B-Movie Classic The Blob Gets Another Remake

Yet another vintage horror remake is on the way, as it has been announced that Simon West is taking the helm on a second remake of sci-fi horror favourite ‘The Blob.’

Deadline broke the news that the director behind ‘Con Air,’ ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ and ‘The Expendables 2’ has boarded the Goldcrest Films production with an eye to shooting this summer.

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The 1958 original, which famously boasted an early leading role for Steve McQueen and featured a very catchy theme tune which regularly pops up on Halloween compilation albums, sees a small American town terrorised by a man-eating gelatinous mass which crawls out of a fallen meteor and gradually gets bigger as it eats its way through the population.

Goldcrest’s managing director Pascal Degove hails West as having “a unique gift for blending cutting edge effects, awesome visual spectacle and a hint of humor. He’s the perfect choice to reimagine ‘The Blob’ and we’re so excited to be partnering with him.”

Cutting edge effects are very much on the agenda it seems, as West says: “With modern CGI we can now fully realize the potential of ‘The Blob.’ The world I create will be totally believable, immersive and emotionally satisfying. It’s a thrill to introduce an enduring icon to a wider audience and a whole new era of fans.”

'The Blob' spawned a belated sequel in 1972's 'Beware! The Blob,' before being remade in a very gooey, gory manner by Chuck Russell (later the director of 'The Mask' and 'The Scorpion King') in 1988; one of several 1950s creature features to be remade in the 1980s, the other most notable ones being John Carpenter's 'The Thing' and David Cronenberg's 'The Fly.'

A contemporary remake of ‘The Blob’ has been on the cards for some time. James Wan reportedly declined an offer to direct the film some years ago, and Rob Zombie was attached for a while - either of whom would surely have come up with something very different than what we can expect from West.

We must confess, the combination of a rather workmanlike action director and the promise of over-abundant CGI doesn’t necessarily fill us with hope that this new take on ‘The Blob’ will match either the original or the remake for charm and entertainment value - but we’ll be curious to see how this develops nonetheless.

Watch a trailer for the Blu-ray of 1958’s ‘The Blob’ below - but don’t hold us responsible if you get the theme tune on earworm for the rest of the day…

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Picture Credit: Paramount, Tri-Star