Slime monsters are creatures that are made out of, well... slime. Slime comes in all different forms, volumes and colors, many of which possess other endearing qualities as well, such as acidic touch or high levels of toxicity. Slime monsters are a fun and popular type of creature that has oozed it's way into nearly every form of speculative fiction. Whether it be a feature film, a television series, a cartoon, comic or video game, there is always a chance that some giant rampaging hunk of snot will pop up to make an appearance.
In film, the most famous slime monster of them all is the amoeba-like space glop known as the Blob, which was the fetured antagonist of the 1958 movie (appropriately titled) The Blob. This red gelatinous thing terrorized a small rural Pennsylvania town in the summer of 1957, swallowing up people, pets and super-markets. Teenager Steve Andrews fortunately had the foresight to gather some friends and arm them with fire extinguisher, which they used to freeze the blob into place, ultimately killing it. [1]
The film was remade in 1988, also called The Blob, and featured a similar creature that began sliming it's way across Arborville, California. This film altered the back story of the blob, making it the byproduct of a Cold War-era biological weapon gone wrong (have any of them ever gone right?). This creature consumed all forms of matter, slowly disintegrating it with it's touch. Even children were not safe from it's lethal fattiness. As before, this blob seemed to suffer vulnerability to cold temperatures. In the end, the heroes detonate a snow blower packed with liquid nitrogen containers that flash freezes the creature. [2]
A lesser-known slime monster from film is the creature seen in the 1956 Hammer Film Productions movie X the Unknown. In the movie, a radioactive subterreanean creature creeps up out of the earth in Lochmouth, Scotland, following some radiation tests. The protagonists of the film, Doctors Adam Royston and John Elliot manage to destroy the creature with cobalt bombs, driving it back into the fissure from wence it came. [3]
In the 1985 John Hughes sci-fi/comedy film Weird Science, the artificially generated genie Lisa used her wondrous powers to punish a man named Chet Donnelly by transforming him into a greasy, burping, farting, smelly pile of crap. This was done because of Chet's constant abuse of his smaller brother, Wyatt. Even Wyatt realized that Lisa had gone too far and stated that they could not keep him looking like that. It would ruin Christmas. [4]
The 2009 computer generated 3-D comedy film Monsters vs. Aliens featured a loveable one-eyed little glob of spunk named BOB. Though kind-hearted and well-meaning, BOB was not the brightest member of the monster team. In fact, he was downright stupid. BOB's name was actually an anagram for Benzoate Ostylezene Bicarbonate, which is the chemical compounds that made up his body. Though relatively sentient, BOB did not appear to have any type of brain within his matter. "As it turns out...", according to BOB, "You don't need one". [5]
On the syndicated television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the crew of the USS Enterprise encountered a deadly creature known as Armus on the planet Vagra II. Armus was the living embodiment of rage and hate and could assume liquid form as well as that of a viscous oil-like substance. In addition to it's ability to absorb living beings into it's matter, Armus could also project eletricial discharges. It was one of these discharges that was ultimately responsible for the death of Enterprise security chief Tasha Yar. [6]