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Creature Feature
The Blob
Written By AL J. Vermette
The year is 1958 as the sky glows bright as something is falling from the heavens.
The object, a stone like craft, it comes to mother Earth crashing deep within the
woods of a near by town. At first, all seems to be fine. But when a old man goes
looking into what fell from the sky, he finds something is lurking within the space
rock. What looks like nothing more than jell-O within the object, the old man pokes
it with a stick. The thing starts to move all by itself and thought alive. Before he
knows it, the old little thing has taken hold of him, engulfing his whole hand and
forearm. Lucky for him, two teens are on the way to also see what came from deep
reaches of space. They find him running out in the road with this jelly like thing all
over his hand. They bring him to the town doctor to help but before they or anyone
else can do anything that had just set in motion the events of horror to follow. The
creature grows and eats anything and anyone in its path. The Blob has come and
a new monster icon is born.
Of all the monster movies of the 1950's, this super classic sci/fi horror mix is one of
the few made in full color and stands as one of the very best known and beloved of
the monster movies of the decade. The Blob, which was a shapeless form jelly like
creature that seemed nothing more than something that Bill Cosby would push on
TV ads for jell-O and yet this simple little creature that almost looked and acted
harmless started feeding on everyone insight and as it fed it grew and grew as
large as a house by movies end. Unlike any film monster before it, The Blob was
not a man in a rubber monster suit or stop-motion puppet but was as it seemed to
be. A jelly substance that was brought to life by some use of stop-motion FX and
revise film projection. In other words if the creature seemed to be entering a room
or in the case of the movie theater, it attacks the jelly standing in for the beast was
sliding through an opening away from the camera but then the film was played in
revise it made it seemed the creature was moving forward emerging from one room
into the next. A simple effect but a good one and still used today in fact for optic
effects. Other effects came into play as well to bring the jelly creature to life. In all
what came across on screen was a living creature of unknown origins that was
unlike anything movie fans had ever seen before.
The film originally was to be named “The Molten Meteor” but when the produces
over heard the films screenwriter Key Linaker use the word Blob to refer to the
film's monster, they thought that would make a better title. It also gave the creature
a name since in the film the word Blob was never once use by the film staring cast.
By the way, speaking of the human cast of the movie, this was actor Steve Mc
Queen’s very first movie and though he was really 28 years old playing a teenager
he pulled it off well. The creature known as The Blob was an unstoppable monster
that seemed to devour anything thrown at it as guns and other weapons stood
useless on the beast. The only thing that seemed to effect it was that the thing
seemed to dislike anything cold. So cold would be the one and only weapon to fight
it as fire extinguishers from the nearby high school were brought in to fight the
monster as the creature now huge and engulfing a food diner where the films star
are hiding in its cellar. By the movies end The Blob is frozen solid by the cold
carbon dioxide and air lifted and dropped into the Arctic where it was to remain for
all time. Or was it?
In the closing moments of the movie the words (The End) flash across the screen
before morphing into a question mark giving rise to the thought that The Blob could
once again return. It would take 14 years later but the formless space creature
would indeed return in a comedy sequel called “Beware The Blob” 1972. Once
again the jelly monster went on a rampage of feeding on people and ever growing
into behemoth per portions. This film oddly enough was directed by “I Dream of
Jeannie” and “Dallas” star Larry Hagman if you can believe it. Yeah good old J R
Ewing helmed a horror movie. In 1988, a full remake of “The Blob” was made only
this time the creature was written as a government science project gone bad as the
organism returns to Earth and wreaks havoc on a small town. Using new up dated
effects, the monster seemed even more real and deadly as the creature eat away
at its victims and this time we got to see then slowly dissolve into the creature as
their skin melted from bone. In 2006, the people at Paramount Pictures said that
an all new remake is planned to bring back the amorphous creature for one more
go around. The newest Blob will for sure be a CGI monster using the latest in top
movie making magic as was done 21 years ago for the monsters last go around.
The idea of a formless shapeless creature as carried on over the years outside of
the three Blob films. A oil like creature was used for the movie “Creep Show 2" and
something like it again used for “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Even the kids
writer R. L. Stine used a Blob in one of his books called “The Blob That Ate
Everyone.” Its clear to see that this creature is very much welcomed by writers and
fans alike as its legacy as now lasted 51 years. For a little jelly monster from outer
space with a B budget and small cast its film this movie monster has indeed eaten
up the world.
