When the Goo Attacks: The Blob, The Stuff, and Glowzies

In this gooey triple feature, we dive into the sticky world of horror’s most disgusting invaders. We start with the 1958 classic The Blob, where a meteor crashes in small-town Pennsylvania and unleashes a growing, jelly-like alien that engulfs everything in its path—while skeptical adults refuse to believe a bunch of frantic teenagers.

Next up is Larry Cohen’s satirical 1985 cult hit The Stuff, in which a sweet, addictive white substance bubbling from the earth becomes America’s favorite zero-calorie dessert… until it starts taking over people’s minds and turning them into zombie-like “Stuffies” who live only to consume more of it.

We wrap with the wild, low-budget 2024 creature feature Glowzies, where an ancient extraterrestrial slime awakens in a remote Colorado canyon and transforms locals into glowing, vomit-spewing zombies. A ragtag crew of aging military vets and social media influencers must team up to stop the slimy apocalypse before it spreads.

From classic drive-in terror to corporate satire and modern gooey mayhem, this episode is packed with blob-based body horror, black comedy, and plenty of gross-out fun. Grab your hazmat suit (and maybe skip the snacks) for this one!

Transcript

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Welcome to Dad Bot of Horror, Season 1, Episode 15. I am Butch Bar, your host. Still no co-host. I'm a friend of my wife. I'm not going to say his name. But he said that he should be my co-host. So the problem is, well, she didn't know he liked horror movies, and he said, Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love horror movies. I love Rob Zombie horror movies. Those are the best. Having heard that, I obviously can't trust his judgment. So I do not see him being a co-host in the future. So no housekeeping today, so I can get right to the movies. So movie one of season one, episode 15, is The Blob from 1958. You can find it on HBO Max and Plex. Production company Tony Lynn Productions, Valley Forge Films, and Fairview Productions. The directors were Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. and Russell S. Doughton Jr. Jr. and Jr. The writers were Theodore Simonson, Kay Lineker, and Irvin H. Milgate. Two directors, three writers. Stars Steve McQueen, Anita Korsout, and Earl Rowe. The plot, an alien life form, consumes everything in its path as it grows and grows. So why this movie? The Blob from 1958 is one of my favorite horror movies. It really is. I can watch it just about any time. It's good, it's always moving. There's not really any lulls. It's just such an enjoyable movie. Now, having said that, the remake, which was like I'm only guessing 1988, maybe was terrible. But the 1958 one is absolutely great. So how did I see it? I know I watched this for the first time during the Creature Double Feature, which was on Channel 17 on Saturday afternoons. I distinctly remember watching portions of it when I was young. And I believe that my parents were also watching at the same time. So my favorite kill, this was the 1950s. Many of these horror movies stayed away from showing someone getting killed, and that was kind of this way. You kind of see the blob like going after someone, and then you don't see them anymore. So, no favorite kill. So, I do love this movie. It's a fantastic movie. Really, if you haven't seen it, you really should go out and see it. It's great. Like right from the beginning, like the first time, I well, not the first time, but when I realized different picture qualities and the concept of big studio movies and whatnot, like this movie makes you think it was a big studio movie when it when it really wasn't. Valley Forge Films, which is one of the production companies, uh, used to make like religious like films and weren't making any money. So someone had them take a shot on a horror movie, and this was their horror movie that they took a shot with, which was great, quite a shot. The movie again, I thought it was kind of a bigger studio because it had this like funky theme song that doesn't really fit with the movie. Apparently, it was written by a young Bert Bacharak. It's like Beware of the Blah Big Creeps and Sneaks. Like, it's got this like beep op y type song and and jive to it, and that doesn't fit with a horror movie, not at all. It's kind of it's kind of funny. The movie was also shot in color, and like for a horror movie 1958 to me in color, according to AI, if you want to believe Groc, less than 25% of horror movies in 1958 were made in color. So I was always taught that when you get into the air where they were doing black and white and color at the same time, usually if a studio didn't believe in the film, it was black and white. If they believed in it, it was color. So again, was thinking this is a bigger studio, it obviously was not. So the movie stars a very young Steve McQueen. I shouldn't say very young, he was still kind of fresh to the business, he really