Blu-ray Review: SPINAL TAP II: THE END CONTINUES

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Nov 11, 2025 Posted by Kyle Nolan in DVD/Blu-ray, Reviews | Comments

It’s been 40 years since documentarian Martin DiBergi (Rob Reiner) chronicled the final concert tour of band Spinal Tap in his film This is Spinal Tap. However, due to the release of the documentary, the band continued to perform for an additional 25 years. That is until 15 years ago when lead guitarists/childhood friends Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) had some mysterious falling out and the band just stopped performing. Martin has discovered that the band’s original contract with now-deceased manager Ian Faith had been inherited by his daughter, Hope Faith (Kerry Godliman), and that it stipulates that they are required to do one more concert. And so Martin has decided to track down band members Nigel, David, and bass player Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) and document them as they prepare for their one-night-only reunion concert in New Orleans. To round out the band, the guys also need to hire a new drummer—a position that hasn’t been so lucky for the last 11-or-so people who filled it. Though maybe Didi Crockett (Valerie Franco) can break that deadly curse! To help promote the concert, Hope has hired Simon Howler (Chris Addison), though he may not be the best person for the job, as many of his suggestions are way out there or completely off-base. Can the guys put aside their differences and come together for one final send-off?

I’m one of the rare people who hasn’t actually seen the original This is Spinal Tap. Once when I was a kid, my older brother rented the VHS from the local video store, but he quickly found himself finishing the movie on his own as the rest of the family bailed shortly into it. This documentary style comedy with actors with fake British accents wasn’t something that we were used to. The only thing I even remember about the original was “these go to 11”. So I went into this sequel pretty much blind. However, director/star Rob Reiner does a good job with the exposition at the start of the film, brining viewers up to speed about the characters. Throughout the movie, he also provides narration and clips/shots from the first film showing characters or moments that are being referenced. So I never felt lost or confused as I watched this sequel on its own, which I actually ended up really enjoying and finding quite entertaining.

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues has this Curb Your Enthusiasm type feel to it, where you know that there is some overall story structure, but the actual dialogue feels heavily dependent on improvisation. This makes the dialogue feel more natural and unexpected—there were times when things get so ridiculous and crazy that I was shocked that the scene partners did not break. The actors are allowed to just play around and have fun. Christopher Guest, Michael McKean & Harry Shearer have such great chemistry with one another, and have done so many movies with one another over the years that they just play off one another perfectly. I couldn’t help but smile throughout. Plus they are joined by an amazing array of guest stars and cameos from people who had appeared in the first movie.

Overall, I found it to be a blast watching these 3 old guys get their band back together while also bickering and dealing with issues they’ve been harboring for decades. Throughout the film we see the band practicing their songs (and later performing them in the final concert). These are the same songs from the original movie, but I wasn’t familiar with them. The lyrics can be quite witty and filled with fun double-entendres. And what makes them even more entertaining is when the band is joined by or covered by real musicians playing versions of themselves. Some of the musicians have fun doing covers with the band, and others are just there as part of a running joke about the band looking for a new drummer. These cameos include Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Elton John, Paul McCartney, David Furnish, Chad Smith, Lars Ulrich and Questloveas.

Decal Releasing/Bleecker Street has released Spinal Tap II: The End Continues on 4K UHD SteelBook, Blu-ray, DVD, & Digital. We were sent the Blu-ray version for review. The visual presentation is phenomenal. It was hard to believe that I wasn’t actually watching a 4K disc. The film is shot documentary style, so instead of a more cinematic look, it is looks hyper-real with extreme clarity and detail. And the concert scenes feel like real live concert footage. The audio track provides clear dialogue, but I sometimes found that during the musical performances, the music was slightly overpowering and partially drowned out the lyrics. I also found that the concert footage didn’t really make use of the surround channel to give more of an immersive, at-the-concert feel. Instead, the sound pretty much comes from the front.

The Blu-ray release is completely barebones, containing just the film and no bonus material. The disc is packed in a standard HD keepcase. Our review copy did include a glossy slipcover. As with all Decal releases, no digital copy is included.

What’s Included:

Film (1:23:20):

1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Audio Description DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0/li>
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Extras:

No bonus material

My Rating

Film:

Video:

Audio:

Extras:

Recommended

Final Thoughts:

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues is a fun, entertaining movie that holds up well on its own, even if you haven’t seen the original This is Spinal Tap. However, I think those who have seen the original will get even more out of this film, including a fun sense of nostalgia as many actors from the original make cameos as their original characters. Much of the dialogue feels improvised, but this leads to some funny and unexpected moments. the film also features some hilarious cameos from musicians playing themselves. Decal’s Blu-ray release already looks stellar, but a 4K SteelBook release is also offered. Unfortunately the disc is barebones, with no bonus material. This is a shame as this is the type of film I would have loved to have heard some sort of commentary track or behind-the-scenes stories about. That said, fans of the film or of the original should still check this out/pick this up based on the quality of the movie itself.