Nothing will stop it! Nothing can stop the Blob!
So back at the beginning of the year my book club read Steve McQueen: The Salvation of an American Icon by Greg Laurie.
After I finished reading it, I thought it would be perfect to end Horrorfest IX with The Blob as I would have all my book reviews completed by then.
Yes, I was so idealistic at the beginning of the year. You see I am behind in my book club reviews. I am like 16 months behind.
Yes its bad. Eventually I will catch up, but as I hadn’t gotten to that book yet, I decided to move the review up and end on a different film.
This film is one of my favorite “B” horror films and I just love it. The first time I watched this film I saw it on TCM and I remember hearing this really interesting tidbit in the intro. Steve McQueen was offered 10% of the profits or $2500. At the time he had no money, very little food, and needed to pay the rent. He thought the film was going to bomb or have relative success so he took the paycheck. This film made so much money-people estimate he could have made as much as 40,0000. Everything in life is a gamble and you win some and lose some.
Here we go with the review:
So we start with a jazzy song written for the film. It was supposed to be in the style of The Monster Mash, but to me it sounds weird with the film-like it should be less dancing and more grim in my opinion. It became a huge hit and was on the Billboard Charts.
We start the film off with two teens making out, one is Steve Andrews (Steve McQueen) the other Jane Martin (Aneta Corsaut). They stop as Jane is upset as she feels used and that Steve just brought her up to neck, and doesn’t really care about her. Steve tries to reassure her, but it doesn’t seem to help. He finally convinces her that he is being honest and cares when they are interrupted by a shooting star streaking across the sky and crashing. Steve wants to get it, so the two drive off to look. Be careful, sometimes a shooting star is more than you think it will be, case in point:
Meanwhile, an old man and his dog who live up there are awoken by something-the dog barking like crazy and freaking out. The man leaves the dog inside and goes to investigate ad finds a huge hole with a little meteor in it.
Hmmm…
The man pokes it with a stick and it unfurls-it’s pretty gross and it actually reminds me of Alien when we first see the Xenomorph XX121 things.
The man puts the stick to it and it goes right into it and grabs the old man. He tries to get it off but can’t.
Steve and Jane come looking for the meteor but don’t see anything and they decide to head back into town and eat. While they drive the old man come running out into the road-they stopping just in time. The man is screaming and upset, so Steve says he ca take him to a doctor. Steve almost touches the old man’s hand, but the old man pulls away, thank goodness.
Every time they show Steve McQueen I am struck by how gorgeous he is with those ice blue eyes.
The doctor is supposed to be heading out of town for a trip, asking his neighbor to watch his house. Luckily Steve catches the doctor right as he is leaving so he can look at the old man (or unluckily for the Doc I should say). To get there Steve had to drive around some other cars, something his friend don’t take too kindly. They will be back to settle it later.
That’s not good.
Adults are really suspicious of kids in this movie. Steve says they ran into the old man and the Doc gets all upset, Jane saving Steve by saying they picked him up. And its not just him, the cops act rude to the “kids” too.
Hmm…
Steve shows the doctor the hand and the blister has become bigger, consuming his hand.
The doctor sends them back up the hills to see if they find out what happened while the Doc consults his books. When they leave the doc’s office they see the guys from earlier, Tony, Mooch, and Al crowding around Steve’s car.
Tony wants to race as he can’t have his reputation damaged as being slower. Steve keeps trying to get out of it or brushing them off but but they won’t let him.
I like how the guy calls him King, since Steve was the King of Cool.
The two race backwards Steve stopping so the guys have a red light, but he can’t go forward as a cop pulls him over. It’s thankfully Lt. Dave and not the kid hating cop. I love this scene when Steve is trying to talk himself out of a ticket, it makes me think of my nieces and nephews when they get in trouble and try to talk themselves out of it without actually admitting it.
Steve Andrews: I’ll never do it again.
Lt. Dave: You’ll never do what again?
Steve Andrews: Uh…[speaks softly, not looking at Lt. Dave] whatever you think I’m doing.
It cracks me up.
After the cops, the guys are all friends again. The race has been forgotten. Steve invites the guys to come with and help with the Doctor’s task of seeing if they can find anything helpful where the old man was found, but the guys want to go to the movies and see the midnight flick. Steve convinces the boys to come help.
Meanwhile, the Blob is growing larger on the old man. And the Doc is more confused, calling a friend to consult but he has already left for the convention. He then calls his nurse as he plans to amputate the parasite on the old man.
