1972 movie, directed by
Larry Hagman. Re-released in 1982 with the tagline,
"The movie that J.R. shot!" Sequel to the classic
1958 sci-fi/horror film,
The Blob, of course.
The opening credits scenes follow an adorable little kitten romping in a field. The title music is punctuated with screams; you can tell what's going to happen to the kitten... The story opens with the recent return home of "Chester", an arctic pipeline technician. He's brought a little memento back, a metal canister marked "SPECIMEN". Just the kind of thing you don't want in your freezer, right? His wife sure doesn't. Then the kitten arrives on the scene, so it can't be long before the monster of the title thaws out and starts poking around for some breakfast.
The cast... hey, it's a "B" movie. Among the supporting roles, we have Hagman as a hobo, his son Preston as a Boy Scout, Dick Van Patten as the Scoutmaster, Cindy Williams, and Burgess Meredith.
The campy incongruity and rigid stereotyping throughout Son Of The Blob put it more in the realm of comedy than horror. It's as bright and blocky and stylized as the '70s. I won't give away the ending, except to say that this only works as comedy/satire. Not as ponderous as Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, and not as blatant as Scary Movie, Hagman delivers a solid, if unpolished, gem of the "monster" genre.