Director: Irvin Yeaworth
The Blob has been considered a classic of 1950s science fiction cinema, but it also must be considered one of the quintessential teen pictures of a decade in which the genre blossomed. As with the rock-n-roll hallmarks Don’t Knock the Rock and Rock Around the Clock, The Blob creates a rift between the world of the teenagers and the world of the adults, with much of the drama involving the importance of the young people finally being heard. The articulation of the generational gap is key to the film’s horror–the blob itself is not what is scary about the picture, rather the fear inherent in trying to communicate danger to others who refuse to listen. It’s the boy-who-cried-wolf formula given to the Rebel Without a Cause generation, where the youthful, rebellious spirit is inextricably linked with the narrative truth. Director Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. is not particularly adept in creating suspense in the sequences involving the namesake, which ironically are the most problematic in the picture. The cinematography and art direction redeems much of it, however, giving a lasting image of the 1950s in the brightness of its primary colors (the red and blue cars, Steve McQueen’s yellow jacket). There’s an unmistakably seductive tone accomplished by the nighttime setting–the bright colors of objects and characters really pop, with the blackness of the night serving as their radical contrast.
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