Growing up as kid I was treated to the birth of cool in Cinema by witnessing a then billed Steven McQueen's star making role in The Blob. I was probably 12 at the time when I received a VHS copy of the film but was still blown away. I was a already a major fan of the creature flicks from the era especially The Creature from the Black Lagoon series which I would watch repeatedly over the school holiday period on TV. But this film was different, not only did it have one of catchiest theme songs, by Mr Burt Bacharach, it contained one of the most unique monsters seen in film; and whom I thought at the time the coolest guy in film also. I know it’s daggy to admit it, but at least it made me check out the rest of McQueen’s work.

Filmed literally on a shoestring budget, with reports of the total cost being between $120,000-$240,000 US, the Blob was made by a bunch of maverick filmmakers working outside the studio system, a rarity for the time.

Now with a juicy soft centre!

Now the story isn't grand by any stretch of the imagination, opening with our Hero Steve (Steve McQueen) on a date with his girlfriend Jane (Aneta Corsaut) having a bit of a smooch down lovers lane. Suddenly a shooting star falls from the sky off in the distance startling the two young lovers. Curiosity immediately getting the better of them they drive off to investigate. An old man not too far from where the meteorite landed beats the kids to it. Upon discovering the crater left by the impact he spots the meteoroid. Naturally he has to give it a poke and when he does it starts to crack open revealing a small blob. After removing the blob with a stick it then crawls along attaching itself to the old mans hand. Unable to remove it, he runs off delirious and nearly gets run over by the two young lovebirds that were looking for the shooting star. They load him in the car and take him to the local doctor in town for help.

From there, the Blob takes on victim after victim and grows in size and turning a blood red while doing so. The kids do their best to try and warn the adults and the Police that something is wrong, but they dismiss them immediately refusing to believe in something so outrageous as a killer ball of jelly! It isn't until The Blob is as big as a house that they sit up and take notice.

I like aeroplane jelly!

Granted some of the dialogue and the acting is a bit wooden coupled with some fairly clunky special effects, but this adds to the overall charm of the film. Back in them days, the movie going public wasn’t as cynical as it is today so it just worked on that level.

The Blob is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and is 16:9 enhanced. The image here is reasonably good for a film close to 50 years old, and shows up a lot of other studios transfers to DVD of films from the same era. The video is sourced from a straight NTSC to PAL video conversion using the restored Criterion Collection Edition DVD released in the US. The print is remarkably free from film artefacts, however the image is a little soft at times. There are some occasions were the image tends to bloom affecting the level of brightness, coupled with some minor colour bleed and telecine wobble.

In general though, the transfer is well done. A film of this age it could have looked a lot worse. If the time had have been taken to do a correct PAL conversion the image may have been a little bit sharper. What we have here is perfectly acceptable, and if you're a fan of the film it shouldn't deter from picking up this cult classic.

Mr Cool

Audio for the feature has been cleaned up as well featuring a decent Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track, which is essentially a mono track, spread across the main front speakers. Dialogue was reasonably clear and free from distortion. Audio Synch was an issue at times, especially for scenes where the actors looped their lines in post. As a result the dialogue level was a little more up front in the mix sounding a little artificial compared to the location recordings. Sound effects were not very dynamic and distorted occasionally due to heavy compression, most notable during scenes of gunplay. The score is your typical 50’s B grade horror schtick of the time hindered somewhat by the dated fidelity of its recording.

All of the extras contained on the Region 1 Criterion disc have made it onto our release; all that we miss out on is an insert containing an essay on the film and a poster (you can read this essay on the Criterion Collection website). Instead we are given some trivia printed on the inside of the cover lifted from the IMDB's listing of trivia for the film. Full points must be given to MRA for holding onto these extras as the price of the US disc is obscene compared to what this bad boy will retail for here! Whilst not a huge array of extras; what's on offer is nothing to sneeze at!

Audio Commentary-Jack H. Harris (Producer) & Bruce Eder (Film Historian):
Presented in Dolby Digital 1.0 this commentary covers in great detail the production of The Blob and just how they did some of the effects which took six months to complete in post production. A historical perspective is also given from the featured film historian.

Audio Commentary-Irwin S. Yeaworth Jr (Director) & Robert Fields (Actor):
Like the first commentary this is also presented in Dolby Digital 1.0 and is very informative. Of interest is the fact that this is the second time only that the director has watched his movie in full in forty years! He is also joined by the actor that played one of McQueen’s friends. Both share plenty of anecdotes and are quite proud of what they did in the show.

Theatrical Trailer:
Compare this to the final product on the disc and you can appreciate the level of detail put into the restoration of the film.

Gallery of Stills And Posters:
70 odd static pages of behind the scenes photos with accompanying text explaining some of the stills.

The Blob is good clean 50's Sci Fi / Horror fun in this reviewers opinion. Presented with a fairly decent array of extras, and a commendable transfer making this purchase a no-brainer if you're a fan of the film or the genre. Granted that this film maybe a little hard to swallow nowadays having been spoilt by overblown special effects & CG that make The Blob look like a big bowl of jelly by today's standards. Not to mention it’s a damn sight better than the horrible Chuck Russell remake of 1988 that dispensed the kitschy cool of the original and went straight for the jugular and spewed blood & gore all over the screen. If you turn off your cynicism and enjoy the movie for what it is and don't take it too seriously, you're at least guaranteed a good nights viewing.