Back with Steve and the gang they find the hole and the meteor shell plus the lantern the old man had. Jane hears a dog barking and wants to investigate, she calls Steve to come with her, but I never noticed this before he is the last to leave. I think it is interesting how he really thinks about meteors and shooing stars and knows a bit about it. Maybe earlier the line of him coming out to that makeout spot to watch the sky wasn’t a line to get with Jane, but he maybe he is into astronomy.
The friends leave to the movies and invite Steve and Jane to join them. But Steve refuses, as he’s thinking about the meteor. He and Jane go back to the Doctor’s, Jane taking the dog as she can’t stand to lave it behind and starve.
The nurse and Doc are getting ready, the Doc waring her not to touch whatever is on the man. She goes to get the old man’s pulse and he’s gone, just a blob of something-bigger now.
I know people make fun of this but just think if that was real-that would be so creepy. It’s like a jellyfish-Jellyfish have no bones, brains, blood, etc.-they are basically teeth just floating and consuming. You can’t reason with it.
The doctor and nurse try to stop it, she throws acid on it but it doesn’t stop it. The thing…excuse me that’s another movie…the blob consumes her while the Doc goes for his gun, the lights being knocked out and the doctor can’t see. He tries to use his gun, but it can’t stop it-nothing can stop the Blob!
Aahhh!!
Steve goes to the Doc’s but everything is closed and dark. He goes to check the garage and sees the doctor consumed by something.
Ahhhhhhh!
Steve goes to tell the police the Doc was killed, but falters when it comes time to explain as to what he saw. He tries to tell Lt. Dave but Sgt. Jim Bert, the kid-hater, refuses to listen. Dave overrules him and they go investigate the Doctor’s office. At the Doc’s they can’t find anything. Everything looks as if the doctor left-no trace of him at all. They do find a mess in the doctor’s study, like a struggle as the room is all messed up and a shotgun having been fired but no shots or shot marks.
Burns is just yelling at Steve thinking they are playing a prank and ouch-Jane sends out a zinger.
Lieutenant Dave: Hold on, Jim, the kids couldn’t have done this. You saw for yourself, the window was locked from the inside, and so was the door.
Sgt. Jim Bert: They rigged it with a piece of string to lock from the outside to make us look silly.
Jane Martin: I think you’re doing a good job of that all by yourself, Sergeant.
The neighbor, Mrs. Porter, says the Doc left for the convention. Mrs. Porter is no help explaining everything away so the cops don’t believe Steve. The police tell her not to touch anything in the “crime scene”, but she refuses she wants to clean up.
At a nearby garage two guys are working on a car, when the Bob comes around and consumes a guy under a car.
The police brought them to the station and called the parents. Jane’s dad is very upset as he is the principal and it damages his reputation. Steve’s dad is much calmer. Mr. Andrews, Steve’s dad comes to his defense saying that he wouldn’t lie about this-about breaking in somewhere.
Dave sends the kids home but it doesn’t sit well with him, something doesn’t feel right.
Hmm…
The cops argue with each other should we charge them or not? Dave thinks that the have no reason to as they will wait and speak to the doctor in the morning. We also find out Sgt. Jim Bert hates kids as one crashed into his wife and she died. Aw. Poor guy.
Jane is trying to sneak out of the house when her little brother Danny spots her leaving. She tries to keep him quiet, but man this kid is yelling. Every time I watch this all I can think is how do her parent’s not hear them?
Steve is asleep in his bed, at least until his parents think he is as he too sneaks out of the house and right into Jane. It’s funny that she scares him like a little kid.
Steve is completely freaked, I know I would be if I witnessed what he did. He tells Jane-the trauma and how he feels crazy. Jane is a good girlfriend and tells him she believes him. But Steve is starting to wonder…did he see what he think he saw? No, he know he did! Didn’t he?
Jane us such a great girlfriend she zones in what he is feeling and tells him not to convince himself it didn’t happen as he knows it did.
Steve is unsure what to do next as they might end up getting killed by whatever the thing is. Jane suggests they get Tony, Mooch, and Al to help them search. Steve goes to the movies and not only convinces his friends, but their dates to help them, they are such good friends.
The kids go looking for the Blob and to warn people, but everyone laughs them off and no one takes them seriously.
Steve and Jane find the dog by Steve’s dad’s store. The door is unlocked which is strange as the last employee should have locked up and gone home.
