The Incredible Melting Man (1977)

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.

You can't really spoil this film, so I won't try. A perfectly linear plot with barely any twists hosed down with gore. Full-on horror with occasional and reasonably well done comic relief. This film has no message whatsoever. Tell a roomful of desperate writers to write a script knowing nothing more than that the title has to be "The Incredible Melting Man" and that the first to finish gets paid, and the winner would look something like this.It could have been a TV movie production except for the very gory special effects, which are X-Certificate and laid on extremely thickly by the young master Rob Bottin. There are also a couple of boobs. 70s boobs.If you think that you are the sort of person who might enjoy a film with a title like "The Incredible Melting Man", then you will definitely enjoy this film.

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).

There are far worse movies out there than The Incredible Melting Man. By all means it is a very bad movie, but it is fun to watch in the way that Monster A-Go Go, Manos: The Hands of Fate and most of Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders(also used in the MST3K series)aren't. The movie isn't all bad, the make-up is good, there is one inventive death scene and the title character's melting is handled quite decently if perhaps rather drawn out. Other than the make-up, The Incredible Melting Man isn't that well made at all, it has a rather dated, schlocky look to it. The music is very 70s and that could have added to the movie's charm if it had been used well, instead it is very cheesy-sounding and just doesn't fit with what is going on at all. The dialogue is crass at best and my eyes are hurting from me rolling my eyes so much, while the story is paper thin and ridiculously padded out. It has some entertaining scenes, but mainly because they were so unintentionally funny, unfortunately there were so many that it did become stupid and tiresome after a while. There's not much that is really all that scary or inventive either, while you feel nothing but dislike for all of the characters and the acting is really weak, some like the nurse overact while the rest are like zombies. To conclude, very bad but kind of fun in an unintentional sort of way. 3/10 Bethany Cox