The Original Blob

THE BLOB-1958-Teenagers (?) Steve (Steve McQueen) & Jane (Aneta Corsaut) try to convince the local authorities that a killer blob from outer space is on the prowl and devouring the citizens of their sleepy town. Some other hot rodders try to help out. They meet resistance from a school principal, also Jane's father. Police lieutenant Dave (Earl Rowe) is sympathetic to the teens' plight but his hot headed Sargent (John Benson) wants to run them all in because he thinks they are jealous of his war record. Eventually adults and teens get together to try and stop the red gelatinous rolling terror when it invades a movie theater showing a double bill "spook show" of "Daughter of Horror" and "Bride of the Monster"! Taking refugee in a diner, Steve, Jane, her baby brother, the cook and the waitress become trapped when the blob covers the whole building. After electricity fails to kill it, Steve accidentally learns it doesn't like cold. Earlier in the film, when being chased, Steve and Jane hid out in a meat locker and the blob retreated. So the principal leads the teens in a school break in to retrieve CO2 fire extinguishers. Somehow they manage to freeze the gooky invader and the air force drops it in the Arctic circle. It's not dead, only frozen and after "the end" appears on the screen it's followed by a question mark.

This Technicolor low budget classic  was directed by Irvin S. Yeaworth and produced by Jack Harris who later teamed to make THE 4-D MAN and DINOSAURUS, both disappointing letdowns compared to this. It marked McQueen's first starring role and the final film for veteran character actor Olin Howland who plays the blob's first victim. Lead actress Anet Corsaut later played Sherriff Andy Taylor's main squeeze on TV's long running "The Andy Griffith Show". 

There was actually a comedy like sequel made 14 years later called BEWARE! THE BLOB, directed by actor Larry Hagman and featuring appearances by such notables as Godfrey Cambridge, Shelly Berman, Robert Walker, Jr. and others.

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Equinox

EQUINOX-1970-After an explosion, a man runs through the forest (after finding a dead woman). He makes it to the highway but is hit by a car that has no driver. A couple in another car stop to help him. A year later, the man, named David (Edward Connell), is in a mental institution ranting about good and evil and obsessed with a cross he has. A reporter named Sloan tries to interview him (“nutty stuff”). When Sloan shows David a picture of the missing Dr. Waterman (fantasy/horror writer Fritz Lieber), it triggers a flashback and he attacks Sloan. Through a tape recording he made earlier David relates how he and three friends (Susan, Vicki & Tim) go to visit Waterman in his secluded cabin. They find the cabin a wreck. They also meets a weird acting sheriff named Asmodeus (co-director Jack Woods)! Later they discover a castle in the distance and decide to check it out. After hearing eerie laughter and finding non-human tracks, they make torches and enter a dark cave. They meet a crazy old man who gives them an ancient book. They leave the cave and Dr. Waterman suddenly shows up and steals the book. Giving chase, David tackles him and he dies but his body disappears. Meanwhile, Susan (Barbara Hewitt), left alone is terrorized by Asmodeus who puts on a strange ring, turns rather evil looking, slobbers on her and tries to molest her but her cross drives him away. When David reads the professor's notes he learns that Waterman used the ancient book (“a bible of evil”) to open up a demon portal (very weird flashbacks accompany the narration). The castle disappears, the guys go to investigate and Asmodeus sends a (stop motion clay) monster to kill the old man from the cave. Somehow David kills the monster using only a sharpened tree branch. Susan becomes possessed and attacks Vicki (Robin Christopher). Later Asmodeus tries to convince Jim (Frank Boers) to give him the book, then sets a giant green caveman on the group. David goes after Jim when he enters another dimension where Asmodeus kills Jim and impersonates him. They have a fight and Asmodeus-Jim turns into a winged demon and kills Vicki. David and Susan run (with the book in tow). The winged demon is destroyed by a cross on a grave but Susan also dies. A mysteriously shrouded creature tells David in a year and one day he will be dead. The scene of David being hit by the driver-less car is shown and the tape ends. It happens to be a year and a day later and David is strapped into a straitjacket yelling for his cross he lost in his tussle with Sloan. On his way out the reporter eyes a pretty woman as he leaves: Susan, now obviously a demonic assassin.....

EQUINOX was originally filmed in 1967 by Dennis Muren on a budget said to be around 6000 dollars! The interesting stop animation was done by Jim Danforth (who'd created similar creatures for the X-rated FLESH GORDON) and Dave Allen (he later animated “The Pillsbury Doughboy”). Producer Jack H. Harris picked it up and had sound editor Jack Woods direct new scenes (leading to several continuity lapses). Despite those errors, the small budget and some bad acting E is a lot of fun (and a little frightening at times) and obviously inspired Sam Raimi's THE EVIL DEAD.  

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