The Incredible Melting Man (1977)

Sometime in 1977, I remember watching a special on TV about the movies coming out later in the year. I don’t remember any mention of a movie called Star Wars, but I do remember a preview for The Incredible Melting Man. It had special make-up effects by Rick Baker, who had worked on 1976’s King Kong remake. That was all my nine-year-old ears needed to hear. I couldn’t wait to see it. Sadly, I never saw The Incredible Melting Man in theaters. It wasn’t until 44 years later that I finally got a chance to see it. I wish I could say it was worth the wait. Unfortunately, I can’t.

Written and directed by William Sachs, The Incredible Melting Man concerns itself with the story of Steve West (Alex Rebar), an astronaut who traveled to the rings of Saturn. While there, he and his fellow astronauts were exposed to cosmic radiation. (Which is depicted in the film by grainy, public domain stock footage of solar flares.) Somehow, West returns to Earth as the sole survivor of the Scorpio Five crew.

Wrapped in gauze, Steve wakes up in the hospital and finds himself strapped into his bed. His skin is melting from his body. When he sees his disfigured self in a mirror, he discovers a new-found strength and is possessed by rage. Steve escapes from the hospital and kills a nurse in the process. He doesn’t just murder her; he gnaws off half of her face. Now, Dr. Ted Nelson (Burr DeBenning) and an Air Force general (Myron Healey) frantically search for him before he can kill again. They want to figure out what’s causing him to melt and his sudden appetite for human flesh.

The original version of the film — as envisioned by Sachs — was to be a parody of 1950s atomic age horror movies entitled The Ghoul from Outer Space. But producers Max Rosenberg and Samuel Gelfman wanted to capitalize on the popularity of serious horror movies. They shot new scenes and re-cut the movie without Sachs’ knowledge or permission. The result is an unintentionally funny and sloppily put together creature feature.

Rick Baker’s makeup effects are the standout achievement in this otherwise shoddy production. As excellent as they are, they are the cause of some unintentional humor. As Steve melts, he leaves pieces of himself wherever he travels. In one scene, the doctor discovers what looks like pepperoni pizza hanging on a tree. He exclaims, “Oh, God, it’s his ear.” In another scene, Dr. Nelson finds fleshy puddles on the ground but only confirms they’re from Steve after using a Geiger counter. Who else would leave that kind of residue behind?

The script also does its part in making even the most innocuous scenes funny. During one exchange, the Dr. Nelson tells his wife that Steve has escaped from the hospital. She’s understandably concerned because Steve is a family friend. But the doctor seems much more worried about whether she’d bought crackers for the soup he’s eating for lunch. “I told you yesterday that we needed some crackers,” he exclaims.

In the attempt to make a serious horror movie out of a parody, all manner of incongruous tonal shifts occur. While Steve murders people and is the undeniable villain of the film, some scenes are genuinely sympathetic towards him. Perhaps, in Sachs’ original version, there would have been a more coherent structure.

As it stands, though, The Incredible Melting Man is an entertainingly bad movie with excellent makeup effects. Rick Baker went on to win an Academy Award for his work in An American Werewolf in London. William Sachs went on to direct the intentionally campy — but less fun — Galaxina with Dorothy Stratten.