In this movie there is a recurring subplot of a typical slasher film being shown at the local movie theater. After certain events of The Blob, a character says that this will cause him to never see another one of these scary movies. This all feels like some meta commentary by the makers on The Blob itself and is just one of the signs that they did not take this movie too seriously. The other sign: the effects in this movie. The practical gore effects are good, but at the same time they are increasingly comical, and at some points look more like slapstick. My partner and I were laughing out loud during every death, and at the way the titular Blob stalked and chased its victims. The creators could not have been unaware of how their effects looked. Even the name of the movie is kind of funny. The humour of the action, whether international or unintentional, is only underlined by the fact that the rest of this movie is played straight and the quality is alright. Elements established early in the story pay off later on; the acting is alright; the conversations are not the best but not bad for a horror flick; characters are properly established and the central characters have a bit of an arch to them. Sadly, the movie doesn't go far enough into one or the other direction. It is not purposefully funny enough to be a dark comedy and too funny to be a horror movie, which plants it much closer to the so-bad-that-it's-good territory than to any other. In short, this movie is kind of awesome. It's a question whether or not the people behind it realize the reasons why it's awesome, but in any case, it's worth watching. The Blob is a good example of horror slapstick.

The film starts off well, but instead of a good, creepy monster movie, it decides it wants to be about a silly government conspiracy. The mixing of genres doesn't work. I see that it totally flopped at the box office. I also see that in the forums I frequent, it's never mentioned as being a worthy remake. Both of these things are well deserved.

Nothing on screen in The Blob is ever independent: it always relates to some other part of the film. The best example is of the priest who is judgmental of others. Particular attention is paid to him walking home and dropping his bottle of alcohol, a show of him being hypocritical. He is shown, early on, the take a sample of the crystal blob. At The Blob's end, the priest has embraced his evil nature, taking advantage of the weak-minded through religion and at the same time holding the key to the apocalypse. The Blob's ending, then, is provided for: not some curve ball out of nowhere intended to shock the viewer. There is even another subtle detail. The priest is one of the first characters shown in the film, standing in the bleachers of the football game.The method of defeating the blob is introduced in the first few minutes of the film: the snow machine. Deaths are even hinted at through dialogue before they occur: Flagg asks if he is a 'broken man' to Deputy Briggs; forty minutes later, Briggs is broken in half. Nothing in The Blob goes to waste.Why is The Blob's rating only 6.3? Because people don't pay attention to good writing. The rating is only that high because people cannot ignore the film's groundbreaking special effects (which have yet to be outdone, twenty years later).Give The Blob another chance, preferably with the subtitles on! You will be pleasantly surprised at just how good it really is! And lament! For the up and coming remake is bound to be half-assedly written and the digi-blob will look like stiff puke.

Now that Global Warming- or "Global Climate Change," if you're Slow- has become a Reality, it's time to haul out THE BLOB one more time. The first time was Fun, but so was the second time; the third time should be the Charm. (Now that there's no going back to the way things WERE, THE BLOB would have to win by default in the end...) THE BLOB II was just as much fun as the original, in my opinion, and the reason is obvious: Chuck Russell was the director. Russell directed the only one of the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET movies that I genuinely liked (THE DREAM WARRIORS), so I was looking forward to seeing THE BLOB. It didn't disappoint. The story's a kinda sorta tribute throwback to the 50s REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE scenario(s), and it works with Kevin Dillon and Shawnee Smith as the leads. THE BLOB itself is finally given the Star Treatment, with special effects to rival those of most ANY Monster Movie (although the John Carpenter version of THE THING is still- in my own, ever humble opinion- vastly superior; but that's comparing apples and oranges).