The Blob: It Crawled from the Sky... and Ate the Town



If the 1958 Blob was a slow burn, the 1988 version is a flamethrower to the face. Chuck Russell’s remake doesn’t just modernize—it mutates. This Blob is fast, aggressive, and horrifyingly efficient. It doesn’t creep—it pounces.
Set in a sleepy Colorado town, the film follows a group of teens who discover that the government knows more than it’s letting on. What starts as a meteor crash turns into a full-blown massacre, with the creature squeezing through vents, drains, and even hazmat suits.
🧪 Behind the Slime
- 🧫 The Blob was designed as an “inside-out stomach”—a creature that digests everything it touches. Director Chuck Russell wanted it to feel elemental and unstoppable.
- 🎬 Frank Darabont co-wrote the screenplay before going on to direct The Shawshank Redemption and The Mist. You can feel his knack for small-town dread.
- 💇 Kevin Dillon hated his hair extensions: Russell insisted on the mullet look for the rebellious hero, but Dillon reportedly despised it.
- 🧤 Shawnee Smith and Donovan Leitch went to prom together in real life—years before playing love interests in the film.
- 🧊 Cold is the Blob’s weakness, just like in the original. But this time, it’s used in a much more explosive way.
- 🧪 No CGI here: The Blob’s effects were all practical, with $5 million of the budget going toward creature design and gore sequences.
- 🎭 Chuck Russell has a cameo as a terrified theatergoer during the infamous movie theater attack scene.
- 🧪 The Blob’s kills were inspired by real fears: Russell wanted each death to feel like a worst-case scenario—being dissolved, suffocated, or pulled into places you shouldn’t fit.
Final Thoughts
The Blob (1988) is one of the rare remakes that surpasses its source. It’s faster, meaner, and soaked in Reagan-era paranoia. The creature is no longer just a metaphor—it’s a full-blown biohazard. And it’s hungry.
So if you hear something sloshing in the pipes, don’t investigate. Just run. And maybe bring a fire extinguisher.
“It’s not a virus. It’s not a weapon. It’s alive.”