The Blob : Lame and soooo dated

Lame and soooo dated

It was dated when I tried watching it as a kid in the late 70's and I couldn't sit through it. I managed to get through it recently but the acting and the score are awful. Was Mcqueen playing an 18 year old?? He looked 40. Did people really talk like that in the 50's? Golly jeez were the only words they didn't throw in. Anyways, terrible film and I can't believe it's considered a classic. This is one case where the remake is better.

Re: Lame and soooo dated

One might say the same about most of Fulci's movies. I myself like Fulci films and love The Blob. Yes, movies do seem dated as they get older. Is this a surprise? I grew up watching it in the 70s as a kid too, it used to scare the crap outta me!

However, The Blob was a huge hit and it was a pretty well made independent film. Aside from it being made over 50 years ago, it actually holds up pretty well today. It deserves it's classic status. Can't wait for Amazon to ship my blu-ray copy!

Re: Lame and soooo dated

Not every film gets the overly dated feel like films of 50's. In the 70's, they felt dated. I can watch films like Carpenter's THE THING and it doesn't feel as dated as THE BLOB felt when I was watching it in the 70's and it's over 30 years old. Films from the 50's just don't work today because of the lame dialog and crappy fx.

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Re: Lame and soooo dated

I actually think this has held up pretty well. It's pretty straight forward but is helped along by some pretty good performances by Steve and The Sheriff.

Re: Lame and soooo dated

Don't forget about Helen Crump!

Re: Lame and soooo dated

I thought Mqueen was terrible trying to act like a teenager. I expected him to say "golly gosh I'm Richie Cunningham". Goof.

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Yes, the tone of '50s movies dated them almost immediately. But that's also part of the charm of THE BLOB and similar films of the era: a sort of doomed innocence.

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What kills me is that OP is a "Fulci fan". Never have I seen movies more out dated than Lucio Fulci 70's Italian horror films!!! Oh and I happen to love outdated, badly dubbed Italian horror movies!

Re: Lame and soooo dated

I love this film & the 1988 remake.

Re: Lame and soooo dated

Yeah, I like both Movies as well.

Re: Lame and soooo dated

The actual creature in the 1958 version looks a damn sight more realistic than the '80s version. The only thing that truly dates this is the musical score. Whilst not bad, it does have a '50s vibe to it - which, of course it would. I've never been a massive fan of McQueen's acting skills per se he did have a great screen presence. The FX and McQueen's appearance are just two reasons this film is not just the usual B-movie fare, but a film truly deserving it's classic status.

Re: Lame and soooo dated

Agreed. While I like the remake, I hated the look of the blob, in most of it's appearances. I looks cool when the old man lifts it out of the meteor, but when it leaps on his hand, it's not as effective as the original. When it's rampaging late in the movie, it just looks like a pile of offal, not very scary. Plus the tentacles looked ridiculous.

It's still a good remake though.

Re: Lame and soooo dated

Its on again on over the air TV at 7PM EST on Get-TV.

I watched it in the 60s, yes, people really did talk like that and they didn't smart off or talk back to their parents, never swore in front of their parents or in front of females, the drug problem wasn't as bad then with teens and younger, young adults, and it was irresponsible and a disgrace to you and your family if your daughter got knocked-up (pregnant) before marriage.

Yes, times have changed haven't they and not always for the better!

Re: Lame and soooo dated

Sure, because with all the blatant racism, homophobia, inequality between sexes, Cold War terror, and the Vietnam war that the 60's was a golden age of innocence and american values to raise your kids in.

Seems like the adults back then were just as rambunctious as kids today... no wait, they were worse. and worse yet, they were too ignorant to even realize it.

"We're such good parents! Our kids listens to us, especially when we tell them to stay away from the black ones."

