Another Remake of The Blob is Finally Happening From the Director of Con Air

Criterion Collection

Anytime I’ve been asked about movies that should be remade, I’m pretty sure I’ve brought up The Blob. It’s the perfect property to go through the recycle bin, and this is coming from someone who likes the 1958 original and even more so the underrated 1988 version. It’s a horror scenario involving a gelatinous mass that rolls around and engulfs people. There’s an iconicity to the creature but not in a way that’s necessarily assigned to a time or storyline or anything else that fans can really take to their hearts. It could be redone at least once a generation, if not once a decade.

So, I welcome the announcement that another remake of The Blob is finally on the move, and am fine with the choice of Simon West to helm this baby. The director of Con Air, Tomb Raider: Lara Croft and The Expendables 2 is hardly a great talent, but neither is Chuck Russell (‘88), nor was Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. (’58) before him. He’ll do nicely, however, if the idea is to do something that doesn’t take itself too seriously, unlike what Rob Zombie had planned when attached to a Blob remake years ago.

“With modern CGI we can now fully realize the potential of The Blob,” West said in a statement prepared for this announcement. “The world I create will be totally believable, immersive and emotionally satisfying.”

At first I thought maybe some people will complain that it’s going to be a CGI blob, and then I snapped out of it and remembered how cheesy the creature looks in the past versions. Could it truly look believable today? That could be the key to making this a “terrifying” movie, as producers Richard Saperstein and Brinan Witten promise in the same press release. I expect something in between the schlocky goodness of the original and the gory greatness of the last incarnation.

West is no stranger to remakes, and it is worth noting that his versions are rarely popular. He redid cult-classic horror already with When a Stranger Calls and more recently directed the redo of The Mechanic. His latest picture, Wild Card, which opens next week, is sort of a remake of the 1986 film Heat, as it’s adapted from the same William Goldman novel.

If you’ve never seen the original, it’s streaming on Hulu Plus via the Criterion Collection.

Christopher Campbell: Christopher Campbell began writing film criticism and covering film festivals for a zine called Read, back when a zine could actually get you Sundance press credentials. He's now a Senior Editor at FSR and the founding editor of our sister site Nonfics. He also regularly contributes to Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes and is the President of the Critics Choice Association's Documentary Branch.
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