The Blob n°2: Le retour du monstre

I bought a VHS tape of this, still in the box, at a dirty little junk store downtown a couple of years ago. I thought it might be interesting from the cover art. I was wrong. Imagine Mars Attacks! with less intelligence, money, and acting talent. The one thing that sticks out in my mind is the horrifying image of the fat woman in the theater constantly pulling something long and white out of her nose. Max Crumb, eat your heart out.

As one of the screenwriters, this film surprised even me. It's beyond campy. What started out as a reprise of an old television show called "Space Patrol," turned into "Midnight Movie Massacre." It was an interesting transition to say the least. I wrote Space Patrol and by gosh it's in the movie... up on the screen in a theater where a bunch of folks go to watch it. Then a monster (from Mars as it turns out) lands on top of the theater and begins to eat the theater goers one at a time. I must say the film does look good. Some of the scenes go a bit far with the gags (and I do mean gags). All in all, though, it isn't too bad. I hope it will come back to haunt me one day as a screenwriter.

My review was written in May 1988 after a Cannes Film Festival Market screening.

The potential of a knowing homage to '50 sci-fi is wasted in "Midnight Movie Massacre", a poorly scripted pastiche film. Even midnight bookings will be hard to come by for this one, which bears a 1986 copyright.

Pic actually is two films (often at odds) in one: the gory horror story of folks at the Granada Theater in 1956 being killed by a yucky, tentacled monster, and the movie serial "Space Patrol" (inspired by the actua tv series) that' playing there. An immediate problem in tone and style is that the horror footage combines idiotic slapstick with latter-day gross-out effects, while "Patrol" is a benign recreation of old sci-fi films. The two don't mix well.

Genre faves Robert Clarke and Ann ("War of the Worlds") Robinson topline with smallish roles in "Patrol", the episode "Back from the Future" dealing with a mad scientist and time travel. The cliched dialog is merely boring, meant to be corny, but not sharp or clever enough to be funny. Best touches are the careful simulation of '50s matte shot, cheapo models and junky robots (which dance) plus too-fleeting cameos by Robby the Robot and his predecessor Gort.

Surrounding film is mainly running gags (each one extended past the breaking point) involving stereotyped audience members. Promising jokes like the fat wife (played by a thesp named Charity Case) who eats a ton start well but peter out, and others (particularly a girl who can't stop sneezing) prove to be mere time-killers.

Acting ensemble fits the lampooning roles, while tech credits capture the spirit of the cheesy originals. Unfortunately, the naivete of the 1950s that made the sci-fi B's campy eludes this studied concoction.

I first saw this film on TV when i was about 10. I was watching it with some friends in a tent, and we had a huge extension cable running out the TV in the tent. oh we had such a cool night, eating biscuits, drinking coke, being scared of this film. Come to think of it, i dont think any of us were scared, but we were entertained. Doubtlessly if i watched this film now, 10 years later i would probably switch it off. But when i was 10, after that night, this film became only spoken of in whispers. This is how i want to remember it.

This film has just been released as a three-pack DVD called MISSION MARS COLLECTION, which includes "Flight To Mars" "Attack From Mars" and "Invaders From Mars" and this film is somewhat amusing. It should in no way be considered anything other than a comedy which would appeal to any fan of 1950's science-fiction and horror films. The other review claims a movie audience member with a couple of "horrifying" attributes, when it is actually two different audience members, not one. Not a good comedy, but a fun little film if you are a fan of cheap schlock...like I am. This is yet another "classic" from the Wade Williams collection!