The Blob - Criterion Collection

Rating:
Summary: This IS NOT Criterion! BEWARE!
Review: This DVD looks as though it was built on someone's local computer. The movie quality is poor. The box artwork is poor. The disk artwork is poor. No extras.

The disk itself is a plain writable DVD!! You can tell by looking at the bottom of the disk. (Purple back DVD)

I am dissappointed to find that Amazon.com is even selling this and that I was conned into buying it because the other reviews are talking about the Criterion Collection WHICH THIS IS NOT.

I typically do not publish reviews, however I am so utterly dissappointed it is shocking....Had this not been purchased for me off of my Wish List, I'd try to find a way to make Amazon take it back....I would have prefered the Criterion Collection...

Rating:
Summary: Just dissapointment.....
Review: Yeah, I agree with viewer from Texas who put 1 star on this edition. THE STORY'S GREAT, but not the picture. The quality is very bad. Not even worth $4,- .Old VHS quality...
CHOOSE OTHER EDITION with some features. And may God bless u

Rating:
Summary: Beware of the Blob!
Review: When a meteorite (or some-such-thing) strikes the earth, a semi-set blob of Jello emerges to sup on human flesh. With each feeding the blob grows larger. High school teen Steve Andrews (Steve McQueen) and his girlfriend Jane Martin (Aneta Corsaut*) try their darnedest to convince their parents, fellow citizens, and the police of the blob's menacing existence. When the townspeople witness the blob in action, panic ensues. Steve discovers the blob can be frozen and the horrible thing is dumped in the Arctic by the Air Force. Mankind is saved.

There are slow moments in the film that wreak havoc with dramatic tension - Steve's drag race with his buddies at the beginning of the film is one example. Just when we're looking forward to something suspenseful happening in relation to the film's theme, we are let down with an irrelevant drag race.

Tension never mounts in this film; we want to see strong men and lovely women cowering behind bolted doors and shuttered windows, we want to see US Army rolling over field and forest to save the world; we want to know the blob is a real, true, honest-to-goodness, horrible, destructive, vicious menace! But the film never takes us that far. The blob has so little screen time that there are moments when we completely forget about it.

But the biggest disappointment comes close to the film's end when the townspeople are enjoying a midnight spook show in a movie theater. The blob slithers into the theater; the townspeople rush out screaming. The blob then emerges from the theater having grown to enormous proportions. We are left to conclude the blob has attained its massive size after having devoured dozens of theater-goers; however, we're never shown the blob feasting on anyone. This omission is a big dissappointment; we need to see the blob consuming the theater-goers in order to understand the clear and present danger it poses to the survival of mankind.

The movie theater scene should have been the climax; it is here that Steve should save hundreds of his fellow citizens. But no, we are let down with another slow moment or two and then the climax comes in a diner where Steve, Jane, and a couple of others are trapped by a blob grown lethargic after having gorged itself on movie-goers. The diner scene is sluggish and not nearly as exciting as the movie theater scene; it's a tepid finale.

So much for the bad side of things. On the plus side we do see Steve mature through the film: he is first seen sucking his girlfriend's face and calling her "Janey-girl." She tells him her name is "Jane, just Jane" and from then on, Steve treats her less like a piece of meat and more like a human being. The two teens are together throughout the film and even have something of a little spat as they meet in the dead of night to hunt the blob. The two grow closer together while suffering many tribulations: when Steve has doubts, Jane stands by her man and bolsters his courage; when Jane is frightened and near collapse, Steve comforts and strengthens her in his arms. As the film closes, we assume Steve and Jane will wed, make babies, and live happily ever after reminiscing about their close encounter with the blob.

"The Blob" is a fun little film but a jerky one. The slow moments and the scene in and around the movie theater make one impatient for thrills that are never fully realized.

* Aneta Corsaut (Jane Martin in the film) followed her triumph in "The Blob" with a stint on "The Andy Griffith Show" as Sheriff Andy Taylor's genteel girlfriend Helen Crump.

Rating:
Summary: How could they do this to a classic?
Review: I absolutely love the old sci-fi/horror classics. "The Blob" is one of my favorites. I purchased this DVD thinking I could replace my old VHS version of The Blob , however after viewing it only once ,... I think I will stick with my VHS version. The quality of picture is very poor, very noticeable flaws and stratches. The color is HORRIBLE. There isn't even a title menu on this DVD. Don't waste your money on this -- your best bet is to spend a little more money and buy the Criterion Collection edition.

