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.

One of the best horror remakes of the 80s. So nice to finally get a Collector's Edition Blu-ray release with tons of extras!

Good movie

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!