An astronaut (Alex Rebar) is transformed into a murderous gelatinous mass after returning from an ill-fated space voyage.
This film is apparently considered one of the worst movies ever made, even being featured in a documentary as one of the 50 worst of all time. While not to say it is exceptionally good, it is far from the worst and can actually be quite enjoyable if taken as a bad science fiction film -- get some popcorn or beer and this can be a treat.
Interestingly, although not really notable for anything at the time (besides being on the very tail end of space radiation films), we can now look back and see that it has Jonathan Demme in it, and special effects from seven-time Oscar winner Rick Baker. According to Baker, Rob Bottin was also an uncredited assistant on the picture, too.
On the Shout Factory release, the director tries to downplay the badness of the film by saying it was intended to be humorous. Rick Baker seems to understand better that it really did not have much of a chance even from the get-go, and he places much of the blame on the editing. Apparently the editor was replaced halfway through, so some sequences are cut better than others.
The best part of the movie (besides the effects) is a scene with two elderly people driving a short-cut through the woods. It goes on a bit long, but is the most entertaining. The worst part was the constant repeated space radio noises in the melting man's head. Director Sachs says originally they were not going to reveal that he was an astronaut until the end. Instead, they went the other way and we get constant reminders throughout the film from the opening shot and onward. Completely unnecessary.
This film is apparently considered one of the worst movies ever made, even being featured in a documentary as one of the 50 worst of all time. While not to say it is exceptionally good, it is far from the worst and can actually be quite enjoyable if taken as a bad science fiction film -- get some popcorn or beer and this can be a treat.
Interestingly, although not really notable for anything at the time (besides being on the very tail end of space radiation films), we can now look back and see that it has Jonathan Demme in it, and special effects from seven-time Oscar winner Rick Baker. According to Baker, Rob Bottin was also an uncredited assistant on the picture, too.
On the Shout Factory release, the director tries to downplay the badness of the film by saying it was intended to be humorous. Rick Baker seems to understand better that it really did not have much of a chance even from the get-go, and he places much of the blame on the editing. Apparently the editor was replaced halfway through, so some sequences are cut better than others.
The best part of the movie (besides the effects) is a scene with two elderly people driving a short-cut through the woods. It goes on a bit long, but is the most entertaining. The worst part was the constant repeated space radio noises in the melting man's head. Director Sachs says originally they were not going to reveal that he was an astronaut until the end. Instead, they went the other way and we get constant reminders throughout the film from the opening shot and onward. Completely unnecessary.