The Blob

The 1988 horror cult classic "The Blob" is a great example of how to correctly do a remake. It takes the basic premise from the 1958 original but runs wild creatively speaking. There are much more involved and better special effects in the 1988 version along with loads of gruesome practical gore which is still impressive today. The 1988 version though is also quite funny too with some clever and witty banter between the main characters. Much like David Cronenberg's 1986 remake of "The Fly", director & co-writer Chuck Russell struck similarly great results by taking the basic idea of the original film and going bonkers while still staying true to the basic structure overall. The cast is excellent and the film is just a ton of fun for horror fans.The 1988 version of "The Blob" was initially released on blu-ray back in 2014 by Twilight Time in a very limited run which sold out almost immediately. The Autralian label Umbrella Entertainment reissued the film on region free blu-ray in 2016 utilizing the same transfer. (There was also a German blu-ray by a company called Alive at some point too.) Scream Factory repurposes this transfer again for their 2019 collector's edition blu-ray of the film which easily represents the definitive release of this horror classic.1988's "The Blob" is presented on a dual layer blu-ray in its original 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio utilizing the AVC codec with a great encode hovering between 33 and 35 mbps. Despite this transfer now being about 5 years old, the film still looks excellent. Color and detail are superb along with spot on contrast and black levels. No digital noise reduction or sharpening appears to have been done. The grain structure is natural and extremely filmic. Simply put this is quite possibly the best this film has ever looked. Fans should be very happy.Audio offers two lossless options of 5.1 surround and the original 2 channel stereo mix. The film sounds great either way but I really enjoyed the 5.1 mix the most. English subtitles are included for the hearing impaired.Where the Scream Factory disc excels is in the massive amount of new extra content which was done for the film. If you already own either the 2014 or 2016 blu-rays of the film, it is well worth upgrading to the Scream Factory version for the extras alone. Here is everything included:- NEW Audio Commentary With Director Chuck Russell, Special Effects Artist Tony Gardner, And Cinematographer Mark Irwin, Moderated By Filmmaker Joe Lynch-NEW Audio Commentary With Actress Shawnee Smith- NEW It Fell From The Sky! – An Interview With Director Chuck Russell (part one 22 min. 26 sec., part two 26 min. 32 sec.)- NEW We Have Work To Do – An Interview With Actor Jeffrey DeMunn (14 min. 13 sec.)- NEW Minding The Diner – An Interview With Actress Candy Clark (16 min. 40 sec.)- NEW They Call Me Mellow Purple – An Interview With Actor Donovan Leitch Jr. (15 min. 21 sec.)- NEW Try To Scream! – An Interview With Actor Bill Moseley (18 min. 38 sec.)- NEW Shot Him! – An Interview With Cinematographer Mark Irwin (18 min. 10 sec.)- NEW The Incredible Melting Man – An Interview With Special Effects Artist Tony Gardner (22 min. 02 sec.)- NEW Monster Math – An Interview With Special Effects Supervisor Christopher Gilman (26 min. 14 sec.)- NEW Haddonfield To Arborville – An Interview With Production Designer Craig Stearns (20 min. 32 sec )- NEW The Secret Of The Ooze – An Interview With Mechanical Designer Mark Setrakian (19 min. 41 sec.)- NEW I Want That Organism Alive! – An Interview With Blob Mechanic Peter Abrahamson (12 min. 23 sec.)- NEW Gardner’s Grue Crew – Behind-The-Scenes Footage Of Tony Gardner And His Team (28 min. 18 sec.)- Audio Commentary With Director Chuck Russell, Moderated By Film Producer Ryan Turek- Theatrical Trailers- TV Spot- Still GalleryScream Factory commissioned cool new cover art for their blu-ray of 1988's "The Blob". You can also flip around the sleeve to have the original theatrical poster art. For the first three months, you will also get a slipcover which has the new cover art on it. This disc is region A locked.This disc comes highly recommended and represents one of Scream Factory's best blu-ray releases to date.

A classic highly recommend grabbing a copy

If you like 1980’s sci-fi horror thrillers that are actually good movies this is one of the best. A practical effects masterpiece.

