Wednesday 4 August 2010

MONSTER! MONSTER! PART 3!

Part 3: The Blob
Year: 1988
Tagline: "Terror Has No Shape"
Director: Chuck Russell
Starring: Kevin Dillon, Shawnee Smith, Jeffrey DeMunn, Paul McCrane

The Plot: not much to speak off. A strange meteor lands and it's passenger, the titular blob invades the nearby small town. Why is it always small American towns that get all this shit? No wonder everyone lives in cities over there.

The Actors: Kevin Dillon phones in the lead role, looking most of the time as if he has just woken up. Shawnee Smith does the running-around-tough-girl role adequately with solid support from Jeffrey DeMunn as the Sheriff, and a slimy Paul McCrane (better known as the slimy Robert Romano in ER) as his slimy deputy. Unbelievably the Blob doesn't recognise him as a relation.

The Monster: whilst the special effects are starting to look a little ropey, this gelatinous mass of purple is a joy to watch in action. Whether lurking on the ceiling, ready to pounce on unsuspecting prey, or hiding in a drain waiting to drag some poor soul down through the plughole, this lethal monster reduces it's victims to bones within seconds, making it an altogether deadlier (and gorier) update of the laughable Fifties original.

The Film: another B-movie classic, The Blob tramples over all the cliches (rebellious and reluctant hero type, disbelieving and generally useless local law enforcement, shady government spooks, etc) like a, um, raging plate of jelly. The SFX have aged badly and so have some of the haircuts, but this is still a classic for all gore-hounds and fans of ludicrous monster films in general.

Monster! Monster! Factor: seven out of ten

3 comments:

  1. "Terror has no shape" - They don't write tag-lines like that any more, that's for sure. No wonder they changed it for the DVD.

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  2. Haha, I think I want to see this one now :)

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  3. you should it's brilliant, in a crap sort of way!

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