Horror The Blob (1958)

BudBrewster

Captain
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A successful combination of sincere horror and sly camp from director Irvin S. Yeaworth, Jr.

Steve McQueen (in one of his first roles) plays a teenager who runs afoul a shapeless alien which emerges from a hollow meteorite and hungrily engulfs everyone it touches.

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The more it eats, the bigger it gets, until finally it surrounds a trailer-sized cafe with Steve and his girl friend (Aneta Corseaut from "The Andy Griffith Show") trapped inside.

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The blob's first victim is played by Olin Howlin, the colorful old drunk from Them.

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The Blob manages to be downright spooky, despite being shot on a low budget and possessing a funny rock-and-roll title theme which makes no attempt to put anyone in the mood for a scary movie. It was one of the few color science fiction films of the 1950s, and the memory of that bright red gelatinous mass pursuing its victims is one of the 1950s' most treasured mental souvenirs.

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Japan released their own blob-monster movie the same year, The H-Man, directed by Inoshiro Honda (Japan's Jack Arnold), who gave us Godzilla, Rodan, and many others.
 
In the Philly region The Blob has a bit of a cult following. The movie takes place in Downingtown, PA, and there is an annual Blobfest celebrating the movie in Phoenixville, PA. The fest is held at the still operating Colonial Theater in Phoenixville which was featured in the original movie (the last screen above, for example, even shows the front of the theater behind the blob). The theater continues operating showing both classic movies and independent films along with concerts and other events. In short, it's become a part of the revitalization of the town and it's success is due in part to a bunch of people celebrating a movie from 1958 about a blob.

 
Only in the United States can a humble little gelatinous life form arrive on Earth in a tiny meteorite, bond with the common people in small town, and start a grass roots movement that energizes an entire community!

Kinda gets ya right here, don't it? I mean . . . God Bless America!
 
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