HAPPY 60TH ANNIVERSARY TO THE BLOB!!!

On September 12, 1958, a most influential, little horror flick oozed into cinemas: "The Blob". 

The movie (lifted from Joseph Payne Brennan's acclaimed short story, "Slime") was produced by Jack H. Harris and Russell S. Doughten, directed by Irwin "Shorty" Yeaworth (abetted by Doughten) and scripted by Kate Linaker and Theodore Simonson. It propelled the careers of "King of Cool" Steve McQueen and Aneta Corsaut, Mayberry's Helen Crump. (It also enabled Harris to produce/distribute such avant-garde favorites as "4D Man"; "Dinosaurus"; "Equinox"; "Schlock"; "Dark Star"; and "Eyes of Laura Mars".)

Like "The Giant Gila Monster", "The Blob" presented its teens teaming with adult authority to combat a common foe. At the same time, "The Blob" flaunted the commendable tenacity of its young heroes to convince a skeptical community of their monster-on-the-loose claim: by no means an easy task. 

The titular terror was unlike any alien that came before it and proved (thanks to cinematographer Thomas E. Spalding) quite unsettling in vivid color: a red, pulsating amoeba that grew with each victim it absorbed. 

The EC-styled tale tickled pop-cultural fancy enough to spawn two follow-ups: Larry Hagman's "Beware! the Blob" (aka, "Son of Blob") and Chuck Russell's "The Blob '88", with yet another chapter on the horizon, to be helmed by Simon West. (Larry Cohen's "The Stuff" owes much to "The Blob", as does Stephen King's "The Lonesome Death of Jody Verrill" and "The Raft", included respectively in "Creepshow 1 and 2".) 

One of the movie's locales, Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, remains a tourist attraction, with a Blobfest scheduled each summer at the film's featured Colonial Theatre, where legendary horror host, Mr. Lobo now boosts the fun. (Beloved, Blob caretaker, Wes Shank would often visit the famous site to discuss his "canistered", silicone specimen, but alas passed away this August.)

Because of its stupendous scares, taut pacing, credible characters and sincere performances, "The Blob" has become an incontestable, creature-feature classic. Its suspenseful Ralph Carmichael score and catchy Bernie Knee/Burt Bacharach/Mack David opening track seal its enduring, creepy cheer. 

Take time today to revisit this weird, wonderful submission: a successful concoction that many filmmakers have dared to emulate and yet so few have yet to rival.