Oozing Empathy: The Incredible Melting Man (1977)
When it comes to displays of courage in the workplace, I would venture, dear readers, that astronauts have more than ample opportunities to demonstrate their mettle. Anyone who seeks to have nothing but a thin barrier between them and the yawning cosmic void has to be psychologically steeled against the worst possible scenarios. They must accept the multitude of grim possibilities that accompany space travel and must resign themselves to the potential for an undesirable outcome. Nevertheless, I think we can all agree that being transformed into a slowly dissolving maniac should not be one those outcomes.
A medical professional expressing her lack of familiarity with Steve's condition
The Incredible Melting Man unhesitantly plunges us right into the violent rage of Steve West (Alex Rebar), an astronaut whose contact with radiation near the rings of Saturn has turned him into a man who is melting in a fashion that could best be described as incredible. Initially, the film has no time to tarry and crams in the necessary exposition along the way but gist of it is this -- radiation has jostled Steve’s mind into a homicidal rage while slowly reducing his body to a pile of wet refuse. He begins the film with a visage so distorted that it sends a medical professional sprinting through a plate glass panel that hardly slows her down. His appearance does not improve.
In fact, from the very outset it seems nothing can be done to reverse this process and the best anyone can hope to do is capture Steve and keep the body count to respectably low numbers. His friend Dr. Theodore “Ted” Nelson (Burr DeBenning) putters around the countryside with a geiger counter, following a trail of discarded flesh and beseeching his friend from afar to regain his senses. Meanwhile, the audience is treated to a healthy variety of witnesses and victims, including a fishermen, a mother and daughter duo, elderly motorists and a photographer’s model who refuses to take off her top, ironically portrayed by an actress who has agreed take off her top.
A reflection that might make anyone a little murderous
The film takes a deeply sympathetic position towards Steve and its pace reflects his plight marvelously, empathetically oozing at about the speed of his disintegration. Some great lengths are taken to extend the film to its slender runtime. Flashbacks and stock footage are generously deployed, dialogue is reused and the journey of a victim’s severed head down a river is turned into a two-part mini-saga. In addition to being a mirror of Steve’s condition, the languid approach leaves one ample time to admire the work of the film’s true star, special effects artist Rick Baker. The sickly sheen of Steve’s face and his ultimate transformation into a pile of soggy detritus are a joy to behold.
The continued mention of Steve being “stronger than the others” suggests that all this has happened before and it seems a trifle insensitive of NASA to keep sending astronauts to Saturn when they know they will likely end up with another melting murderer. But as the janitorial conclusion suggests, the world at large is not quite as empathetic as the film itself.
The Incredible Melting Man runs 84 minutes and is rated R.