hadn't hit yet. He wasn't young, you know, by the standards there. He was 27 or 20 at the time he was making this movie where he was playing a high schooler. So 27, 28-year-old night playing a high schooler. And he doesn't look like a high schooler, he really does look like he's in his late 20s making this. So talking about Steve McQueen, so uh I hope I don't have to go into Steve McQueen too much. Like he's after this movie, he ended up doing Wanted Dead or Alive, which was a TV show, and between this movie, the success, and that TV show, it really helped launch his career, and he had an incredible career after this. But when he's making this movie, the career wasn't on that trajectory quite yet. And uh, he was offered a choice for either a flat payment of about $3,000 to make the movie or 10% of the film's profit. Obviously, he didn't have a lot of faith in the movie because he chose the flat fee, and the film uh made over $4 million at the time. So obviously, uh Mr. McQueen left some money on the table there. So the movie feeds into this kids versus adults, which you're gonna see a lot. Like that happens a lot in these movies, a lot a lot in horror movies. So, you know, Steve and his date, uh, they see this horrible substance that's on this man's arm. And then later on, Steve sees this same substance attack the town doctor, but the adults don't believe him. And when I see the adults, it's really the police, and even like you can tell his dad wants to believe him and wants to have faith in his son. When he goes down to pick him up at the police, he's very much believe the line was, you know, my son is not in the habit of telling lies. Which I take it to tell the police, like, if my son said he saw something, he saw something. But you could also look at it in the other way, he's not in the habit of telling lies, but that doesn't mean he's not telling one now. So I viewed it one way, but I could definitely see how you could view it either way. But definitely this theme of the kids say something and the adults don't believe it just runs a lot through this movie. For its time, I think the blob really has pretty good special effects. I realize you're not dealing with you know things that have high sophistication to them or or high definition to them. It's it's a it's a blob, you know. Looks like a blob of jelly or jello or something like that. But like the blob moves around. You see the blob move, and you know, you you see the blob, you know, cover a diner. So, you know, they did the best that they could with what they had at the time, but it's really not bad at all. You know, it's well done. In fact, you know, like one of the most iconic scenes in horror movie history takes place in the blob when the blob attacks the movie theater. I mean, it's really just iconic. You know, you see, and I mean, obviously, it was easy to tell they had holes cut out, you know, to be for the projection this, and and someone just shoved the blob through. And and I mean, that was pretty easy to do, but still, yeah, people running out. Um, the the theater where it happens is uh the colonial theater, which is in Phoenixville, PA, which is pretty close to where I live. Uh, most of the movie was shot in that area. Um, in fact, the Colonel, uh, the Colonial Theater, which is still there, um, has an annual Blobfest, which I have yet to go to. Um, maybe this year will be the year I go to one. I don't know. There was something else that was brought up a few times in the movie, but I I don't, not having lived in that time period, that was uh 58 was you know well before my time. I mean, 58, my parents were teenagers still and hadn't met each other yet. Yeah, I don't know. It was brought up a couple of times by one of the police officers or sir, sir, sirs, that he was a war vet, and he brought that up as to be like why the kids didn't listen to him or or are kind of picked on him a little bit, but I don't understand that. I'm guessing it was a Korean War, being 58, because the guy didn't look that old. I mean, it certainly could have been World War II, but again, I don't think the guy looked old enough for it to have been World War II at that time. So I think, yeah, I think that's everything I have to say about the blob. I would definitely see it. I think it's again an incredible movie. Yeah, just really good. And and you know, then you'll get to hear at the beginning of the film they when they play the opening theme, Beware the Blob. Then you can hear it. And believe me, it'll just stick in your head because it is, it is, it's you know, what do they call it? Brainworm, earworm, whatever it's called. It is definitely one of those. So, movie number two for season one, episode 15, is The Stuff. And that was made in 1985. You can find it on AMC Plus, Prime, Shout Factory, Pluto TV, Plex, Roku Channel, and Tubi. You can like find everything on Tubi. I really do love Tubi. I realize it's free and I pay for it by watching commercials, which I hate to do, but I