The Incredible Melting Man (film)

The Incredible Melting Man
Year	1977
Directed by	William Sachs
Produced by	Samuel W. Gelfman Max Rosenberg
Written by	William Sachs
Music by	Arlon Ober
Studio	American International Pictures
Cast	Alex Rebar Burr DeBenning Myron Healey Michael Alldredge
Run time	84 minutes

For the episode, see MST3K 704 - The Incredible Melting Man.

“	General, he was stronger than the others. That's why he lasted so long.	”
	- Dr. Ted Nelson

Plot

During a space flight to Saturn, three astronauts are exposed to a blast of radiation which kills two of them and seriously injures the third, Colonel Steve West. He is next shown unconscious in a hospital back on Earth, with bandages covering his face. His physician, Dr. Loring, cannot explain what is happening to West or how he survived the blast. After the doctor leaves, West awakens and is horrified to find the flesh on his face and hands melting away. Panicking, he attacks and kills a nurse, then flees the hospital.

Loring and Dr. Theodore "Ted" Nelson, a scientist and friend of West, discover that the nurse's corpse is emitting small amounts radiation. They deduce that West's body has become radioactive. Nelson believes West has gone insane, and concludes that West must consume human flesh in order to slow the melting. Nelson calls General Michael Perry, a United States Air Force officer familiar with West's accident, and the general agrees to help Nelson find him.

West attacks and kills a fisherman. He then encounters and frightens a little girl, but she escapes unharmed. Nelson tracks West by following his radiation trail with a geiger counter, but only finds West's detached ear stuck to a tree branch. General Perry meets Dr. Nelson, and they visit the place where the fisherman's body was found. Sheriff Neil Blake suspects that Nelson knows more about the details of the killing, but Nelson tells the sheriff nothing because Perry had earlier informed him that any information about West was classified.

Later that night, Nelson returns home to his pregnant wife Judy, who tells him that her mother Helen and Helen's boyfriend Harold are coming over for dinner. On their way, Helen and Harold are attacked by West in their car, and he kills them both.

When Blake finds the bodies, he calls Nelson, who comes out to identify them. After Blake angrily demands an explanation, Nelson reluctantly reveals West's condition. Nelson believes that West is somehow getting stronger the more his body decomposes.

Back at Nelson's house, West attacks and kills Perry, but Judy is not harmed. Nelson and Blake arrive just as West escapes. West then stumbles upon the home of a married couple. West kills the man and attacks his wife, but she repels him after chopping his arm off with a kitchen knife. Blake receives a call about the attack and takes Nelson with him to investigate. They follow West to a giant power plant, and then up several flights of outside stairways.

Blake tries to shoot West with a shotgun, but the blasts do not stop West. West throws the sheriff over the railing into power lines, killing him. West hits Nelson and knocks him over the railing, leaving the doctor hanging on the side. Nelson appeals to West, reminding him that they were friends, and West decides to pull Nelson to safety. Two armed security guards then arrive and, in a panic, fatally shoot Nelson as he tries to protect West. An infuriated West kills the security guards and stumbles away. After collapsing against the side of a building, he melts completely. The next morning, a janitor finds his gory remains and casually scoops them into a garbage can. The film ends with a radio news report about another astronaut team being sent to Saturn.

Cast

• Alex Rebar as Steve West (The Melting Man)
• Burr DeBenning as Dr. Ted Nelson
• Myron Healey as Gen. Perry
• Michael Alldredge as Sheriff Neil Blake
• Ann Sweeny as Judy Nelson
• Lisle Wilson as Dr. Loring

Notes

• This was reportedly one of Trace Beaulieu's least favorite movies on the show to date.
• The original design that makeup effects artist Rick Baker intended for The Melting Man was more elaborate than what was actually used in the film: Baker created four distinct stages for West's melting, so that it would be a more gradual process than what we actually saw in the movie. Instead, West goes straight into what Baker intended to be the final stage.
• The film was originally intended to be a parody of sci-fi B-movies, performed in a very straight-faced fashion so as to become a kind of black comedy. During production, the producers decided to attempt to re-shape the movie into an actual horror film by demanding new scenes be shot and integrated into the work that had already been done. For this reason, much of the dialog is purposefully awkward and out of tone with the rest of the movie and many scenes are played for laughs (the nurse being chased in the beginning, the scene with the elderly couple, the awkward "No crackers??", the infamous ending of the melted creature being shoveled into a garbage can, etc.).
• The role of Matt Winters, the man Steve kills after he kills General Perry and leaves Ted's house, is played by film director Jonathan Demme.

MST3K Connections

• Myron Healey also portrayed Mark Houston in The Unearthly.
• Cheryl Smith (model) also portrayed Kathy Farley in Laserblast.
• Executive producer Samuel Z. Arkoff was also executive producer for The Amazing Colossal Man, It Conquered the World, Earth vs the Spider, Teenage Cave Man, The Saga of the Viking Women and Their Voyage to the Waters of the Great Sea Serpent, War of the Colossal Beast, Gunslinger, Day the World Ended, Terror from the Year 5000, The She-Creature, and Squirm, as well as producer for Bride of the Monster, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, Reptilicus, The Time Travelers, The Land That Time Forgot, At the Earth's Core, and Circus of Horrors.
• Executive producer Max Rosenberg was also producer for The Deadly Bees, The Land That Time Forgot, and At the Earth's Core.
• Makeup artist Rick Baker also did makeup effects for Track of the Moon Beast and Squirm.
• Special effects technician Harry Woolman also did special effects for Hangar 18, The Slime People, Laserblast, and Agent for H.A.R.M..
• Stuntman Bruce Paul Barbour was stunt double for Lee Van Cleef in Master Ninja I and Master Ninja II and stunt driver in City Limits and Werewolf (in which he also portrayed a partygoer).
• Second unit cinematographer Henning Schellerup was also second unit director for Hangar 18.
• Script supervisor Sandy King was also script supervisor for Avalanche.

Critical Response

• Leonard Maltin wrote: "One-and-a-half stars ... Cheap, old-fashioned B horror film whose only saving grace is Rick Baker’s excellent makeup effects."