Beware! The Blob (aka Son of Blob)

There are 2 different versions of this DVD. One with an Image Entertainment opening logo on it and one with an RJE Entertainment logo that leads into a different Image Entertainment logo. The disc label is different. Image's is gray while RJE's is black. The Image release came in a cheap cardboard case, like early Warner Brothers DVD releases. RJE's is in a standard plastic DVD case. Otherwise, the 2 DVD's contents are the same. Same menus, same movie content.The downside to this DVD release is all you get is the movie. Nothing else.The movie itself I find to be quite enjoyable. It's just as good as The Blob and in some ways is better. The Blob itself is a much better prop this time around. The sequel makes the titular monster blood red, as if it has absorbed the blood of its victims. The music is very good. Like The Blob, Beware! The Blob has a great opening title theme. No lyrics, but some really good stings of music. This movie is loaded with stars that Larry Hagman was able to convince (Some might say trick.) into being in the movie. An added bonus for me is a cameo by my favorite actor, Burgess Meredith.The finale of this movie is superior to The Blob. The location is much larger, being set in a bowling alley with an adjoining rink. It allows for more freedom of movement than the confined movie theater and diner of the previous movie. This sequel even allows for a little "stunt" work. It even give the opportunity for the Blob to be a little more active as it is climbing some ropes. While it's never actually shown going up the ropes, just sticking on them, it still gives an impression that the Blob is moving.If you like The Blob, you should like its sequel. If you like the sequel, then, this DVD unfortunately doesn't give you any extras, not even a film trailer. However, it does give you the movie in a decent enough presentation. The DVD is single layer, so the video could have been better as a double layer release. Image would have charged you more for it, though.

Like so many before me, I watched ol' Steve battle the big, gooey monster when I was five. It was 1985, it was a late-nite creature feature, and the family and I settled down to watch it together. I was fine throughout the movie, really.Then, when I went to bed later, I could have sworn---could have SWORN---that I saw it oozing silently out of my toy box in the dark. That was the exact point in my childhood when the inexplicable phobia that every kid gets sooner or later popped up. Thus went the next several years as I made slight, but to me completely necessary, changes to my routine. Sleeping with the light on. Showering while I stared at the air vent the whole time. And then, 1988 rolled around, with its whole new level of special effects, and, well, let's just say that I was more than happy to wait until I was eighteen before watching that one.Which is why, really, that I was so shocked to learn years later that there had been a sequel, a direct sequel, to the original. It didn't ease my mind much that it was labelled as a "comedy"---after all, what's so funny about watching people get dissolved? I mean Jesus, did nobody learn what Kevin Dillon had to go through??That's why I was also immensely pleased with "Beware the Blob." Yes, its dated 70's brand of comedy rolls eyes now, but the special effects---and by extension, the horror---certainly does not. Unless you're one of those special effects snobs, in which case you wouldn't care anyway.What that amounts to is this, in short: there is a LOT more blob in this movie, comparable to the 1988 movie, and by extension much more creativity and gooey carnage. Not gory, mind you, but it is still far more graphic than the original, sometimes surprisingly so. And a pleasant side effect of that is the characters actually switch from the goofy 70's groovy mindset to the holy-crap-did-that-actually-just-happen-we-need-to-move-now mentality. This blob means business, folks. It eats a lot of people---young, old, invalid, male, female, chickens, horses, annoying scout leaders, hippies, squares, fluffy little dogs, cute little kitties, all are fair game. It corners people. It surprises people. Its arrival is preceded by an eerie, shrill note underscored by a pulsing throb that instantly transforms the tone of the scene. This is not the raging, squealing bully from 1988. This is a silent, deadly killer. It'll get you in broad daylight, if it has to...better watch your legs in the tall grass. And, happily, it makes these appearances with clockwork regularity, moving the film along at a nice pace that belies its lower-budget feel.Until, of course, it gets too big to give a damn about stealth. Then, we get to see how big it really is, and not by mere implication like in the first movie. By the climax, when the stoners are scared spitless (or dead) and the cops are being devoured, we actually switch from rooting for the crimson goo to the handful of unlikely heroes because they've stopped being annoying.If you wanted to hate this film, you would because of its screwball comedic elements, in which case I wouldn't blame you. If I dislike anything about it, it's because that same comedy creates such a discordant tonal shift between the comedy and the horror. But really, I can overlook that, because in the end, the horror of The Blob is timeless and knows no decade, despite the best efforts of the 70's to make it otherwise.

For diehard SciFi fans only. I saw "The Blob" when it was new, fresh and really scary. Loved the re-make, but never saw this sequel to the original. Kind of a period hoot, but those with serious expectations for plot, character or good production values will be disappointed. Fun to watch, see the very period costumes, and marvel at how much of a movie you can make with so little in the way of cast, sets, talent, and special effects. A must-see for blob fans, a pass for others.Reeaders need to understand that my standards for these kinds of movies are very permissive - I also like "Caltiki the Immortal Monster", "X the Unknown" and "Night of the Blood Beast", all alternative blobby kind of monster flicks of questionable cinematic value.Now that I've seen it, it will probably languish in obscurity until one of my descendents unearths it from wherever old DVDs end up.