Re: Lame and soooo dated

just watched it and i have to say it is one of the worst films ever.The acting is terrible,the dialog is awful,the script is brutal.
Actually starts off good,but when the doctor tells steve to go back and search for someone that might know the old man,instead of that we get a 15 minute scene about goofy kids challenging each other to a race and a goofy cop telling off steve.You are just thinking "come on!get on with the movie"
And the first hour continues like this,mostly yammering back and forth "your making this up", "im not", "you are", "im telling the truth" over and over and over.
It is painful to watch,especially Steves super annoying girlfriend screaming about the "little dog" a hundred bloody times.
also in the opening scene i knew McQueen was 27 when he made this but he does look at least 35.and he is playing teenager,LOLOOL
Ridiculous!!

Re: Lame and soooo dated

Yes, it is dated but that's part of the fun of it. I don't know about anyone else, but when I watch an older movie I want to feel like I'm actually there during that place and time. It's the closest thing we have to a time machine to go back to that era so I would be disappointed if it wasn't dated. I thought it was a fun science fiction monster movie much like many others from the '50s which was chock full of them. I enjoy both this and the remake.

Burn, witch! Burn, witch! Burn! Burn! Burn!

Re: 'dated' isn't always bad.


Yes, it is dated but that's part of the fun of it. I don't know about anyone else, but when I watch an older movie I want to feel like I'm actually there during that place and time. It's the closest thing we have to a time machine to go back to that era so I would be disappointed if it wasn't dated.

Yes, that's part of the fun of '50s pictures like this: the doomed innocence (the exact same mood is present in REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, although it's an obviously more polished film).

As bad as the acting and the dialogue is in films like THE BLOB (and, yes, it was dated even by the late-'60s) it's all about The Bomb, essentially: the hysteria is somehow real, yet the naïvete -- even to the point of stupidity -- almost makes it spookier.

"Dated" isn't always bad.

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The most profound of sin is tragedy unremembered.

Re: 'dated' isn't always bad.

Which reminds me of one of my favorite sci-fi films from the '50's: The Thing. The hysteria in that film has nothing to do with an alien invasion and everything to do with a Russian invasion. And The Bomb. "Watch the sky...watch the sky..."

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Re: Lame and soooo dated


It was dated when I tried watching it as a kid in the late 70's and I couldn't sit through it.

Well of course it's dated. It's a film made in the 1950's. But why should it be a problem to experience a different generation?


Was Mcqueen playing an 18 year old?? He looked 40.

Yeah, because that kind of casting doesn't still happen.


This is one case where the remake is better.

Well yeah kind of, but the original is still good.


http://www.freewebs.com/demonictoys/

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Re: Lame and soooo dated

It's not the effects that sink this one but its wretched, excessively-expository and overly-wordy pandering script.

Re: Lame and soooo dated

Yeah its dated, but I don't think that's a bad thing.


Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Cried

Re: Lame and soooo dated

18 year olds didn't look like little kids then like now, but yes, Steve McQueen was a poor choice. He looked like a middle-aged man his entire acting career.

Re: Lame and soooo dated

The dated quality is part of the charm. It's a snapshot of the 1950s.

🎃 Happy Halloween 👻

Re: Lame and soooo dated

This film is a lot of fun. And as for being dated, well what do you expect from a movie that was made and released sixty years ago?

Yes, this is really me.

Re: Lame and soooo dated

I second that emotion!
It's on Youtube. I believe I'll watch it later! 👍

You asked a pretty question; I've given you the ugly answer.
Fasten Your Seatbelts….
It's Going To Be A Bumpy Night!

Re: Lame and soooo dated

I decided to turn it on now.
I always forget that Aneta Corsaut is in this. I remember her as Helen Crump on the Andy Griffith Show.

You asked a pretty question; I've given you the ugly answer.
Fasten Your Seatbelts….
It's Going To Be A Bumpy Night!

Re: Lame and soooo dated

Old guy who plays the blob's first victim is also the crazy old drunk dude in the hospital alcoholics ward in Them.

Yes, this is really me.
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