Phil Smith, The Incredible Melting Man

The Incredible Melting Man by Phil Smith is actually a well written novel that keeps a good pace with reasonably well developed characterization. Only bad point is a very simplistic storyline that doesn't really get any more invovled than the picture on the front cover!!!

Synopsis:

' Three astronauts had returned safely from the Mars landing. Two were dead and Steve West was on the run.

On the run from the quarantine hospital which had been treating him'from the authorities who had to conceal his escape at all costs'from his friend Ted Nelson'and from the dreadful organism which had taken possession of his flesh, turning him into a fiendish nightmare but leaving his mind intact to cringe from the murderous horror he had become. '

First published back in 1978, the novel for ' The Incredible Melting Man ' was adapted from William Sachs ' s screenplay for the 1977 movie of the same title. The film draws heavily from both Robert Day ' s 1959 movie ' The First Man Into Space ' and Irvin S Yeaworth Jnr ' s 1958 sci-fi b-movie ' The Blob '.

Not exactly the most complex of plots, Phil Smith attempts to work from a film screenplay that relied heavily on the very talented Rick Baker ' s gut churning special effects and make-up.

With a simplistic and somewhat linear storyline to adapt, Smith takes on the job of thickening out the novel by developing the characterization to further extents than the movie managed to. With a mixture of over descriptive splatter and exaggerated dialogue, Smith brings a whole new life to this b-movie splatterfest.

With a mind constantly on the predicted and obvious audience this book will attract, Smith keeps up a solid pace throughout this short novel via injecting gore into its pages whenever and wherever possible.

With nothing more to expect from this tale than 159 pages of light hearted and not quite tongue-in-cheek science fiction horror, the reader will find this novel simply an enjoyable read, taking you back to the hay-day of b-movie classics.

Incredibly, the novel is actually well written, with a good (although simplistic) structure that keeps the pace well.

All in all, an enjoyable read that ' ll please the vast majority of splatter fans.