The transfer of this 80s monster movie is great and the print looks fantastic. The film is presented in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio and as it is over three decades old, there is some grain in the picture, but that is to be expected at this point. The colors are bright and vibrant, which makes the gelatinous creature all the more effective as a colorful beastie it is. The sound is in HD DTS 5.1 or DTS 2.0 and makes this action/sci-fi/horror really come alive, as the sound design on the film is already very strong. Once again Scream Factory gives a film the royal treatment all films deserve and if you are a fan of this flick, the technical presentation is reason alone to have this.The extras included are generous and features some fun stuff. For starters, there is an extensive two-part interview with Chuck Russell. In the first part he describes his journey into being a filmmaker, from his early days with Roger Corman, working on Hell Night, to his directorial debut on A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. In the second part, Russell goes into extensive detail on filming this 1988 remake. A great interview! Other interviews include, production designer Craig Stearns, FX man Chris Gilman, cinematographer Mark Irwin, FX man Peter Abrahamson, FX man Mark Setrakian, SPFX expert Tony Gardner and cast members, Candy Clark, Jeffrey DeMunn, Donovan Leitch and Bill Mosley. That's a lot of personal insight into the making of this film! Be advised though, the box art also lists an interview with star Ricky Paull Goldin, but it does not appear with the extras. There is also some new commentary on the film, with Russell, Mark Irwin and Tony Gardner with a second solo commentary track featuring star Shawnee Smith. Scream Factory has also included a previous commentary with Chuck Russell and producer Ryan Turek. Rounding out the extras are some behind the scenes footage and, of course, the traditional theatrical trailer, TV spot and still gallery.As for the movie itself...Chuck Russell’s 1988 remake of the 1958 classic The Blob is simply a really fun monster movie that takes the spirit and basic structure of the original film, but adds it’s own twists to keep it fresh…how a remake like this should be done. It’s also now filled with 80s nostalgia which adds to the entertainment.The film takes place in the small town of Arborville, California where the biggest concern till now, is if it’s going to snow enough to support the upcoming ski season…which fuels the rural town’s economy…or asking out the hot cheerleader. When a fiery object falls from the sky, a kindly homeless man (Billy Beck) goes to investigate and gets a corrosive, jelly-like substance on his arm. He’s discovered by local rebel Brian Flagg (Kevin Dillon with amazingly 80s hair), hot cheerleader, Meg (Shawnee Smith) and her date, Paul (Donovan Leitch) and taken to a local hospital. The poor man is eaten alive by the goop and the rabidly growing substance takes out Paul, too and escapes into the woods. Despite local law enforcement being skeptical of this monster story, a strange biological containment team arrives along with the mysterious Dr. Meddows (Joe Seneca). Soon the town is quarantined, as the protoplasmic ‘space monster’ beings to prey on the locals, growing larger with each meal. Can Flagg and Meg save the day, or become happy meals for the viscus invader?With a script co-written by The Walking Dead’s Frank Darabont, Chuck Russell delivers a really action-packed and entertaining horror-thriller that does not skimp on the gore, or spare anyone from the hungry, predatory title creature. He keeps just enough of the story and spirit of the original, including some key scenes, like the movie theater and the monster’s aversion to cold, but crafts his own monster flick. He makes good use of a bigger budget and what was then, more advanced SPFX, to open things up and have a little more fun. He takes his subject matter seriously, but turns the smaller scaled 50s monster movie into a larger scaled sci-fi/action flick and gives us some nice suspense, a fast pace and some very gory demises to make this more of a popcorn entertainment and it really works. On top of the suspense, action and bloody kills, we get some well-rendered FX sequences, though not all of them work perfectly. At the time, the blood, gore and creature work on display here was pretty impressive, though, at this point in time, some haven’t all aged that well. There are still quite a few sequences, though, that hold up quite nicely. Sad that it bombed back in the day, as it is an underrated monster movie, though thankfully it’s recognized as a cult classic now. On a personal note…I was there in my seat in 1988 and had a real blast with it, even before the 80s nostalgia set in and the practical SPFX added a sense of old school charm.As for the players, the cast all take their roles seriously, but also appear to be having a good time. Kevin Dillon might be a bit too much of a pretty boy, with his shoulder length, permed hair, to initially be taken seriously as ‘rebel without a cause’, delinquent Flagg, but he gives the role his all and we go along with it just fine. Shawnee Smith is very pretty, but also very tough and resourceful, as the cheerleader turned monster fighting heroine and she kinda steals the film from Dillon to boot. Joe Seneca makes an appropriately sinister government scientist, who knows far more about ‘The Blob’ than he lets on and Candy Clark is very sweet and likable as the sassy town cafe owner. The supporting cast, like Del Close as Reverend Meeker, all get the tone of the material and give us some nice secondary characters to root/care for along with our leads.In conclusion, I really like this movie a lot. It echoes and honors the original, yet does it’s own thing as an 80s monster movie and does it well. It’s played seriously, but has fun with it’s monster story and not all the FX may not have withstood the test of time completely, but are still competently made and being a bit dated only makes them more charming. Add in the 80s nostalgia and this is still a really fun flick even today. A good time creature feature that now comes with some nice added nostalgia!

