October 19, 2011 13 Nights of Hallowe'en 2011: Night 1 The Blob (1988)
Welcome to the first of this year's 13 nights. Settle in with your popcorn and beverage and I'll get right to it. The Blob is a serious horror remake of a not so horrific original film that was more of a matinee monster movie.
I never know it ahead of time, but so many of my movie selections for these nights every year have such interesting horror film lineages; weird family trees that sprout their gnarled branches every which way. The Blob's director is Chuck Russell who directed
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) before this movie. Since then he also directed the horror movie Bless the Child (2000), and more recently an episode of Fringe (2010). Chuck also has a writing credit for The Blob along with Frank Darabont of Walking Dead (2010) and countless Stephen King adaptations fame--the homeless man is called the Can Man after the Trash Can Man from the book and mini-series adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand (1994). The Blob stars Shawnee Smith from the Saw (2004) movie franchise, The Stand, oddly enough, and The Grudge 3 (2009). Michael Kenworthy plays her younger brother. He starred in Return of the Living Dead Part II (1988) and quit film after The Blob.
Kevin Dillon co-stars with Shawnee, but is really only notable horror-wise because his character is named Brian Flagg--after The Stand's Randall Flagg--due to Darabont's influence on the script. There is some argument over which solider he is, but Bill Moseley is one of them. Bill started out quite auspiciously in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986). He was also in the Night of the Living Dead (1990) remake as Johnnie, The First Power (1990), and Army of Darkness (1992) though I couldn't say if he is recognisable in it as the Deadite Captain. This one blows my mind since I haven't seen it, but Bill starred in Silent Night, Deadly Night III: Better Watch Out! (1989) as Ricky--replacing the human Muppet as I call him. Then Bill became a staple in Rob Zombie's movies, but more of that on Night #7 October 25th.