Reviewer: Jeremy Review Date: December 15, 2000 Released by: Image Entertainment Release date: 9/19/2000 MSRP: $24.99 Region 0, NTSC Full Frame 1.33:1

The Story

Beware! The Blob begins with housewife Marianne Hargis (Marlene Clark) finding something very unusual in her freezer - a metal specimen canister. Her husband Chester (Godfrey Cambridge), an engineer who has just returned from three months of building an oil pipeline in the Arctic, explains that it’s something dug up by a bulldozer that he’s been meaning to have analyzed. Unfortunately for Marianne, she forgets to put the canister back in the freezer, and it begins to thaw out. The top pops off, and out crawls a piece of the original "Blob". The thing proceeds to devour Marianne’s kitten, then Marianne herself. Chester, who’s busy drinking beer and watching TV, doesn’t even notice.

Meanwhile, across town, Lisa Clarke (Gwynne Gilford) is heading to pick up a birthday present for her boyfriend Bobby (Robert Walker Jr.) - which she’s been hiding at the home of her friends, Marianne and Chester Hargis. When nobody answers the door, she walks in and is horrified to see Chester being devoured alive by the blob! She races to Bobby’s house and gets him to go back with her, but when they arrive there's no sign of either Chester or the creature. Lisa becomes more and more hysterical, insisting that she saw a monster eat him.

Not surprisingly, the local sheriff (Richard Webb) doesn’t believe her story, but tells the kids to file a formal report in the morning if Chester hasn’t shown up by then. Unfortunately, the blob is just beginning it’s rampage, getting larger and larger as it continues to devour victims - a group of hobos, hairdresser and his client, a policeman, a few hippies and more. Bobby realizes that his girlfriend wasn’t imagining things when the blob attacks them in their car, nearly devouring the pair. Now they have to convince the authorities that the beast is real, before it’s too late for everyone.

Beware! The Blob is definitely one of those movies that you are either going to love or loathe. Personally, I don’t like it very much at all. Not only does it fail to capture the atmosphere of the original 1958 The Blob, but it’s also too long and drawn out, and can’t seem to stick with one genre for very long. The best example would be the various blob attacks, which are handled seriously at some times, and humorously at others. Is it a comedy, a horror movie, or a satire on horror movies? It doesn’t seem like anybody behind the camera even knew. Connoisseurs of bad films will no doubt get a kick out all the cheesy low-budget special effects (although a few of them are actually impressive), as well as bit roles for actors like Dick Van Patten and Burgess Meredith, but overall, whether you enjoy this movie or not is going to depend on your own personal tastes.

On a side note, those who remember the long-running CBS series Dallas will no doubt be amused to find out who directed Beware! The Blob - none other than actor Larry Hagman. Not only that, but in 1982, a few years after the famous "Who shot J.R.?" cliffhanger, somebody got a hold of the rights to this movie and re-released it with the tagline (which Image has now adopted as well) "The movie that J.R. shot!"

Image Quality

Beware! The Blob is presented in it’s original full-frame aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Image has done a decent, though not stellar, job on this transfer. The print used was in very good shape, with very few signs of damage and only moderate speckling, and picture is fairly sharp, although on a few occasions it can appear soft and unfocused. Colors look a bit dull and muted, while there is noticeable grain in a number of shots. Most fans should be pleased by the transfer, but it’s nothing spectacular.



Sound

The Mono 1.0 soundtrack is nice and solid. The sound effects, dialogue and music are all reproduced clearly effectively, and sound much more vibrant than you would expect a low-budget soundtrack to. There was no noticeable background noise. There are no subtitles provided.

Supplemental Material

There are no supplements on this disc - not even a dang theatrical trailer.

Final Thoughts

Not the greatest movie or the greatest disc, and the $24.99 price tag seems awfully high for a featureless release like this. It would have been great if Image could’ve put together a commentary track, since hearing Larry Hagman talk about shooting the film would’ve been a blast, but I’m not going to complain. If you enjoy this movie, then this is definitely a release for you.

Rating

Movie – C
Image Quality – B
Sound – B
Supplements – N/A

Technical Info.

• Running Time - 1 hour 27 minutes
• Color
• Not Rated
• 1 Disc
• 10 Chapter Stops
• Dolby Digital Mono

Supplements

• N/A

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