still love watching Tubi. Production company is Larco Productions. Director is Larry Cohen. Writer, Larry Cohen. Gosh, it scares me to think that Larco Productions is short for Larry Cohen. What do you guys think? I'm pretty sure it does. So again, here you have production company, director, and writer all being the same person. And we know my rule about that. That's a bad idea. It stars a young Michael Mariarty, Garrett Morris, and Andrea Markovic. The plot, a delicious, delicious, wow. Yeah, it does say that. A delicious, mysterious goo that oozes from the earth is marketed as the newest dessert sensation. But the tasty treat rots more than teeth when zombie-like snackers who only want to consume more of the strange substance at any cost begin infesting the world. So, why this movie? Well, you know, the stuff is kind of similar to the blob. Um, how did I see it? I'm pretty sure I rented this as a VHS tape and watched it. And I'm pretty sure the first time I watched it was my my friend Shawnee. I'm pretty sure that we watched it together. My favorite kill. So the stuff, once it gets into your body, or or yeah, it gets into your body, it kind of turns you into like a stuffed zombie puppet type thing. Basically, you do what stuff wants you to do. And for some reason, it seems to weaken everything about you. There is a scene where a bunch of stuffed people are attacking a bunch of normal, a couple of normals. One of the normals hits the stuffed zombie person in the head, and his head like disintegrates. Like, it's pretty funny, actually. Uh, but yeah, it's my favorite kill. And you'll notice a lot of these kills are my favorites because they're funny. So there is a lot of cheesiness in this movie. This movie is not great. Yeah, it's just it's not great. It wasn't great when I saw it. I've seen it like three or four times now over my lifetime, not recently. But so you eat the stuff, you get addicted to it, and eventually you become a pawn of stuff, you do it spitting. My guess, so the blob came from space, it was in a meteor. My guess is the stuff was kind of the same way. I don't think it comes out of the earth naturally. I think it at some point got embedded in the earth and started coming out. My idea is like this is how it takes over a planet, it just controls the people, and maybe the people become become like I don't know, maybe that's how they, you know, they they I don't know. Maybe when you become a stuffed zombie, event eventually you just turn into more stuff. I don't know. That's just my own personal theory. You know, that's how this life form takes over a planet. At the end of this movie, it's like a militia gets called into action and it's fairly ridiculous. I realize a lot of militias out there are probably ridiculous. I I don't know. I'm not a part of one, I've never been a part of one militia. But like you think it's an army unit, they act like an army unit, but they're just they're ridiculous, really, is the word. So Michael Moriarty, Garrett Morris, and Paul Servino. We're all in the movie. As I said, you heard Morti and Garrett Morris before. And Paul Servino played the the guy in charge of the military unit. They've all been around the block, they all have tons of acting credits to their names. But I think it's funny is some of the bigger names in this particular movie had some of the smallest roles. Like Danny Aiello's in it, and he's only in briefly. Amiro Servino and Eric Bogogian are both uncredited performers in this movie. So like those probably are names more people know now, but they had like hardly any role in this movie. You think with that kind of talent, Mariarty, Morris, Servina, Servina, and Bogogian, the movie would have been a little better, but it just wasn't. It just it's and it's not like hard to watch. The production values are there. It's just just silly. Just just silly. And again, I'm going back to the original like the blob. There's a kid in the movie that like sees what's happening from very early on, and again, no one believes him. This really, you know, we talk about index I talk about independent horror movies, and in truth, there's a lot of independent horror movies that I could watch again versus trying to watch this stuff again. It really is not. Gosh, it's just not a good movie, and it's a shame. So, movie number three. For season one, episode 15, Gloseys from 2023. You can find it on Screenbox, Plex, Roku Channel, and Tubi. Production company is Terror Films. It's directed by Hank Braxton. Writer is Hank Braxton, Guy G. Jackson, or possibly Guy J. Jackson. Sorry, Guy J. Jackson or Guy J. Jackson. And Dennis Nolan. It stars James Remar, Ron Carlson, and Josie Davis. The plot, a group of aging military vets and social influencers. I'm not sure if that's true. Uh, Battle Glowing, Vomit Spewing Zombies, and the Zany Family Friendly Horror Adventure. Wow, a lot of this true. I really should read these plots before I uh I say them on the air. So, why this movie? I was led to