THE BLOB
US, 1958, 86 minutes, Colour.
Steve Mc Queen, Aneta Corsaut, Earl Rowe.
Directed by Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr.
The Blob has become something of a classic. In its time it was very much a B (or lower) budget science fiction film. The director went on to make The 4D Man and Dinosaurus.
The film is the familiar one of an alien life form that descends on an American town and eats up everything in its path as it grows and grows. There was a tongue-in-cheek updating in the early 1970s, Beware! The Blob (directed by Larry Hagman), as well as a proper remake and updating in the 1980s with The Blob starring Kevin Dillon.
The story has been used with variations in a number of films – for example, Slither (2006).
The film is remembered as one of the earliest films of star Steve Mc Queen.
1. What do audiences expect of science fiction films? What enjoyment do they expect? What presentation of fantasy, danger? How much do audiences like to be scared? How successful was this film as science fiction?
2. How seriously was it meant to be taken as science fiction? How much for laughs and ordinary enjoyment? This film as an example of science fiction in the 50s? And the more imaginative and preposterous aspects from outer space?
3. The importance of the setting - the teenagers and their way of life, the town itself, the teenagers and their cars, the horror show at the movies, the caravan with the restaurant?
4. How important were the characters for the film? Were they just enough for the episodes? Steve and the girls?
5. The impression of the Blob itself? How plausible were its origins, its spreading, its appearance, its ultimate growth, the cinematic effect of all this, its reduction by cold? And the end?
6. The audience belief in the plausibility of the destruction and audience fearful response to this?
7. How effective were the examples of the Blob’s destruction: the man, the cars, the theatre, the caravan? The optimum in destroying the Blob? And the irony of the ending and a sequel fifteen years later?
9. How enjoyable was the film as low budget science fiction entertainment? What values did it have in itself? As part of the history of science fiction films?