They look around the store in the dark, and it’s very creepy. The dark alway is as you don’t know what is out there.
Hmm…
It tuns out the Blob is in there and Jane faints when she sees it. Steve picks her up and tries to carry her out the back way, but the door is locked and the Blob moves fast. They are hurrying in the back and hide out in the freezer. Jane starts getting hysterical knowing that no one will come to help them as no one knows they are there. The Blob starts creeping under the door when it suddenly retreats? Why?
Hmm…from Saboteur
In the beginning the Blob was a blue black, then clear, and now a deep dark red. I never noticed before that the more it consumes the darker it gets.
Jane is freezing in the storeroom and still freaking out-similar to how Steve was the first time he saw it. Steve takes command and they slowly peek out to see if it is safe. They come into the store but it is still creepy as the lights are off and it is hard to see where the Blob might be. Steve and Jane run and get out and share with the rest of the gang that the Blob was in the store.
The kids call the police but Dave has gone home to bed and Sgt. Bert is there and refuses to listen to the kids as kids are all liars.
Ugh…this guy
The kids start driving up and down the streets making a lot of noise trying to wake everyone up. Soon everyone starts coming to see what is going on.
Steve tries to warn everyone but Bert still won’t listen. Steve is trying his best to convince them but the police are still not sure-although Dave knows that Steve is telling the truth that he is scared.
Steve Andrews: Dave, look at me! Do I look like somebody’s playing a practical joke? Am I laughing, or am I scared stiff?
Lieutenant Dave: He’s telling the truth.
Dave sends everyone home and gets the firefighters to grab guns and help them. Meanwhile in the movie theater all are having a good time when the Blob slinks through the air vent and attacks the projectionist. Then the movie cuts out and the Blob is coming down on the the seats. The blob has grown even bigger.
They have a Blobfest where this was filmed and they reenact this scene. I had planned to go this year but unfortunately…canceled like everything else.
People are running into the diner, but the Blob is coming for them.
Jan’s brother Danny shoots his pop gun and then hides in the diner. Where the heck are his parents? How did he get there?
In the diner are Steve, a waitress, Jane and Danny. The blob is on top. They have tried guns and nothing seems to be able to stop it. The police decide to drop a power line on it, the group moving to the cellar, but it doesn’t work.
That’s not good.
The diner catches on fire and the group starts coughing. There is no way out as they are completely surrounded and are going to die by smoke or the Blob.
Jane is freaking out but calms herself down to be strong for Danny, telling him everything is going to be alright.
The diner owner hasn’t accepted death and starts using the fire extinguisher which causes the Blob to retreat.
Steve figures out that it can’t stand the cold, and that’s why it didn’t attack them when they were in the freezer.
Steve starts yelling to the phone, thank goodness it is one of those old ones, if it had been plastic it would be burned out by now. Dave sends the fire chief after some fire extinguishers while Principl Martin, Jane’s dad, takes Steve’s friends to the school to pickup all the ones there.
I was about to say something sarcastic like of course he brought his school keys with him in the middle of the night when it turns out he doesn’t and their have to break a window-Principal Martin doing it as he is so worried about his daughter and son in the clutches of the Blob. Good job writers!
The police get through to the military while the rest of the people fight off the Blob with fire extinguishers. The group slowly makes their escape.
The freeze the Blob and It is transported to the Artic. Good, it can hang out with The Thing from Another World.
We end with a question mark, will we seeit again? I know I will watch it again. I still think it is a great movie after all this time and love watching it and Steve McQueen.
In reading Steve McQueen: The Salvation of an American Icon, by Greg Laurie, he mentions that the film was made by a Christian company trying to reach the kids of today. Just for fun I tried to think of any Christian messages I could see a minister using to make a sermon.
You can be consumed by sin the way one is consumed by the Blob. “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8
The way the adults treat the kids not listening to them or valuing their opinions because they are kids. “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young…” Timothy 4:12
When Steve gets his friends to help him look for the Blob warning them and knowing that if they encounter it they will most likely die, but his friends agreeing to help anyway: “There is no greater love than this: that a person would lay down his life for the sake of his friends. ” John 15:13
What do you think?
For more visitors from another world, go to Gort! Klaatu Barada Nikto!: The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
For more “B” Horror Films, go to They’re Coming for Me Now…And Then They’ll Come for You: House on Haunted Hill (1959)
For more shooting stars, go to Non-Austen Films for Austen Fans: Stardust (2007)
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