The Melting Man: A Short Story

The Incredible Melting Man is a American science fiction horror film directed and written .. First Man into Space, a horror film with the same premise; "I Am the Doorway", a short story by Stephen King with a similar concept .
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Three astronauts had returned safely from the Mars landing. Two were dead and Steve West was on the run. On the run from the quarantine hospital which had been treating him Steve West, the "jelly" in question, brutally destroys a nurse and flees the hospital so that he can turn to sludge in peace. Since his exposure to whatever radiation it was that has poisoned his cells, he's developed a taste for human flesh and blood unfortunate for him but very rewarding for us and roams the woods killing people and leaving pools of mucous everywhere.

Naturally, General Parry over at Houston doesn't want a word of this to come out as "Nothing must interfere with the next phase of the programme", so Dr. Nelson is ordered to find his friend and return him to the Hospital without anybody finding out that the psycho-killer is not only a blob of slime but This probably isn't half the novel something like Snowman is but so far I'm enjoying it more. Work that one out. Here's the review I wrote: Movie tie-ins tend to be mixed in terms of quality: Smith utilises more of a science fictional approach than a horror one, and in dealing with the technicalities of the space flight and alien virus, his writing is clear and interesting and never monotonous.

However, the emotional level of this book is zero. The characters are cardboard cut-outs, either waiting to be eaten or just going through the motions. Even the larger supports who die violently are uninteresting, their deaths meaningless. The ironic exception is the lead, Steve, eaten by a virus from Mars, whose internal reflections provide more of a character to him than the dialogue of the speaking characters does to them.

The horror is repetitive, with the deaths regular and non-atmospheric, but the gore flows freely and there are plenty of nasty moments for grue-fans to savour. My favourite moments are in the spaceship on Mars, where the crew are attacked by the sentient slime; truly eerie in places and quite chilling. Otherwise this seems to be a run-of-the-mill thriller.

A Man Melting by Craig Cliff - Penguin Books Australia

And, for the sake of completeness, here's a review of the film as well. 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.

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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! I have the copy Dem has. The back cover suggests the usual gubbins about a deep buried secret waiting to pulse through the EKO6 computer.

I'm betting it's one of those large funky machines from the 's with spools the size of bicycle wheels. As you can tell I've not read it yet!

The melting man melting was tragic - certainly not an aspect you'd want if you were invading Earth. I have the crappy Vipco dvd and would upgrade this vital nostalgia hit. The original with the cover painting is great but the tie-in is the must-have, IMO. Now I've read a number of these books, the "cardboard cut-out characters" are no longer a problem to me.

If I read something like Sharman's The Cats again these days, my review would be far more positive because I've stopped expecting to feel anything about the monster-fodder. Having said that, I like that Smith puts several minor characters in the way of the melting one - the lemon-scrumping, lovey-dovey old timers, the irritating little girl, the sleazy photographer who turns nasty with the young woman who doesn't want to take her top off, the obligatory wino's around the campfire, etc. Even the flashbacks to the trio's adventures on Mars and aboard the ship - the kind of material I normally run a mile from - has kept my interest.

And I've still got twenty pages of this delicious garbage to go! Once you get passed that - it's quite acceptable. Verges on the saucy too - heck scratch that there is one sleazy bit where our hero is tied to a woman by leather straps and electrodes added and hosed with some medicinal liquid - I'm not joking! A bizarre book indeed. I remember sitting in the cinema, jaw hanging open in disbelief, watching the caretaker grab his broom and cross the screen, grumbling all the time under his breath as he sweeps the remains of the melting man into a dustpan.

One of the few really enjoyable trashy films; the makers judged the balance of gore and humour perfectly.

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I think it's been shown on ITV in the past couple of years. He leaves us having set everything up perfectly for a sequel - and IMO The Incredible Melting Man justifies one - but sadly, it just wasn't to be. Astronaut Stephen West Alex Rebar is the sole survivor of a disastrous space mission. Rushed to hospital with severe radiation burns, he finds his flesh beginning to melt because of a strange, extra-terrestrial contamination.

When he escapes from his doctors' care, he sets in motion a series of macabre killings and creates a reign of terror - because the only way he can survive is Suspense and terror are the ingredients of this spine-chiller. Don't watch it alone! As has been mentioned, Strong only strays from the script on a couple of occasions, substituting Mars for the Sun as the rocket's destination and dispensing altogether with the never to be forgotten ending where the pile of gloop that once was astronaut Stephen West is scraped up and dumped in a garbage can by a hobbling janitor.

Turns out that this feted finale isn't the only marvellous moment either. There's also the severed head bobbing hilariously downstream and over the waterfall: And, of course, Dr. Nelson's discovery of a chunk of his festering friend - "My God!


