Anybody up for Jello? It is killer.

THE BLOB (1988)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Chuck Russell's "Blob" remake is faster, funnier and more animated than the blander-than-thou 1958 original. This is still a 50's B movie transposed to the 1980's era but it has more brains and heart than one might expect. 

Kevin Dillon has the McQueen role as Brian, except he is more of juvenile delinquent in frequent trouble with the police (McQueen's character was no trouble at all). He also has a deep interest in his motorcycle and is trying to cross a gap in a local wooden bridge nearby. And he fails.  Shawnee Smith is Meg who doesn't play his girlfriend but she and  Brian become partners in fighting the gooey slime that, once again, crashes onto Earth from outer space. The circumstances involving the blob are not the same as the original's film plot, and I will leave it at that.

There is more gore and far more murders by the blob in this remake. The movie also has an upbeat charm as well in that it is never mean-spirited or too bloodily nauseating. One scene involving a kitchen sink is often considered something of a classic gore sequence. A movie theater sequence, where an anonymous slasher film is shown, has more visceral thrills than the scene from the original. 

My one bone of contention is the stunt casting of people like Bill Moseley and Jack Nance who appear on screen for no more than a few seconds. Couldn't co-writer Frank Darabont have given them more to do?

With Dillon and Shawnee Smith as the unlikely pair who have no time to talk about the blob in a diner where Candy Clark is the waitress, the movie is swift, sharp, innocuous (by 2000 standards) and coiled like a whippersnapper. Director Russell, who did an expert job on "Nightmare on Elm Street 3," keeps the momentum going and the thrills and chills are fast and loose.  I wouldn't call it scary but it is a fun roller-coaster ride.