes the vagrant, and, shockingly, consumes Paul. After dealing with the horrific ordeal at the hostphial, Brian and Meg are left to try and convince the town, complete with a mistrustful police force led by Sheriff Gellar (Jeffrey DeMunn) and Deputy Briggs (Paul McCrane), that a oozing pink substance is wreaking havoc and will continue to wreak havoc. The fate of Arborville is further complicated when Dr. Christopher Meadows (Joe Seneca) and a team of government scientists appear in town to reveal the sinister true nature of “The Blob” and its purpose.

A key factor in what makes this version of “The Blob” so strong is the incredibly tight and well structured script, which was written by Russell along with Frank Darabont. The two writers infuse the story with all the little things and hidden guns that a film of this caliber must have to rise above the standard schlock the genre is known for producing. One way they accomplish this is by the use of archetypes for the main characters and then subverting the audience’s expectations for those characters. Brian is the town punk, clad in leather and riding a motorcycle. Paul is the football star. Meg is the cheerleader. The audience is led to believe that Paul will be a key factor in the film, and he will have an antagonistic relationship with Brian based on their opposite outlooks on life. By killing off Paul early in the film, “The Blob” turns those expectations upside down and force “The Punk” and “The Cheerleader” to unite in an effort to save Arborville from this all consuming menace. The film is further populated with other archetypes made popular throughout the history of genre films. You have “The Sheriff” and “The Deputy” as the local authority. You have the “Government Scientist” serving as the secondary antagonist along with his army of workers in protective suits. You have a whole town filled with the general roles one would expect a town like Arborville to have, and the script meshes them all together to weave an entertaining and intelligent story.

That intelligence comes out when one looks at the real themes present in this version of “The Blob”. The film is awash in a sense of cynicism and mistrust towards governmental agencies and forces. Thanks for this can be given to the late Cold War setting when the script was developed and the film produced. This version of “The Blob” deals with a biological weapon that was created by the government and has gone astray. The fruit of secret a secret government agency and conspiracy consumes the setting and inhabitants of Arborville, otherwise Small Town America. This entity will continue to consume the town unless the outcasts rise up and save the day. It is not hard to find Russell and Darabont’s true feelings about the government, conspiracy theories, and paranoia when it comes to the American populace, especially during the Reagan years and the tail end of the Cold War.

The other key factor that makes “The Blob” so strong is a factor that it shares with a lot of lesser B movies and genre films. It is an incredibly gory and graphic film, especially when you consider some audiences might not be expecting such things from a movie about an antagonistic pile of pink goo. Tony Gardner’s special effects work for “The Blob” leans heavily into the body horror effects made so popular during the 1980s, and leans into them quite effectively. Victims suffer horrific deaths when dealing with “The Blob”, and the film does not shy away from showing the audience everything horrific about those deaths. This film is not for the faint of heart. The graphic special effects work provides a great compliment to the intelligence of the script by Russell and Darabont.

While audiences did not flock to see this version of “The Blob” upon its initial release, they have over the years come to appreciate and respect what Russell, Darabont, Gardner, and the film’s cast and crew made in response to the political climate and paranoia of the late 1980s. This version of “The Blob” stands high above the original version and shows that remakes of films do not have to be a complete and vapid rehash of the source material. The 1988 version of “The Blob” is a smart, intelligent, gory, and incredibly fun B movie that does so many things right when other B movies would have done them wrong.

This review is part of my From the Vault series showcasing movies of the past I have decided to visit or revisit and review.

The Blob
(Chuck Russell, 1988)
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