Blu-Ray Review: The Incredible Melting Man

By Brad Henderson

The Incredible Melting Man is one of the most recent releases from Scream Factory and this viewing was actually a first for me. If I had watched it as a child, I’m guessing I would have had a different feeling about this . . . movie? The story is basic: An astronaut is exposed with radiation, and then he begins to melt and kill. He shows some emotion but then it ends. Boom.

The one thing that really knocks my dick in the dirt is that Scream Factory still does not forgo quality with even their most sub-par releases (I apologize for those who take offense to that). The special effects by Rick Baker are exceptional. Even working with the low budget and goofiness, they are impressive. There are two jaw dropping scenes in this flick: the splattering head and the electrocution, and both of those look freaking brilliant. The sound is great as usual, but there aren’t a whole bunch of things going on in the film to recognize anything special. Like I said, sub-par.

There are basic extras on this disc but nothing to write home about. There are two small interviews with the director and an interesting one with Rick Baker about doing the effects for The Incredible Melting Man.

This film isn’t terrible, but it isn’t good either. It is one of those films that it has that “so bad, it’s good” quality, but it doesn’t reach that awesomely bad scale. Almost every line of delivered dialogue is laughable, and you do laugh. The lemon-picking scene with the old people is probably the highlight of the film for me because it seems that they let the actors just do whatever they pleased.

I’m sure there are people that fondly remember this film from the drive-in, perhaps with a little nostalgia; other releases from Scream Factory do that for me. Most Scream releases are kind of pricey, but they deliver big time. This release is actually pretty cheap, and the people at Scream Factory know the audience is limited. So what do they do? Make it cheap. So go buy this flick, watch it, and tell me what you think.

The Incredible Melting Man was released on Blu-Ray by Scream Factory on July 30.