The Blob
Written By AL J. Vermette
The year is 1958 as the sky glows bright as something is falling from the heavens.
The object, a stone like craft, it comes to mother Earth crashing deep within the
woods of a near by town. At first, all seems to be fine. But when a old man goes
looking into what fell from the sky, he finds something is lurking within the space
rock. What looks like nothing more than jell-O within the object, the old man pokes
it with a stick. The thing starts to move all by itself and thought alive. Before he
knows it, the old little thing has taken hold of him, engulfing his whole hand and
forearm. Lucky for him, two teens are on the way to also see what came from deep
reaches of space. They find him running out in the road with this jelly like thing all
over his hand. They bring him to the town doctor to help but before they or anyone
else can do anything that had just set in motion the events of horror to follow. The
creature grows and eats anything and anyone in its path. The Blob has come and
a new monster icon is born.
Of all the monster movies of the 1950's, this super classic sci/fi horror mix is one of
the few made in full color and stands as one of the very best known and beloved of
the monster movies of the decade. The Blob, which was a shapeless form jelly like
creature that seemed nothing more than something that Bill Cosby would push on
TV ads for jell-O and yet this simple little creature that almost looked and acted
harmless started feeding on everyone insight and as it fed it grew and grew as
large as a house by movies end. Unlike any film monster before it, The Blob was
not a man in a rubber monster suit or stop-motion puppet but was as it seemed to
be. A jelly substance that was brought to life by some use of stop-motion FX and
revise film projection. In other words if the creature seemed to be entering a room
or in the case of the movie theater, it attacks the jelly standing in for the beast was
sliding through an opening away from the camera but then the film was played in
revise it made it seemed the creature was moving forward emerging from one room
into the next. A simple effect but a good one and still used today in fact for optic
effects. Other effects came into play as well to bring the jelly creature to life. In all
what came across on screen was a living creature of unknown origins that was
unlike anything movie fans had ever seen before.
The film originally was to be named “The Molten Meteor” but when the produces
over heard the films screenwriter Key Linaker use the word Blob to refer to the
film's monster, they thought that would make a better title. It also gave the creature
a name since in the film the word Blob was never once use by the film staring cast.
By the way, speaking of the human cast of the movie, this was actor Steve Mc
Queen’s very first movie and though he was really 28 years old playing a teenager
he pulled it off well. The creature known as The Blob was an unstoppable monster
that seemed to devour anything thrown at it as guns and other weapons stood
useless on the beast. The only thing that seemed to effect it was that the thing
seemed to dislike anything cold. So cold would be the one and only weapon to fight
it as fire extinguishers from the nearby high school were brought in to fight the
monster as the creature now huge and engulfing a food diner where the films star
are hiding in its cellar. By the movies end The Blob is frozen solid by the cold
carbon dioxide and air lifted and dropped into the Arctic where it was to remain for
all time. Or was it?
In the closing moments of the movie the words (The End) flash across the screen
before morphing into a question mark giving rise to the thought that The Blob could
once again return. It would take 14 years later but the formless space creature
would indeed return in a comedy sequel called “Beware The Blob” 1972. Once
again the jelly monster went on a rampage of feeding on people and ever growing
into behemoth per portions. This film oddly enough was directed by “I Dream of
Jeannie” and “Dallas” star Larry Hagman if you can believe it. Yeah good old J R
Ewing helmed a horror movie. In 1988, a full remake of “The Blob” was made only
this time the creature was written as a government science project gone bad as the
organism returns to Earth and wreaks havoc on a small town. Using new up dated
effects, the monster seemed even more real and deadly as the creature eat away
at its victims and this time we got to see then slowly dissolve into the creature as
their skin melted from bone. In 2006, the people at Paramount Pictures said that
an all new remake is planned to bring back the amorphous creature for one more
go around. The newest Blob will for sure be a CGI monster using the latest in top
movie making magic as was done 21 years ago for the monsters last go around.
The idea of a formless shapeless creature as carried on over the years outside of
the three Blob films. A oil like creature was used for the movie “Creep Show 2" and
something like it again used for “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Even the kids
writer R. L. Stine used a Blob in one of his books called “The Blob That Ate
Everyone.” Its clear to see that this creature is very much welcomed by writers and
fans alike as its legacy as now lasted 51 years. For a little jelly monster from outer
space with a B budget and small cast its film this movie monster has indeed eaten
up the world.
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