The melt movie, a subcategory of body horror, is a specific flavor of genre film wherein the flesh melts, oozes, and dissolves into goo. These films are best viewed on an empty stomach. On that note, this week brings the release of Ryan Kruger‘s Street Trash, a spiritual sequel to the 1987 melt movie cult […]
The melt movie, a subcategory of body horror, is a specific flavor of genre film wherein the flesh melts, oozes, and dissolves into goo. These films are best viewed on an empty stomach.
On that note, this week brings the release of Ryan Kruger‘s Street Trash, a spiritual sequel to the 1987 melt movie cult classic that boasts no shortage of gruesome, practical effects-driven meltdowns. Flesh dissolves in vibrant but gooey fashion, inspiring this week’s streaming picks.
Brace your stomach for these five horror titles, all finding inventive new ways to explore this niche corner of body horror. As always, here’s where you can stream them this week.
Chuck Russell’s remake of the 1958 sci-fi horror film dials up the practical effects to eleven and delivers on the memorable, goopy horror moments. In keeping with tradition, the remake also recreates the iconic theater scene but makes it far more lethal and gorier. When the creature crashes on Earth, The Blob instills the notion that no one is safe by gruesomely devouring the Steve McQueen-like hero character in a surprising fake-out. Enter Meg Penny, one pissed-off cheerleader ready to save the day. It’s the Blob’s gruesome means of digesting its prey, painfully dissolving flesh while they’re still alive, that makes this one of the best melt movies available.
Body Melt – AMC+, Fandango at Home, Shudder, Tubi
Body Melt is an Australian horror-comedy that sees a community being used unknowingly as guinea pigs for a new dietary supplement. Too bad it causes rapid decomposition and excruciating death. It’s as over the top as it is goopy and as zany as it is ultra-gory. If you love Peter Jackson’s early splatter works, then you’ll love this one. It’s a comical and stomach-churning lampooning of the health fad craze that rose to prominence in the ’80s. Released just a year after Peter Jackson’s Braindead (Dead Alive), the splatstick influence is apparent.
The Devil’s Rain – AMC+, Pluto TV, the Roku Channel, Shout TV, Shudder, Tubi
Satanic priest Jonathan Corbis (Ernest Borgnine) was betrayed and burned alive. He cursed the family responsible, who stole a powerful Satanic tome from him, vowing to hunt down every single descendant and reclaim the book. While The Devil’s Rain may be light on plot, it boasts a loaded cast that includes William Shatner, Ida Lupino, Tom Skerritt, and John Travolta (in his first feature role). Satanist Anton LaVey served as the film’s technical advisor in addition to his small role as the High Priest of the Church of Satan. Most importantly, though, The Devil’s Rain is a melt movie that doesn’t skimp on the gnarly melts.
The Incredible Melting Man – Tubi
An astronaut resorts to murder and consuming flesh after extreme radiation exposure on a voyage to Saturn causes his flesh to melt. Writer/Director William Sachs draws heavily from Night of the Living Dead in tone and pacing, emphasizing pathos and morality over pulpy scares, which means this melt movie isn’t narratively as exciting as its setup suggests. It’s not the subdued and somewhat forgettable plot that makes this pick worth watching, though, but legendary SFX artist Rick Baker’s gruesome practical effects that put the “incredible” in the film’s title. The stages of melty decomposition offset the lackluster story.
Street Trash – NightFlight+, Tubi, SCREAMBOX (November 19)
Set in a Brooklyn junkyard with a cast of characters comprised mostly of homeless people, the film follows their wacky adventures made even wackier when a local liquor store owner starts selling them Tenafly Viper, 60-year-old hooch that’s gone bad and melts any drinker from the inside out. Testing the boundaries of humor and taste, Street Trash takes the gory practical effects of the decade further by making the blood dayglo colors, a vibrant signal not to take this splatter movie seriously. Watch the original Street Trash then check out Ryan Kruger’s spiritual sequel on Digital outlets beginning November 19. The original film also melts onto SCREAMBOX on November 19!
