The Blob (1988) - The best Stephen King film not technically a Stephen King film

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SSutton

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The movie is the epitome of the creature feature genre, surpassing even "The Thing" (1981). It was directed by Frank Darabont, SK's most prolific cinematic voice. Even one of the characters is named Flagg.

The movie has all the elements of a Stephen King yarn, especially The Stand - a man made abomination with the potential to destroy humanity escapes from a lab, the government goes to brutal lengths to suppress it, and treats it potential victims like cattle. It has religious fanatics willing to trigger the apocalypse, body horror up the wazoo, hints of Lovecraft, and even the children aren't spared.

Your thoughts on The Blob?
 

GNTLGNT

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CriticAndProud

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I've seen very few movies in my day that surpassed John Carpenter's remake of The Thing as far as being just outright creepy. The paranoia level in that movie is about a 9.5 from beginning to end.

:clap:

My favourite movie.

"First goddamn week of winter."

Your thoughts on The Blob?

I haven't seen the whole film, but damn, getting sucked down a sink looks like it would hurt.
 

muskrat

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Been a LONG time since I saw this one, but I remember liking it a lot, and I was quite the critical little Fango-readin horror bastard back then, so I'm gonna stick with my original review.

Hey, another great creature feature flick be the first, THE FIRST, mind you, Tremors. I mean, if we're talkin late eighties. I'll sit through both Fright Nights, too.
 

muskrat

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What about the original's sequel, Son Of The Blob. Sincerely, not makin this up. It was kind of a comedy, if I recall, made in the early seventies. At one point a long haired hippie goes to the barber, eases his head back into the sink--where the blob, having just oozed out of the faucet, awaits the hapless hipster. That's ALL I can remember...that and the cute fuzzy kitten frollicking in a field of daisies while the opening credits roll; can't remember if the kitty gets consumed by the gelatinous villain--I'm gonna say no.
 

Gerald

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The movie is the epitome of the creature feature genre, surpassing even "The Thing" (1981). It was directed by Frank Darabont, SK's most prolific cinematic voice. Even one of the characters is named Flagg.

It was directed by Chuck Russell, but Darabont did the screenplay, so Brian Flagg is most likely a reference to King.

I liked it at the time, but it's not one that aged well. It hasn't really impressed me much since. I also don't feel it's overly King-esque - biological experiments gone out of control are a staple of sci-fi and horror history. And it comes nowhere close to Capenter's Thing for me.
 

Pucker

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I like the Steve McQueen version. Corny, but cool.

I like the old one, too. I suppose that's mostly because I saw it as a kid on TV and I was down with the idea that all the adults were pretty stupid and the young people had to straighten them out (a common theme on a lot of TV I watched in the 60s).

And plus besides, McQueen left us too soon, and that gives added weight to any and all his performances in my book.

I will still sit down and watch those old Wanted: Dead or Alive episodes occasionally. Poor ol' Josh gets the snot beat out of him in just about all of them.
 

prufrock21

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I like the old one, too. I suppose that's mostly because I saw it as a kid on TV and

I will still sit down and watch those old Wanted: Dead or Alive episodes occasionally. Poor ol' Josh gets the snot beat out of him in just about all of them.
I like the old one, too. I suppose that's mostly because I saw it as a kid on TV and I was down with the idea that all the adults were pretty stupid and the young people had to straighten them out (a common theme on a lot of TV I watched in the 60s).

And plus besides, McQueen left us too soon, and that gives added weight to any and all his performances in my book.

I will still sit down and watch those old Wanted: Dead or Alive episodes occasionally. Poor ol' Josh gets the snot beat out of him in just about all of them.
I like the old one, too. I suppose that's mostly because I saw it as a kid on TV and I was down with the idea that all the adults were pretty stupid and the young people had to straighten them out (a common theme on a lot of TV I watched in the 60s).

And plus besides, McQueen left us too soon, and that gives added weight to any and all his performances in my book.

I will still sit down and watch those old Wanted: Dead or Alive episodes occasionally. Poor ol' Josh gets the snot beat out of him in just about all of them.

A B movie such as the original Blob could have ruined the career of any aspiring actor. Happily this wasn't McQueen' s case. No doubt because he was very talented. However, the movie was never anything he was particularly proud of. Nonetheless it has become a cult classic.
 

Ebdim9th

Dressing the Gothic interval in tritones
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muskrat I saw the Son of the Blob on Youtube awhile back when you could still find such movies on it without weird washout discolorations in the middle, or a fake tv screen/ theater curtain/blurry show graphics-background/ borders and other such nonsense....

I have the 1988 version of the Blob on video tape and while for me it still holds up well, it will never be a John Carpenter's The Thing... not close....
 

muskrat

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muskrat I saw the Son of the Blob on Youtube awhile back when you could still find such movies on it without weird washout discolorations in the middle, or a fake tv screen/ theater curtain/blurry show graphics-background/ borders and other such nonsense....

I have the 1988 version of the Blob on video tape and while for me it still holds up well, it will never be a John Carpenter's The Thing... not close....

It also goes by the title Beware of the Blob. I haven't seen it since I was ten or so. One of those wild family horror movie weekends I remember so fondly.

Hah, you'd never get Mama Muskrat to admit it now, but when I was a kid my mother was a horror movie/novel junkie. When the big video rental craze hit our town, every weekend became mammoth movie festivals. Ma would rent em by the grocery-sackful, most of em horror. We'd all stay up late and pig out on great flicks like THE GATES OF HELL, THE HILLS HAVE EYES, PROM NIGHT, etc.

You'd never know it now, but that sweet little old church-going lady is responsible for turning me into the horror lovin fiend I am today. Thanx, ma! Love ya!
 

Ebdim9th

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Oddly, I started with everything but horror... fantasy, sci-fi, action-adventure, comedies, even more or less straight-forward dramas... around eleven or twelve, on up to fourteen, I gradually got bit by the horror bug... Scanners, Lookers (a techno-thriller, by Micheal Crichton, but filled with the horror of mind-control), The Shining, Creepshow... you know them.....
 
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Sunlight Gardener

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My Dad is gone now, but he always told me a funny story about seeing the '58 version when he was a teenager in the theater. During one of the crucial scenes where people are running for their lives, he said some dopey kid next to him was really into the movie and yelled out at characters on the screen, "Look out, here comes the Blotch!" He was so irritated and also entertained by that, he told me that same story like 5 times when I was growing up. He always laughed when he told it.
 

Dana Jean

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My Dad is gone now, but he always told me a funny story about seeing the '58 version when he was a teenager in the theater. During one of the crucial scenes where people are running for their lives, he said some dopey kid next to him was really into the movie and yelled out at characters on the screen, "Look out, here comes the Blotch!" He was so irritated and also entertained by that, he told me that same story like 5 times when I was growing up. He always laughed when he told it.
:lol: From now on, I am calling this movie, The Blotch!
 
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