Big horror fan that slept on this movie for way too long. The practical effects are A++++ like wtf why did I wait to watch this

Love this film they don't make films like this anymore!

Man this is an awesome movie!!!

Along with the Thing, The Fly and little Shop of Horrors a great updating of a 1950s film.

Satisfecho con mi compra la conseguí más económica de lo que ahora cuesta, sin duda para coleccionar y trae el audio latino

Eine kleine Perle für sich ✌️🙏👍🏻💋🤩🎂

Rolig och fartfylld film. Bra bild och ljud 😁

Great film

It has been a solid 20 years since I originally (and accidentally) caught my first viewing of The Blob 1988. It was being shown as a part of a horror marathon on television at the time and did a great job of satisfying my love for '80s horror flicks. But for whatever reason, I never did acquire a copy until I discovered that it had been released by Umbrella as a part of a bluray re-issue campaign. When I initially saw it, I bought it up immediately and didn't hesitate to put it on. Did the movie live up to the hype and nostalgia after not seeing it after all these years? You're damn right it did!The Blob is a pretty simple concept, like most '80s horror movies. The film takes place in a small charming town. We quickly get introduced to an array of interesting characters, all of them likeable in some way or another. Later on, a meteor crashes to the Earth and unleashes a large gooey beastie that quickly devours an old hermit. This sets up the movie for one of the best gory rampages of the time period as The Blob goes from building to building causing one great imaginative death to another.All the interesting characters make the movie very easy to get into. Each one has their own quirks and the way they interact with one another is quite smooth and believable. For an '80s horror movie, I think the acting itself is quite good. Each role is played convincingly and I enjoyed watching each character on screen. I wouldn't recommend getting too familiar with them however as this is one movie that leaves no character safe. The Blob is looking for some easy lunch and doesn't care who he has to devour to achieve his goal. The film does a great job of subverting your expectations and is a great example of how to do so. The people behind the recent awful Star Wars movies could learn a whole lot from The Blob.The highlight of the movie is of course the visual effects, which for the most part are absolutely stunning. The Blob itself is quite disgusting to look at and comes across as a big sentient tumour. It is quite revolting and was very well handled by the creative team behind it. The death scenes of course are spectacular. Fans of the horror classics The Thing and The Fly will be right at home here. The visual style of the special effects are quite similar in that each corpse looks juicy, squishy and explodes, implodes and dissolves with great effect. It is safe to say that this is not a movie for the faint of heart.One thing I love about this film is the pacing. The Blob is an easy going ninety five minutes long but it really does not feel it. The movie jumps from one gross out scene to another with no holding back and this creates some excellent pacing. With the added humour and fun characters, it makes the movie a very easy watch. I am not one to shy away from long drawn out epics, but it is always great to get a film that doesn't horse around and this is one of those. It does what it does, does it quickly and gets it over with without over staying its welcome.The bluray quality for this Umbrella print is really good. You'll find the film grain found in a lot of '80s movies has been left intact. This means that the new high definition print looks really sharp and extremely clear in places. In fact, it is quite an impressive looking movie in general. I am surprised at how well it has aged. The only draw back is that there are a few moments where the special effects look a little uncanny, but that sort of thing does happen over time and with new sharper quality prints. It is very excusable all things considered.If you fancy revisiting this horror classic, do not hesitate to buy this version of the film. The bluray looks beautiful and it holds its disgusting charm with pride. It's a very well paced movie and is a great time to be had by all, and I literally mean that. I watched this with my ten year old son (at the time of writing) when this came in the mail and we had an absolute blast. It's a good simple honest gore film. If that interests you then by all means, buy this product.