Beware! The Blob

Roger Corman once mentioned in an interview something to the effect that when he looked in on the filming of a comedy, he knew everything was all right if the cast and crew were joking and laughing and having a good time. In his experience, that energy would translate to the screen and the picture would be funny and enjoyable.

Although Corman did not produce this particular picture, "Beware! The Blob" looks to me to be exemplary of this kind of thinking. The cast was obviously enjoying the experience of making the film, and we, the audience, get the benefit. A certain sense of giddy frivolity is evident.

This movie was made by Jack Harris and Larry Hagman in the 70's--the early 70's. And by golly, it shows. Many people hate this film, and part of me wants to shout, "C'mon, guys, this is great stuff! You're watching it the wrong way!" But really, this film isn't for everyone. Not everyone likes grape jelly. Or strawberry jam. And that's...okay.

I would say this sequel to the (excellent) "The Blob" is played half-seriously, and that's why I find it so strange and refreshing. Sometimes it's a raucous farce. Sometimes it's straight horror. And oddly enough for a 70's film, it seems to know when it is being one or the other, and keeps true to whatever it is at that moment. It's not nearly as badly made as many of its detractors claim.

Watch it for the pea soup-thick 70's atmosphere. You'll feel as if you've entered another world. Watch it for the inventive low-budget special effects. A few shots look pretty nice even today. Watch it for the scene with the bald would-be victim guy in the bathtub, who throws the phone through the window when he sees the gelatinous menace oozing under his bathroom door, and who is then seen running starkers through the streets, shouting, while funny music plays. "Beware! The Blob" is extremely goofy, exciting, brightly-colored fun stuff. It is extremely representative of the era in which it was made.

Trust me: There is NO movie that entertains the way this one does. See it and treat yourself to a fun bit of film!

The story goes that Larry Hagman had a week or two free, and wanted to have some fun. So...he put together a GREAT group of folks for cameos (and red jello, to boot!), and made this grade-z 'horror'! If you want to just have fun...with far more laughs than gasps...and you have 90 minutes to kill...rent it! It's right up there in the genre of "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes"...

OK, I don't know why people knock this movie. I saw this when I was a kid, and it genuinely scared the crap out of me. I watch it now, and it still gives me the creeps in some scenes, the hippie getting his (final) haircut, for example.

I think Larry Hagman made this movie just to have some fun, and it clearly shows. I mean come on, where else are you going to see Burgess Meredith (God rest his soul) as a hippie? Some of the scenes were just plain hilarious, such as the scenes with Dick van Patten and the Boy Scouts, for example. Watching him talk to Lisa in the beginning, and getting annoyed at the scouts because of the "Kerbangers" later on, were terrific. I would have liked to have seen what happened to his character, but I guess we can figure it out for ourselves, eh?

Like I said, it looks like Larry and company had a lot of fun.

Give it a chance, and check it out. You won't be disappointed.

Kevin

The only thing horrifying about this movie is that it got greenlighted, backed, and filmed: It's more horrendous than horrifying.

I have never given a zero rating before as I try to find good in everything, though no matter how hard I tried I couldn't do it with this travesty of a movie.

The story of The Blob's return is told in a series of skits and sketches, which are meant to be humorous and scary... Unfortunately, the writer Jack A Harris (who produced the film) and screenwriters Anthony Harris and Jack Woods evidently couldn't grasp either concept as the laughs are on the audience who paid good money to watch this, which is the only horrific idea related to the film. Not having read Richard Clair's story "A Chip Off The Old Blob!" (which is also a much better and funny title for a comedy horror movie) I cannot say if these traits stem from here.

Then they give the directors hat to Larry "JR Ewing" Hagman. Though he'd directed five TV episodes this was his first full-length movie and it shows. It could also be the reason he never went back to directing for the big screen.

Another shock was to see some big'ish names appearing in cameo roles... Robert Walker Jr, Carol Lynley, Shelley Berman, Cindy Williams, Burgess Meredith, Dick Van Patton, and even Sid Haig

All these names do not a good film make. Instead of watching this movie, go paint that bedroom you've been putting off and then grab a chair and watch that paint dry, you'll have a more entertaining and productive time.

If I had not seen BEWARE!THE BLOB as an impressionable youth, maybe I could look at it as a cheezy, poorly acted, uneven special effects, campy movie. But there is something sinister going on in this flick, and untill I read a mini revue in CULT MAGAZINE I thought maybe I was just being sensitive. A follow-up to the famous original about a man eating jello from outer space, most critics said something to the effect that BEWARE! THE BLOB doesn't know if it wants to be a horror movie or a comedy, so it fails at both, but I don't agree with that sum-up. I think Larry Hagman (and, or the writers)did something unlike anything done before. In a Horror-comedy, the humor is there to relieve the horror. HERE they got it backwards! We see characters doing goofy sit-com type things, and then they get eaten by the blob! I find the mix of styles very disturbing. This movie gave me nightmares as a kid, and I still can't shake it off! I think Hagman also had a lot of contempt at the time he made this flick. The characters are usually stupid and brain dead to their surroundings, making them easy prey (they are all self-absorbed before being blob-absorbed!). I find the bowling ally attack to be very effective despite the uneven special effects. I know some of you may think I'm taking this silly movie way to seriously and, okay, maybe I am.. But now when you go to a bowling ally, or to the barbers, or sit back in your easy chair just like Godfry Cambridge did, you may just think twice.. BEWARE!