part of our household media rotation this month is me sitting my roommates down to watch The Classics, aka 80s horror movies. i hadn't seen the '88 version of The Blob since i was a tiny child who saw it on tv and was probably a little bit traumatized (with a small t) because i may have been avoiding it ever since.
for a good reason! for i, veteran of watching lots of disgusting and upsetting movies, was disgusted and upset by this movie! i made noises. i may have physically cringed a little. the special effects are grotesque, intense. and the movie is blatantly genre-savvy, churning through the entire cast at a shocking rate. this is one of those horror films that is not afraid to melt children on screen. i love that the blob is PINK and visceral and fleshy. the Reagan-era government mistrust theme was also an improvement over the 50s version communist paranoia and worked pretty nicely.
it did lose steam a bit near the end scenes when the now overgrown blob effects were more cut-and-paste looking. watch this if you want to see top-tier physical effects and people being digested by slime.