It's the mid-1950s in small town America and a meteorite crash brings with it an alien entity, a gelatinous monster that hatches from the downed rock and starts its leisurely reign of terror.
First the ooze attaches itself to an old man (Olin Howlin) who lives alone on the outskirts of town, near the crash site.
He is discovered wandering in the road by young lovers Steve Andrews (future Hollywood legend Steve McQueen) and Jane Martin (Aneta Corseaut), daughter of the high school principal.
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| The Blob emerges |
Along with some other teenagers (all the so-called teenagers here are teenagers in the same way that John Travolta and co were "teenagers" in Grease), they discover where the meteorite landed, but when Steve returns to the doctor's surgery, he glimpses Hallen being devoured by a sinister pink blob creature.
However, with no corroborating witnesses or proof, the police don't believe him and dismiss his allegations of a murderous monster on the rampage as "a gag".
Naturally, from there, things get a lot worse in the town as the creature is allowed to slowly work its way through the populace, growing ever larger.
From its funky (tongue-in-cheek?) theme tune and pseudo-psychedelic opening credits, you know watching The Blob in 2021 is going to be an odd experience.
It hasn't aged well at all, and it's "X" certificate is simply risible.
One of the many problems with this cult B-movie is that, despite clocking in at less than an hour and a half, very little happens... especially on-screen.
I guess The Blob is a victim of its lofty ambitions far exceeding its obvious low-budget and the limits of that era's special effects.
The monster is barely seen for most of the movie's run time, despite numerous extended scenes of people talking about it or even looking towards it (we almost never see what they are actually looking at).
There's simply too much "telling" and not enough "showing".
Between the monster's first appearance and the iconic shot of it erupting from the movie theatre (at the film's climax), you'd be mistaken for thinking this was a "teen rebellion" film, the amount of screen time that's devoted instead to spunky kids and disapproving adults.
The script, by Theodore Simonson, Kay Linaker, and Irvine H. Millgate, is full of padding masquerading as a "character detail" (the police talking about chess, the youngsters on drag racing etc) and bizarre credibility-challenging lurches, such as the other teenagers barely knowing Steve at the start and then being best buddies a scene or so later.
Even the resolution of the whole town-threatening drama seems oddly unemotional and abrupt.
There's a fleeting mention by one of the police officers that more than 40 people are believed to have been killed during the monster's rampage, but there's never any real indication of this on-screen.
In fact, barring the deaths of the old man, the doctor, his nurse, and a garage mechanic, the creature actually comes across as rather ineffectual - just visually disturbing (when we're allowed to see it).
Ultimately, the story feels like a cheap knock-off of HP Lovecraft's Colour Out Of Space, with all the life sucked out of it.
The Blob was on the Horror Channel in the UK.
GAME MATERIAL
The Blob
This dark pink, gelatinous creature travels through space encased in a shell of rock, which will shatter soon after crash landing on a planet, allowing the monster to emerge.
The beast is drawn towards the warmth of living bodies, although when it first arrives it must absorb a single victim first to kickstart its growth process.
After that it will continue to grow as its feeds, although it doesn't do this in haste. It is unknown if there is any upper limit to its size.
Of interesting note, when the Blob moves - and attacks - it leaves no trace or residue in its wake, absorbing every particle of its being back into its body.
Seemingly existing only to feed and grow, it is believed that The Blob is a servant of mysterious, dark, elder gods living in the furthest reaches of space.
#ENC: 1
HD: 4 (special*)
AC: 10
#Att: 1 (per person within contact)
Dam: Special - acid* (3d8)
Save: 13
Move: 6 (as an ooze it can move under doors, up walls etc with no impediment)
SPECIAL:
- ACID ATTACK: The Blob attacks by rolling over its prey on a successful hit. The victim must then make a save (versus paralysis) to escape its grasp. On a failed save, the target suffers 3d8 acidic damage. In subsequent rounds, the Blob's attack counts as an automatic hit and its prey can only escape on a successful save, otherwise it takes additional damage. It can attack as many people as are engaged with it, even if they surround the creature (which cannot be "backstabbed" or surprised) as it is able to expand in all directions at once.
- GROWTH: Although the creature will always attack as a 4HD monster, its hit points (and size) increase whenever it kills. Every Hit Point of damage it causes to a victim it absorbed in its gooey embrace is transferred to its own pool of Hit Points. When first "hatched" it is about a foot long, but for for every 10 hit Points it gains it doubles in size.
- DAMAGE IMMUNITY: The Blob is immune to all damage and magic, except cold (normal or magical) from which it takes double damage. Fire - including magical fire - causes the creature to grow in size and gain Hit Points equal to the damage caused.
- IMMORTALITY: When reduced to zero Hit Points, it becomes dormant, but if exposed to the right amount of heat (and sunlight will suffice), it will "awaken" again in 1d6+1 days with its full Hit Points.
Somewhat amazingly after reading your very fair review, I actually put this one among the ranks of my all-time favorites. There's a lot of nostalgia wrapped up in it, and it occupies a nice spot...both in terms of chronology and quality...right in between Plan 9 and Killer Klowns, two other favorites.
ReplyDeleteI do have a soft spot for Plan 9 and, reading your comment, when I hit the word "Killer", I mentally autofilled with "Tomato" rather than "Klown".
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