by: -RoG-

While the 1958 version of The Blob brought the fantastic concept to the big screen, it was the 1988 remake that really did justice to the relentless Jell-O treat from hell. Then again, when you consider the people who worked on the project, it's not too surprising that it turned out to be a pretty solid (ok, bad choice of words) horror flick. Chuck Russell, who directed the film and was one of the co-writers, also wrote and directed A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors, which is a favorite among many Freddy fans. The other writer of this remake was Frank Darabont, who later went on to make a little film you may have heard of called The Shawshank Redemption. Ok, so he obviously came a long way, but still... there was some real talent involved with this film.

There are some familiar faces in this remake as well. Fans of the Saw franchise will immediately recognize Shawnee Smith as the leading lady of the film, Meg Penny. And then, of course, there's Kevin Dillon starring in the classic rebel without a clue role as Brian Flagg. Oh yes, he's got the leather jacket, the motorcycle and the hair. Oh the hair! Kevin Dillon has such perfectly poofed out hair that it would've even made Farah Fawcett feel self-conscious back in the seventies. His hair alone could probably be ranked as one of the greatest things in horror movie history.

But we're not here to talk about his hair, so let's get right down to business.

So cut to later in the film in a restaurant where Meg, Brian and a waitress have just watched the cook get sucked down the drain in the kitchen sink. You see, the sink was clogged (by the blob) and he took it upon himself to try using a plunger on it. The blob obviously didn't like that, so it grabbed the cook by the face and pulled him on in as blood 'n guts splattered everywhere. The lesson we learned here is simple: When the blob is in your pipes, forget the Drano, forget the plunger... just get the hell outta Dodge, pronto!

While the waitress makes it out to the alley, Meg and Brian make a run for it down the hallways towards the freezer as the blob sludges along the ceiling in hot pursuit. This is definitely one of the moments in the movie where the green-screening is highly evident, but damned if I don't absolutely love it.

While the other two lock themselves in a freezer (blobs hate the cold), the waitress makes it to a phone booth out in the alley. She tries calling for help but soon the phone dies out as the blob engulfs the entire booth. Soon she finds herself trapped in this tight little space and there's absolutely no hope of her escaping. But rather than just killing her quickly, the blob oozes around the booth for a bit and you get some great shots both of her freaking out and some of the victims inside the blob which haven't been completely dissolved yet.

Well all good things must come to and end, so the blob decides to crash her little phonebooth party by squeezing its way in through the cracks. Soon the glass shatters and the blob completely floods the phone booth all at once and it looks pretty damned violent when it happens:

Something about the fantastically claustrophobic nature of this scene coupled with the brutal conclusion always made it one of the more memorable deaths in horror history for me. And when you consider just how memorable many of the deaths in this remake were — such as the date rapist getting more than he bargained for when he copped a feel, Meg's boyfriend being covered by the blob and losing his arm in her hands, or an entire movie theater being attacked by the blob — that's saying a lot.

On a final note, a few years back I actually teamed up with Mike (Kryten Syxx) over at Dread Central for one of his Splattrax installments in which we provided audio commentary for the blog. If you happen to own the DVD, be sure to go download our Splattrax commentary. It's just like inviting us into your home to watch a cheesy horror flick with you, only better, because this way I won't eat all of your Halloween candy and leave you for dead. Well... maybe.

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