I don’t know if you would define the 1958 release of “The Blob” as “classical horror” or not, but I’m going to. There are a lot of classic horror movies that I have never seen before, especially ones from the 50s and 60s, but I am trying to correct that.
Steve is taking his best girl out for a night of star-gazing at the local “make out” spot in town. While watching for shooting stars the pair sees an actual falling star and decides to go check it out. Along the way, they nearly hit an old man on the side of the road. Unbeknownst to them this man recently came across their falling star and the contents of which have latched onto his hand. Steve and his girl Jane (not Janie girl) take the old man as fast as they can to the local doctor to get checked out. The substance on the old man’s hand has started to not only dissolve his hand but has moved further up his arm and it appears to not be stopping. After a run-in with some other kids (friends?) from school, and the police, Steve and Jane decide to go back to the Doctor’s office to check in with the man they attempted to save on the side of the road. When they got back to the office, they couldn’t have been less prepared for what they saw. Now they have to convince the police and everyone else that they are all in grave danger.
Somewhere in the recesses of my mind, I think I saw the remake/sequel to this classic film but had never seen the original. Sure it’s from a bygone era of films where the special effects weren’t great, but that wasn’t the draw. Films from this age were made just to get kid’s butts in seats on the premise of “look at how ridiculous it is” and that’s just about it. Super-imposed tiny things set against a backdrop of things that made them look larger than they could ever possibly be. Crowds of screaming people all running from a thing that at the time they literally couldn’t even see. There was no blood to speak of. Nudity and sex weren’t even allowed, and the “swearing” was limited to “gosh darned” and words that most priests wouldn’t even blush at anymore.
I’ve seen far too many Mystery Science Theater 3000 episodes to really be able to take the giant creature feature as a serious genre of film, but knowing that this kind of sets the scale for movies to follow is kinda nice. It doesn’t hurt that one of my favorite movies is another Steve (then Steven) McQueen joint, The Great Escape. Seeing him in this and knowing that it is his first film, it makes sense that he would go on to bigger and better things. He is clearly the stand-out star of the film and the only believable one with lines. That dog does a good job too, not to mention the Blob itself.
Taken for what it is, and considering the time period it was made, this is a completely competent “horror” movie. Back when people were appalled by women who would show their ankles and men didn’t have emotions other than blind rage I’m sure this was a must-see. Apparently, it brought in about $4 million dollars in the box-office. That’s kind of an insane amount of money for the time.
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