Movie Review: The Blob (1958)

The movie stars Steve McQueen, Aneta Corsaut, Earl Rowe, Stephen Chase and John Benson.

I'm trying to get back into the habit of watching a weekly classic monster movie with my oldest daughter and realized we could do that while her sister is in dance class on Thursday night. We had several recorded and, even though this was one we've watched together before, she decided she wanted to watch it again.

My daughter, as I expected, thought the movie was a bit dated, especially when it came to special effects, and was laughing at it throughout. However, despite the somewhat campy feel to it today, I still consider this one of my favorite classic monster movies.

One of the reasons for this is the blob itself. Yes, it moves kind of slow, especially when it gets bigger, and someone could probably outrun it if they got a chance. But, it also has a lot more going for it.

For one, the alien monster cannot be killed. This is actually a pretty big deal throughout this movie too as the various victims attempted everything from shooting it to trying to electrocute it. And, even though they do eventually find a way to stop it, it is just temporary enough to set up a potential sequel (though, admittedly, the sequel that was eventually made was actually pretty terrible).

I also liked how, even though people were reluctant to believe Steve and Jane (McQueen and Corsaut), it wasn't a cliche case of adults choosing to believe teenagers are lying simply because they are teenagers. The blob left no trace of its victims, so there were no bodies. Plus, due to some very bad timing, this all happened as Dr. Hallen (Chase) was on his way out of town, so his office being empty wasn't unexpected.

In fact, I actually have to give the police lieutenant (Rowe) some credit. He could have simply written Steve off as a teenager who was trying to pull a sick prank but, even though a lot of the evidence pointed that way, still managed to keep a somewhat open mind and was at least willing to investigate Steve's various blob sightings even though previous ones had turned out to be busts.

If I have any complaints about this movie, it has to be Jane's little brother (Keith Almoney). It was the typical "let's throw in a cute kid" move many horror films like this try to do and, as is usually the case, he was more annoying than cute.

On top of it, he didn't seem to have any real purpose, other than to pop up at the last second so Steve and Jane would have a reason to be in danger. I can think of a dozen other ways the movie could have had the same thing happen without the need for a "cute" kid brother.

The movie is, admittedly, a little dated. But, there is still a lot to like about this film and I would recommend taking the time to watch it if you haven't ever seen it.

My Grade: A