  • Look For The Hook - A Guide To Finding Happiness, Purpose and Fulfillment, One Baby Step At A Time.
  • Phil Smith - Incredible Melting Man;
  • The Melting Snowflake Part-2.
  • the short review: A Man Melting by Craig Cliff.
  • Eclipse of The Sun (Children of the Last Days).

Thanks so much for this, Graham! Your write-up brought back a lot of very happy memories! Loved what you had to say, although I had to scratch my head and wonder who this 'Strong' chap is you talk about - just kidding The only other movie moment I recall is the arm-severing moment in which IMM's hand is still wriggling next to the girl's foot.


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    4. Still can't decide on which gloriously grisly effect is better - the melting guy in this film, or the effect at the end of de Palma's THE FURY, which is superb. On a final, closing note, I've just gone back and compared the two covers after all this business. Sorry, going a little off-track I mean, every close-up of Steve West and the gooey flesh is dripping from his face at the rate of a litre a minute: Surely he'd have been reduced to a skull on a pole before he'd even got out of the hospital? Another great bit was when the bandage got stuck up his nose.

    I knew I was in for a masterpiece from that moment!

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    I recently picked up a very battered copy of Phil Smith's novel with gloop cover at the hospital bookstall which reminded me that I'd picked up the Vipco DVD in a chariddy shop a while back - the lady at the till reading the title aghast and then glaring at me and asking if I was 18 before dissolving into helpless laughter. Additional Blu-ray options Edition Discs Price. Blu-ray Jul 30, "Please retry". Add all three to Cart Add all three to List.

    Buy the selected items together This item: Sponsored products related to this item What's this? Page 1 of 1 Start over Page 1 of 1. Here We Go Again [Blu-ray]. One Six Right [Blu-ray]. Customers who viewed this item also viewed. The Winged Serpent [Blu-ray]. The Vampire Lovers [Blu-ray]. It's Alive Trilogy [Blu-ray]. Product Description Colonel Steve West has just returned from an incredible history-making flight to Saturn when he is hospitalized with an ailment that baffles the entire medical community.

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    The Incredible Melting Man. Film Review

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    You'll laugh so hard that you'll cry. I seriously doubt that director William Sachs HITZ - had this in mind when he was making this so-bad-it's-good horror film whose only redeeming values are the gruesome effects by Rick Baker. Unfortunately he is slowly melting and needs human blood and skin to stay alive. He tears off half the face of the attending nurse while escaping into the woods. He then tears the head off a fisherman we see his head floating down the river, eventually dropping down a waterfall and splitting wide open in slow motion.

    Ted Nelson Burr DeBenning , an old friend of Steve's, is sent out to look for him with a geiger counter since Steve is, of course, radioactive , all on the hush-hush since the Government doesn't want to scare the populace. Ted walks around the woods yelling: I've come to help you! I guess Steve couldn't hear him! A bunch of smoking youngsters and a horny elderly couple are the next to run into Steve.

    Fortunately, the kids escape Steve but the elderly couple are not so lucky. There's also a rather nasty electrocution. It's one of their best episodes that has yet to reach the market. The best part has to be Ted yelling at two security guards: As if being Ted Nelson meant anything! I had a great time just watching the film straight as Steve begins to decompose until he is nothing but a pile of multi-colored goo that is swept up by a janitor. American International was hoping to have a new franchise on their hands with this one, advertising it as "The First New Horror Creature".

    After watching it, the executives must have had a heart attack. Hey, I love bad horror films. They fill a badly-needed void in a horror fan's soul. This is the one to get if you want to watch the film in all its original aspect, unedited glory. Steve must consume human flesh to slow down the degeneration. As his mind degenerates too, West escapes the hospital and begins to chow down on the locals while he is pursued by friend Dr. Can he be stopped? Can the process be reversed? Who will be his next meal? There are a lot of scenes of West roaming around the countryside with the last moments of the mission playing over and over in his head while Dr.

    Nelson follows his trail with his handy geiger counter. Most of the attacks are off camera thought there are plentiful shots of the gory carnage and one great shot of a dismembered head going over a waterfall and smashing on the rocks below. Aside from the gore and melting FX, which were done by the now legendary RIck Baker, there is plenty of hilariously bad dialog and unintentional laugh inducing situations.

    Sachs claims he wanted something more campy and fun like the sci-fi flicks of the 50s, while the producers wanted a more serious horror flick and these artistic differences give the movie an unbalanced mix of serious moments and much lighter moments. So they are entertaining but, not for the right reasons. The acting is just as bad as the before mentioned dialog and the inept cast stumbling around finding body parts both of the victims and the Melting Man, produce far more laughs then chills. The added nostalgia of this late 70s flick only makes it even more fun.

    Thankfully Melting Man is now available on a gorgeous extra filled blu-ray from the folks at Scream Factory!