Rating:
Summary: My favorite horror flick.
Review: This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film

This film needs no introduction. Terence "Steve" McQueen's first starring role remains one of his best.

A meteorite lands in the woods releasing a viscous substance that absorbs living things and gets bigger each time it does so. Some local teens attempt to convince the police what is happening while rescuing the town.

The acting is really good too.

I like this film even more as it was made entirely within 20 miles from my home. The locations where the movie was filmed attract many tourists. The movie theater featured in the film even holds an annual Blobfest every July attended by the cast and crew.

The director Irvin Yeaworth directed several sci-fi films to learn how to direct better. He has since done hundreds of religious short films. Assistant Producer Russell Doughten went on to direct the apocalyptic "Thief in the night" films which are based on the Biblical book of Revelation. As a Christian, this film remains special to me, being directed by another Christian.

The DVD has several special features including a slideshow of production stills, a theatrical trailer, and a foldout poster.
There are also two audio commentaries which are very impressive.

The first is by producer Jack Harris and film historian Bruce Eder who has done much work with the Criterion Collection. The commentary mentions several events about the production and the untimely death of Steve McQueen They also mention his stay in a Mexican clinic in an attempt to cure his cancer with a controversial drug derived from fruit seeds which is banned in the US as quackery. They also mention Steve asking Billy Graham to visit him in the clinic to pray for him.

The second Commentary is by Director Irvin Yeaworth Jr. and actor Tony Fields.
In this commentary, Yeaworth talks much about his desire to make relgious films and gives further production information.

This DVD is one of the really good ones and it is a film that one should not miss.

Rating:
Summary: "It Creeps & Leaps & Glides & Slides Across the Floor...."
Review: Taken as a straight horror film, 1958's THE BLOB would admittedly fail, as it is not creepy or frightening by any conventional cinematic standards. But this campy classic is not meant to be taken seriously. From the opening bars of the catchy pop-music theme song to the question mark that follows the words THE END, the film is a blatant send-up of 1950s American culture and its white-bread mores and sensibilities. The film is replete with palpable caricatures of nearly every cultural icon of 1950s: Squeaky-clean teenagers, rock-n-roll music, hot-rods and drag racing, friendly neighborhood cops, cold-war anxiety...you name it. Indeed, taken as a whole, the film itself is a spoof of both the invasion-from-space and the giant-monster-on-the-loose sci-fi flicks that were popular earlier in the decade.

THE BLOB was made and released in the wake of teen-angst films like REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and beatnik publications like Kerouac's ON THE ROAD, and it was also a time when the counterculture icons of the 1960s--rock groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones; gurus of alternate lifestyles such as Dr. Timothy Leary and Abbie Hoffman--were formulating their radical ideals and ideologies. In other words, THE BLOB was the product of a period when American youth were becoming restless and were itching for artistic and intellectual stimulation, and teens and young adults were therefore growing increasingly weary of bland 1950s conservatism. Campy films like THE BLOB capitalized on that attitude by offering up exaggerated and surrealistic snapshots of the culture's insipid qualities, thereby giving the younger crowd an opportunity to openly laugh at the worldview of their elders. Alas, the sardonic humor and satirical subtext of THIS classic film seems to be lost on the average contemporary audience.

The special FX in THE BLOB are typical of 1950s cinema, but that only adds to the humor and the fun. The gelatinous titular character is especially a hoot to watch. Even though the illusion of its movement is obviously the result of stop-motion animation, it is still quite compelling to see it ooze under doors, through duct vents, and down Main Street, USA.

Film buffs will definitely enjoy seeing the venerable Steve McQueen in one of his earliest film roles--the twinkle in his eye as he delivers his ah-gee-whiz lines should clue you in to the fact that this film is parody--and couch potatoes and fans of classic TV will recognize Aneta Corsaut, the girl playing Jane Martin, from her recurring role as Helen Crump on THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW.

The visual transfer on Criterion Collection's DVD version of THE BLOB is beautiful--probably the best digital version to date--and the disc also offers extras that include two interesting audio commentaries. The one negative aspect of CC's disc, though, is some very noticeable scratchiness on the soundtrack during a few short portions of the film. For the price that the CC charges for their discs, consumers are right to expect all noticeable flaws in picture and sound to be cleaned up.

Overall, THE BLOB is a great piece of classic camp, and the five-star rating is based on the film itself and does not, therefore, reflect the aspects of any particular DVD version.