“It creeps, and leaps, and slides and glides, across the floor, right through a door, and all around the wall, a splotch, a blotch, beware of The Blob.” — Lyrics by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

“The Blob” is much more than a cult classic – it’s a classic monster film with a story that doesn’t keep the audience interested with needless gore. Instead, “The Blob” grips the audience with anticipation and the race against time to save a town from being swallowed by the inter-galactic jelly monster. Here are a few trivia facts about “The Blob.”

“The Blob” was the film that made Steve McQueen a star, but McQueen himself disliked the film. In one interview he recalled, “...The main acting challenge was running around bug-eyed, shouting, ‘Hey everybody, look out for The Blob.’ I wasn’t too thrilled when people told me what a fine job I’d done in it.” It is also said that McQueen did not believe the film would do well and opted to be paid $2,500 dollars for his part instead of being paid ten percent of the royalties. McQueen was not the only one who thought the film would fail; one of the script’s co-writer’s, Kate Philips, commented in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, “. . .Neither of us got the percentage and the film (and its remake) have earned millions...But I got an important writing credit and Steve became a star!” Kate Philips was paid only one-hundred twenty-five dollars for her work on the film.

Have you ever wondered how “The Blob” was created without the use of CGI Effects or other new-age gadgets? The special effects director Bart Sloan altered the effects of using a weathered balloon and a colored silicone gel throughout the film. Matte paintings were exchanged for real locations in certain parts of the film, such as with the “Blob” engulfing the diner sequence.

When “The Blob” debuted at the box office, it grossed over four million dollars. Thirty years later, the franchise grew with a sequel titled, “Beware Of The Blob” (1972). There was also a remake of the original made in 1988. Every year since 2000, the area of Chester Springs near Phoenixville, Pennsylvania celebrates the film with a “Blobfest.” The “Blobfest” includes showings of the film at the famous Colonial Theater where the movie theater sequence was shot as well as a re-enactment of “running out of the movie theater” sequence. On a sad note, on April 18, 2008, “The Blob” co-writer and thought of “The Blob” as the film’s name, Kate Philips passed away at the age of 94 years old.