Here's a tip for wannabe filmmakers and producers: if you shoot a film as a comedy, don't change your mind in the middle of shooting and make the rest of the footage serious. You should NEVER genre-swap in post-production, either. Such was the case in William Sachs' The Incredible Melting Man, a film about an astronaut who is horribly disfigured by a blast of radiation while exploring Saturn. Somehow, he gets back to Earth in one piece. However, while in a hospital, he literally begins to melt into an unholy abomination of liquid flesh and guts. And, of course, this somehow makes him stronger. It also has the unpleasant side-effect of making him a homicidal maniac. If this all sounds implausible and stupid, it's because it was supposed to seem that way. The Incredible Melting Man was originally supposed to be a parody of horror films. However, mid-way through production the producers decided that it would be more profitable to cut the comedy and make it a traditional horror film. This explains the horrendous plot holes, uneven characterizations, and the over-the-top special effects. However, even if Sachs had gotten his way and made a horror parody, the resulting film would have probably still been terrible. The man couldn't light a scene to save his life. Numerous shots are swallowed by opaque darkness in all of the wrong places. Even the serious moments have bad acting. What happened to The Incredible Melting Man is a shame. But I have a feeling that either way the film was destined for IMDB's Bottom 100 list.
3/10
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