The Incredible Melting Man
(1977) 84 min
Rated: R (blood, gore)
Country: USA
Director: William Sachs
Starring: Alex Rebar, Burr DeBenning, Myron Healey
Links: IMDB | Wikipedia
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
An astronaut’s body begins to melt after he is exposed to radiation during a space flight to Saturn. He then goes on a killing spree.
Synopsis:
During a space flight to Saturn, three astronauts are exposed to a blast of radiation which kills two of them and injures the third, Colonel Steve West (Rebar). Steve wakes up on Earth in a hospital and is horrified to see the wounds all over his body. In a fit he attacks his nurse and kills her. He then escapes the hospital.
Dr. Loring and Dr. Theodore “Ted” Nelson (Benning), a scientist and friend of Steve, investigate the death of the nurse. They find she emits radiation and rationalize that Steve is radioactive. Ted hypothesizes that Steve has gone insane and is slowly melting from the radiation. He must also consume human flesh to stop his melting. Ted calls General Michael Perry (Healey) who agrees to help with the case but tells the two men to keep everything a secret.
Steve wanders through some brush and comes across a fisherman by a creek and kills him. Steve then tosses the head of the fisherman into the water.
Meanwhile, Ted is at home when he gets a call from General Perry telling him that he is going to his house. Ted tells his pregnant wife, Judy, that Steve escaped from the hospital.
Two boys and a girl go playing by the creek. The boys decide to have the girl search for them in a game of hide and seek. As she looks for the boys she sees the Melting Man and runs home screaming. The boys laugh at her while she starts trying to tell her mother all about what she saw. The girl’s mother doesn’t believe her.
Ted searches the forests for Steve, the Melting Man, with his Geiger counter as every bit of slime found is highly radioactive. Ted, hot on the trail of Steve, finds his melted off ear on a tree branch.
In an unrelated scene, a man is photographing a female model outdoors. The camera man starts harassing the model and asks her to take her top off. As she moves away from him, she backs into the hand of the decapitated fisherman from earlier.
Ted picks up General Perry at the airport. As they’re driving along a road they spot an ambulance and decide to investigate. Sheriff Neil Blake is on the scene as Ted investigates and sees the body of the dead fisherman. Ted tells the sheriff that it seems to be a bear attack. The sheriff doesn’t believe him.
Ted invites General Perry over for dinner and Judy tells Ted that she expects her mother, Helen, and her mother’s boyfriend, Harold, over for dinner too.
Meanwhile, Judy’s mother, Helen, and her boyfriend, Harold, are driving late at night on their way to the house, but stop to steal lemons from an orchard. They get frightened by a dog and retreat back to their car. Unfortunately, Steve is hidden inside the car and attacks them and kills them.
Judy starts to get frantic since Helen and Harold haven’t shown up and Steve is still missing. General Perry overhears the argument with Ted and reprimands Ted for telling his wife about this top secret investigation.
Ted and the general leave Judy alone at home. Steve approaches Ted’s house and sees Judy through a window. Judy hears glass shatter in the kitchen, but it’s only their cat who knocked over a bottle of milk. Ted returns home to comfort a nervous Judy.
During a night drive the sheriff comes across the bloodied car of Helen and Harold. The sheriff calls Ted since he thinks Ted knows more than he’s admitting to.
Ted gets the phone call and tells his wife that her mother and Harold were in an accident. Ted decides to give her a sedative and leave her in the care of General Perry as he goes to meet up with the Sheriff.
Several shots are shown of Steve outside of Ted’s house, watching it.
Ted meets up with the Sheriff who demands answers. Ted tells him that it’s top secret and he can’t divulge more info unless he swears not to tell anyone.
While at Ted’s house, General Perry decides to stay and eat some food. As he patrols the house he is surprised by Steve after opening a door. Steve attacks Perry and kills him. Steve flees the scene just as Ted and the sheriff arrive at the house.
They both discover Perry’s body and Ted runs into the house to check on Judy, but she is fine.
A married couple named Matt and Nell Winters arrive home. Matt sees goo on the doorknob of their house and decides to investigate alone as Nell waits outside. After a moment Nell enters the house and finds the fridge open and food spilled everywhere. She sees Steve and runs into the kitchen, barricading herself inside. Steve breaks open a window, grasping for her and she cuts his arm off with a meat cleaver. Steve runs away, missing an arm.
The Sheriff gets a call about Nell Winters being attacked and head over with Ted. The duo then follow Steve’s trail to a power plant.
Ted and Sheriff Blake chase Steve around the power plant, until the Sheriff corners Steve and attempts to kill him with a shotgun. He shoots Steve twice, but the bullets only manage to anger Steve and he tosses the Sheriff over a railing, causing him to fall onto powerlines, killing him.
Ted attempts to talk to Steve, but is pushed over a railing. Ted hangs onto a beam while calling out to Steve for help. Steve gradually pulls Ted back onto the stairs.
Two security guards arrive with guns drawn and Ted pleads with them not to shoot Steve. The guards shoot Ted, which angers Steve. Steve attacks and kills both guards.
In the aftermath, Steve wanders the power plant as he continues to melt. He eventually rests against a wall and sits down outside the plant. He melts quickly as the sun starts to rise.
In the morning a janitor comes to work at the plant and starts to clean up the remaining puddle of what was once Steve, the melting man.
Review:
This film is mostly a show piece for special effects make-up by Rick Baker which dominate ever scene where Steve, the melting man, is featured.
The dialogue in the film is very stiff and mundane. The acting by Burr DeBenning as Ted Nelson is particularly wooden and boring. He seems uninterested as he watches people die right in front of him.
There is a lot of padding in the film as it stumbles to each scene. Most shots lingering on the boring characters rather than any action taking place. Entire scenes of the melting man meandering around are only highlighted by the interesting gore effects.
There is no real moral here and only a light sprinkling of what passes for humor in this tale. It is a flawed but somewhat interesting film if only for fans of movie effects makeup. Anyone else would find the film tedious at times.