Job description: When you've got a monster movie to deliver and you're on a tight budget, forget about expensive CGI effects or painstaking latex creations. Get yourself some Cellophane, silicone and slime, blend well, and, hey presto, you've got yourself an evil Amorphous Blob - the cheesiest and least scary of all B-movie monsters, but good for a giggle all the same. Almost invariably, the blob will choose a meteor as its mode of transport. Some redneck will then poke and prod at the meteor until slime oozes forth. The blob will then wobble and slobber as it grows, consuming all in its path.
Recently seen in: James Gunn's Slither, a clever blend of B-movie classic The Blob (see below) and George A. Romero's zombie fare. As expected, a meteorite lands, and the chap who finds it is infected with a parasitic worm that lodges in his brain and transforms him into a squid-faced blob monster (right) with a penchant for snacking on puppies and - perhaps most horrific of all - grooving to the hits of Air Supply. Of course, where there's a big blob, there will be baby blobs, and in Slither they are legion: horrible, pink, slimy things that want to get up close and personal with various orifices.
Most likely to say: 'Don't let them in your mouth!'
Classics of the genre: John Carpenter's The Thing (1982), while not a classic blob, features a shape-shifting monster that infests its hosts, who are stuck in the middle of nowhere in Antarctica in a claustrophobic research outpost. Monster guru Rob Bottin is on top form with the gooey, slimy creature effects, and the excellent cast includes Kurt Russell and Wilford Brimley. Released as paranoia about Aids was growing, the scene of the men awaiting blood tests to see who is infected is a masterpiece of suspense.
Fans of more obscure fare might care to search out cult director Mario Bava's Caltiki: The Undying Monster (1959), in which a group of scientists exploring a volcano in Mexico awaken a sleeping Mayan goddess, who just happens to be an evil Amorphous Blob. The film features some grotesque effects that are striking for its era.
Ultimate avatar: Naturally, The Blob (the original, and not Chuck Russell's lame 1988 remake). This 1958 film introduced Steve McQueen to cinemagoers, and has been hailed as the Best B-movie of all time. A meteor crashes to earth, the blob is unleashed and it grows at an alarming rate as it consumes humans. The Blob is a gelatinous pink ball that oozes around, sucking and gasping. In one classic scene, often copied, the Blob terrorises the audience at a cinema that's screening a horror film. Trivia buffs may note with interest that the toe-tapping theme tune, Beware the Blob, was written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach. Perhaps embarrassed by the association, they credited themselves as the Five Blobs.