believe glosies seem similar to the blob and the stuff, and I it was cracked. It is. How did I see it? I watched it for the first time for this podcast. Uh, my favorite kill again. I don't think I have one. It's kind of like the stuff where it takes you over, but in this way, like if you touch the glosey stuff, you'll eventually slowly kind of become one, I think. They're kind of like play fast and loose with those rules a little bit. So, yeah, there's no real good kills in this. I really like this movie. I was expecting a terrible film. Um, I really was. Because it just looked like a ripoff of like the blob, kinda. Except it's got like Nick Nickelodeon type slime that they use. It is a horror movie that has a ton of comedic elements into it. When you start watching the movie, like James Remar, who's an incredible actor, like he gives it gravitas right from the start. Um, he's such a fine actor. Um, it's a shame that some demons in his past ended up changing his career trajectory because you know he could have been top of the line a number one talent. So the idea was I don't know where they come with a group of aging military vets. I don't get that part. So the idea is that miners come across this stuff that they named stenium after the owner of the mining company. Eventually they figured out that it was a sentient element bent on destruction. So these people locked it down with the help of the army, and the workers that survived still lived in the town, but the army is drugging them to forget what happened. And there's one person stationed there from the army to keep tabs on both the guys and keep drugging them, and to keep tabs on the stenium, the glosey stuff. And 30 years go by, and then, like this says, the social influencers come into town and awaken the glosies, and and you know, stuff happens. It's it's actually a pretty good story, it works. Um so again, like I said before, stenium kind of takes people over when it gets on their skin, but they also do the old stenium dump where they spit the stuff out on people. It's kind of gross and funny at the same time. Because, like I said earlier, that there's really no real bad killing in this where you know they get slimed and then they become like a glowsy creature. I think this is a family-friendly movie, though. I mean, that is really true in the plot. Like if you want to start your kid out watching a horror movie like Gremlins is one before, this is even easier than Gremlins. It's not, it's really not that scary. Um, there's a lot of funny elements in. There's actually one of the guys gets some glosey, glowy material, the stemium on him, and the stuff like starts coming out of his nose, and he pulls it out like you know, like snot, ball, you know, stuff kids would love, or immature adults like myself. A good portion of this movie was shot around Grand Junction, Colorado, which is where my aunt and uncle lived most of their life, and and I have visited, which is kind of neat. It's based on a comic book called Faraway Canyon by Steve Hilliard and Dennis Nolan, which is kind of cool, which makes me want to kind of pick that book up to read it and see, you know, how it's the same and how it's different. I said before James Remar is in it, and he's awesome. And James Remar, if you don't know him, if there's a guy, yeah, you've seen him, you've seen him in a lot of movies. I did go through all the movies. I remember him from the movies The Warriors, but he's been in a ton of stuff. Because he's a great actor. In fact, um the movie Aliens, he was actually supposed to play Michael, the the character that Michael Bean ends up playing. Yeah, I can't think of it now. Is it Hilts? But uh unfortunately uh his demons got the better of him while he was getting ready to film. So, so big name. Uh, and then the third person I mentioned, Ron Carlson, I don't really know, Josie Davis. Now, Josie Davis has been in a couple of things. I've seen her in one other thing, and that was an episode of Two and a Half Men. I don't know how she got the number three building, she's barely in this thing. She comes as a doctor that gets like comes, talks, has a couple of lines, and then gets all glosied up. Michael Dorn is also in this film, and he, if you're a nerd and watch Star Trek Next Generation like I did, you would know Michael Dorn played Wharf. And he's been in a bunch of other stuff since then. He's in it much more than she is. I don't know why he isn't in under Starring. I just I just don't understand that. So I think that's everything I have on Glosies. I mean, this is gonna be a short episode, and I apologize for that. I really try to keep that close to 30 minutes, but uh uh I'm not gonna make in this one. I apologize for that. I'll try to do better next time. Maybe these movies just weren't ready to uh to make it to that mark. So that's it for this episode. Um, I already know again what movies I have in line for next episode, but I'm not gonna tell. So, all of you have fun out there.