Run, Don’t Walk To BlobFest!

By Rich Drees

     (July 11, 2005)- It’s an annual alien invasion, but one the small Philadelphia suburb of Phoenixville welcomes. For the past five years, for one weekend in July, movie fans welcome the return of the gelatinous mass that tried to devour its residents 47 years ago - The Blob.

     Filmed in July and August 1957 by local filmmaker Irvin “Shorty” Yeaworth, The Blob immortalized many Phoenixville and surrounding area landmarks including Phonexville’s Memorial Junior High School (now the Samuel K. Barkley School), the Downingtown Dinner and the Colonial Theatre. Now visitors to the annual festival – to be held this year on July 15th through 17^th – can watch the cult classic film in the very cinema the creature attacks in the movie.

     BlobFest started five years ago, when, on the suggestion of a local merchant, the Colonial Theatre screened the film. The screening was a sell out and the annual BlobFest was born. Over the years, events and guests were added, both relating specifically to The Blob and to other science-fiction cult classics. In addition to multiple screening of The Blob, this year will feature showings of the camp classics Ghost In The Invisible Bikini (1966) with Boris Karloff and Robot Monster (1953). Before Friday night’s screening of The Blob there will be the annual re-enactment of the scene where moviegoers flee the theater when the creature attacks.

     Saturday afternoon will see a street fair in front of the theater with a fire extinguisher parade, a costume contest, food vendors and children’s arts and crafts. This year’s guests include Howard Fishlove, who worked on The Blob as a key grip. Also appearing will be Kyra Schon, from the zombie film Night Of The Living Dead (1968) and the rockabilly band Cotton Jackson.

     The most famous guest to attend the Festival is the Blob itself – the colored silicone prop used in the film’s production. The Blob is owned by film memorabilia collector Wes Shank, who purchased it from director Yeaworth in 1965.

     “There's a sense of local pride growing among the Phoenixville residents,” reports Rita Fetter - webmaster of The Blob Site, the most comprehensive internet site devoted to the film - on how the town views its place in cinema history. But BlobFest is not just a local attraction. Some attendees have traveled cross-country. “At last year's BlobFest there was a couple that flew in from California, just to attend the festival and see the original Blob prop,” Fetter states.

     Shot on a shoestring budget of a reported $125,000.00, the film was picked up by Paramount Pictures for the bottom half of a double bill with I Married A Monster From Outer Space (1958). When early bookings showed that more moviegoers were coming to see The Blob, the films' placement on the bill was switched. In addition to its cult classic status, The Blob is best known for launching the career of actor Steve McQueen, who appeared as the film's teen hero. Two other future stars, composers Burt Bacharach and Hal David, wrote the film's catchy and kitschy theme song "Beware the Blob!" The film also spawned a sequel, 1972‘s Beware! The Blob (directed by Dallas’s J. R. Ewing himself, Larry Hagman) and a 1988 remake.

     Nearly five decades after its initial release, The Blob continues to capture people’s imaginations.

     “I think one reason the film is a classic is, in spite of the cheesy effects, it allows people to imagine what's happening,” says Fetter. “The Blob grows from a small glob of goo into something that can cover a diner---but we never actually see it eat anyone or anything. When the old man in the beginning is consumed by The Blob, we don't see it happening; what we see is the sheet over the old man moving. When The Blob eats the mechanic, we don't see that either, we see The Blob approaching the mechanic. When The Blob invades the movie theater the police tell us how horrible a sight it is. Now obviously the reason for all of this was because there wasn't a lot of money available to make the movie, but it's long been proven that the mind can create more horrors than can be shown on the screen.

     “Why do audiences still enjoy it today? Well, why do people like to be scared, as long as they're being scared in a "safe" environment? And the movie also takes us back to a simpler time. Monsters from space are much more enjoyable than some of the things happening in the world today.”

For more information on BlobFest, check out the Colonial Theatre’s website here.

For a photogallery from BlobFest 2005, click here.