Two notable movies made their debut on this day in horror history. Chuck Russell’s gory remake of The Blob came out 35 years ago today and 25 years ago we witnessed the return of Michael Myers (again) alongside the debut of Josh Hartnett’s strikingly terrible haircut in Halloween H20.
The Blob sees an alien creature crash land aboard a downed satellite in a rural town. The gooey pink blob ends up eating any person unfortunate enough to be caught in its path and quickly grows to an enormous size. As the military tries to capture the slimy beast, local teens Meg Penny (Shawnee Smith) and Brian Flagg (Kevin Dillon) attempt to escape the flesh-dissolving monster as it eats their town.
In Halloween H20, it’s been twenty years since Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) endured a nightmarish encounter with Michael Myers. She’s relocated, changed her name, and now runs a private school her teenage son (Hartnett) attends. Of course, Myers finds her and a ‘final’ showdown with the source of her trauma is on the cards.
The Blob’s Legacy: Scorpion Kings and Walking Dead
The Blob was a remake of the 1958 movie of the same name that starred a youthful Steve McQueen. The original was a far tamer affair than the 1988 version. It was decided early on that the 1988 monster was basically a growing, inside-out stomach, hence the dissolving acid it used to eat its victims.
Director Chuck Russell came into this off the back of helming A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors. He would go on to helm the camera for Jim Carrey‘s comedy The Mask and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s lead debut The Scorpion King.
Russell co-wrote the screenplay with Frank Darabont, who would go on to direct several Stephen King adaptations such as The Green Mile, The Mist, and The Shawshank Redemption. Darabont also helped bring the graphic novel series The Walking Dead to television.
Halloween H20: 25 Years Later
John Carpenter was involved with Halloween H20, but after a dispute with producer Moustapha Akkad and the Weinsteins, directorial duties went to Steve Miner, who had directed the second and third Friday the 13th movies as well as the supernatural comedy House.
The film saw Jamie Lee Curtis return to the series and briefly star alongside her mother Janet Leigh, a horror icon in her own right as Marion Crane in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. There’s even a scene with Marion’s car behind Leigh as music from Psycho plays in the background.
Recently, it was announced Halloween H20 would receive a 25th anniversary 4K SteelBook release featuring new art on the cover.