Teenagers Steve and Jane are kissing at a lovers' lane when they see a meteorite crash beyond the next hill. Steve goes looking for it, but Barney, an old man living nearby, finds it first. When Barney pokes the meteorite with a stick, it breaks open and a small jelly-like globule blob inside attaches itself to his hand. This is intensely painful, and it won't come off, so Steve and Jane rush the old man to the local doctor's.
The Doctor has never seen anything like it, and sends Steve and Jane back to the impact site for more information. Which keeps them out of the building just long enough for the blob on Barney's hand to grow exponentially, absorbing first the old man, then both his nurse and the doctor himself.
Steve and Jane get back just in time to catch a glimpse of what happens to the Doctor, but the local police are understandably skeptical of the teens' wild story, particularly when a visit to the Doctor's house shows no sign of the Blob or its victims.
Fortunately for the town - and for that matter, the whole human race - Steve and Jane are the kind of young go-getters who refuse to have their tales of alien monstrosities ignored. They continue their efforts to raise the alarm. Of course, that makes them unpopular with their parents and the police. More importantly, it also puts them right in the path of the Blob itself. Will their heroic efforts end up leading to their own demise?
The Blob is perhaps best remembered today for the fact that it stars a pre-fame Steve McQueen in the leading role. I have to say, he is not a particularly convincing teenager ... probably because he was nearly 30 at the time of shooting!
The acting in general is a bit dodgy, to be honest: a lot of the line delivery feels a little bit "local drama society" in quality. This is of course not surprising for a cheaply-made science fiction film of the era. And it was cheaply made, with a budget that, if converted to today's dollars, would only just break the $1 million mark. For comparison, the current day value of the budget of the 1988 remake would be about 25 times that amount.
Mind you, if you're only going to see one version of this story, I'd definitely give the nod to the more expensive film. It's a fun ride with some great, gross and goopy effects. This movie is a lot more restrained, due to both its budget and cultural expectations of the era. I do have to acknowledge though that this film's effects team did a solid job. The depiction of the Blob itself is actually pretty good, even if the amount it is shown is necessarily limited. The team have made clever use of scaled sets, reversed footage and varying camera speed to create the visual effects.
On the script front, I liked that one of the local police officers is very level-headed and willing to give "the kids" some latitude. This makes a nice change from the usual uncooperative or even outright counter-productive authorities seen in many films. The script of this movie is notably more trusting in the government than the remake is, though it does also squarely put the 'hero' role on the 'kids': they are the ones who realise what is going on and alert the town, keeping the death rate lower than it might otherwise have been.
Lower body count than the remake and less overt humour, but still fits in a few sly gags amidst its kills
Overall, this movie was goofy fun, and it was interesting to see how scenes from this are echoed in the remake. It's got less overt horror and comedy than the later film, but still fits some gags and a few (for the time) thrills into its runtime. I enjoyed myself, and think this is worth a viewing as an example of 50s 'teen horror' films. But it's a one and done thing. I would happily watch the 80s version again, but I don't think I could say the same about this one.
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