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Blobermouth

1991, Movie, 78 mins

Blobermouth: Review

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Spawned by a live show from the improv-comedy group L.A. Connection, this redubbed version of the teen sci-fi/horror flick THE BLOB (1958) follows in the tradition of Woody Allen's trailblazing WHAT'S UP, TIGER LILY? — albeit with less satiric wit and more fart jokes. Done in cooperation with Jack H. Harris, the low-budget exploitation producer of the original (a film remembered chiefly for providing Steve McQueen with his first leading role), it's a fast-moving, often very funny romp with an infectiously relaxed attitude about itself. McQueen may well be turning over in his grave, but he's probably chuckling in spite of himself. The original movie involved teenagers Steve (McQueen, rather too old for the part ) and Jane (Aneta Corseaut), who, over the course of a long night, must convince their small-town police chief (Earl Rowe) that a gelatinous, other worldly lifeform is feeding on the locals and growing to immense proportions. After the Blob ingests a backwoods old-timer (Olin Howlin), a local doctor (Steven Chase) and his nurse (Lee Payton), and a garage mechanic (Robert Fields), it meets its demise at the hands of the townsfolk, who, finally convinced that those darned kids aren't just making trouble, stage a last-stand siege outside a diner. In this rendering, the "Blobermouth," sporting an animated, snaggletoothed smile, is a yuk-yuk vaudevillian comic out to horn in on Steve's one-man show. It's clear why Henny Youngman gets a "Special Thanks" credit — the Blobermouth's endless cracks include, "I read about the evils of drinking. So I gave up reading!" Hah! "My kids were born on the stairs. They're stepchildren!" Buh-dum-dum ksssh! You can see why Steve, his girlfriend Vaccine and buddies Eddie, Wally and the Beav want to stop this life-of-the-party interloper. The film's talented vocal cast delights in unexpected angles: The town doctor (whose shingle reads "Dr. T. Hallen") is not only renamed "Dirty Hallen" but speaks with a cartoon Swedish accent; the old man who first discovers the Blobermouth talks like Elmer Fudd. The filmmakers also throw in some music-oriented gags and, in homage to The Andy Griffith Show, rename the police chief and his sergeant Andy Taylor and Barney, and dub two garage mechanics Gomer and Goober. (Is it coincidence, or did the writers know Corseaut went on to play the recurring role of Andy Taylor's girlfriend and later wife, Helen Crump?) And for all this pop-culture pastiche, one of the film's funniest bits is an impromptu but amazingly apropos hum-along to "Amazing Grace." The whole business is all very Mystery Science Theater 3000, and that's a good thing. leave a comment --Frank Lovece
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