I first learnt of this film's existence by walking past a cinema at the tender age of 4 and seeing a poster for the double bill of this and a TV movie that was shown theatrically in the UK called The Savage Bees (to be reviewed tomorrow night). Even the poster for this genius double bill of terror messed me up psychologically as I was obsessed with the idea of the villains of both films coming to get me when I was least expecting it.I finally saw The Incredible Melting Man years later on TV- and loved it. It harks back to the horror films made for drive-ins in the 1950s. The plot involves three astronauts going on an expedition to Saturn ("You've never seen anything til you've seen the Sun through the rings of Saturn"). But something goes wrong and the only surviving astronaut, Steve West comes back to Earth to find that his body is slowly melting. We find out that to slow this down Steve who is now insane, must consume human flesh to decelerate the decomposing process.This film is ripe for people to call it 'so bad its good' as if its absolutely terrible. It isn't- and not by a long chalk.Yes, sometimes the acting is a little, er, natural shall we say (the actress who plays the mother who stops off to steal lemons reminded me of Edith Massey from John Waters' films. Yes, her acting is that raw!).But there's also some of the best special effects I've ever seen which were crafted by a young Rick Baker. Yes, the Rick Baker who won seven Oscars (take that cinema elitists). The melting effects are very aesthetically pleasing and the scenes in which El Melto sheds an eyeball and leaves his oozing ear on a bush have to be seen to be believed. Watching a severed head splat on a rock after going down a waterfall in slow motion is also a beautiful sight for horror fans.There's also a cameo by a young Jonathan Demme as the boyfriend of a teenage girl played by none other than Janus Blythe who played Ruby in The Hills Have Eyes. Her performance is brilliant. I love any character that goes mad at the horror of what has just occurred. She does a great job with her character alternately crying and laughing manically.But there's also a greater depth to this film. There are many scenes of West walking up and down hillsides with the sun setting behind him and with the sounds from the expedition in his head. These scenes show Steve to be completely alone and nomadic. West is a melting freak but not through choice and is so grotesque that he's utterly ostracised and feels completely separated from the rest of the human race. These sequences reminded me of the melancholic piano music at the end of each episode of The Incredible Hulk or the underlying sadness to the TV programme The Littlest Hobo. The audience feels pity for West and his condition rather than his character being a two-dimensional grotesque baddie with no other sides to his persona.There's also a heartbreaking scene wherein Steve reaches a barrel of water on his wanderings and sees his reflection that makes him cry out and place his head in his heads.This film also possesses a scene which is the hallmark of a really messed up movie- someone runs through glass. A nurse runs through a plate glass door after seeing Steve's face when he removes his bandages for the first time. If this 'running/throwing yourself through glass' scene is in a film you know its special and that you're watching high art. The scene appears twice in Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), twice in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) and once in Halloween 2 (1981)- all great, messed up pieces of cinema.Any film that features the lead character melt in a great big pool of ooze at the end and is then seen being swept up and placed into a trash can by a janitor is A-OK with me.The next time someone tells you that The Incredible Melting Man is one of the worst movies ever made tell them to get lost. They wouldn't know great entertainment if they fell over it.

Science Fiction from American International and directed/written by William Sachs. Astronaut Steve West (Alex Rebar) returns from a flight to Saturn and something happens to him after being over-exposed to radiation. West becomes gelatinous and is compelled to go on a killing spree in need of human flesh to survive. The astronaut keeps melting as scientist Ted Nelson (Burr DeBenning) tries to aid him, while General Perry (Myron Healey) is urgent in capturing him. While filming, producers wanted some comedic scenes cut and replaced with new horror scenes. Kudos to Rick Baker for the gory melting effect makeup. Even some of the stages of melting were left on the cutting room floor. Attitudes toward poor acting became problematic. Nonetheless, the movie was considered a success.Other players: Julie Dazen, Michael Aldredge, Ann Sweeney, Dorothy Love, Jonathan Demme, Lisle Wilson and Edwin Max.

An interesting, updated gory variant of the QUATERMASS adventures from Hammer, with a lower budget and much less plot. The main reason this film exists is to showcase Rick Baker's awesome makeup effects which more than make up for the minimal dialogue and the pathetic attempts at pathos. The film is cheaply and poorly made with actors whom you've never heard of, and will never hear of again. While all acting is of sufficient standard for a film of this type, the only person that sounds out from the rest is Doctor Nelson, who is a believable man juggling his marriage and his best friend's destruction. He's not a good performer but he's memorable in his wool hat and parka.However the plot and acting aren't really anything to judge this film by, instead you have the Incredible Melting Man himself, a character that is frankly hilarious. Hearing "space noises" in his head as he wanders the countryside, this guy just comes off the worse for wear in every instance. He even leaves his ear on a tree! Incredibly, the deaths in this film seem to have been played for laughs - check out the scene where he beheads a fisherman! The highlight of the film is probably the scene where he attacks a young girl who cuts off one of his arms with a meat cleaver! The camera lingers on the still twitching digits of the severed hand in one of many neat touches.On an aesthetic level the film is disappointing, no Oscar-calibre material here, but the Incredible Melting Man makes for quite an effective monster. It's just a shame that he wasn't given much to do apart from run around in the dark. The effects of his melting face and the final disintegration are truly superb, Rick Baker sure knows his stuff. And who can forget the fantastic ending, where, as I once heard someone on the internet sum it up neatly, "The guy melted and they threw him in the trashcan!" An enjoyable obscurity from a forgotten era.

Just saw this on Blu-Ray. It's true. It does drag. Doesn't have the pacing of better drive-in movies at the time. Some mild chuckles from the slow motion nurse, crackers, dialog etc. Yes, surprisingly Jonathan Demme is in this. But doggone that is the Detroit Tiger great Mickey Lolich as a security guard. I wonder how that came about. Oh well, Mickey shouts his one line out OK, I think. Lolich fans are probably better off getting his baseball card than this Blu-Ray. I elevated this to a score of two in honor of being Lolich's only movie nonetheless. As melting space monster movies go, I agree with some other reviewers who stated that The First Man In Space (1958) is a much better movie. The flimsy excuse for the Melting Man's condition was even more ridiculous than most 50's sci-fi and the disappointing space sequence was mercifully short. And yes that creek DOES look like the one in Without Warning (1980).