The Incredible Melting Man. by Phil Smith

As he hides in the nearby woodland, he watches as his body is slowly melts away. Not wanting the detrimental public exposure to blow up around this critical situation.īut time is not only running out for the General, but for Steve West himself. The General is adamant in keeping the situation under wraps. The longer they take in locating and capturing the infected astronaut, the more chance he has at killing and infecting those around the facility. Furthermore, the highly contagious element that is dissolving his flesh is driving him to kill and consume the flesh of his victims. Hour by hour, the astronaut’s flesh is gradually decomposing. After examining specimens of the escaped astronaut’s blood and cells which were left behind during his savage escape on the nurse, it becomes clear that something alien has gotten into the cell structure of Steve West and is gradually breaking down his body. Perry calls up the aid of West’s closest friend, Dr Theodore Nelson, who together with the very capable Dick Loring, will help in bringing in the escaped lunatic.īut the situation is far worse than they first feared. General Perry is desperate to get Steve West back into quarantined custody before he can kill or infect anyone else with whatever it is that has seemingly taken over his body and mind.

The hunt is now on for the capture of the escaped astronaut. The brutally savaged corpse of West’s first victim, a nurse who shows signs of having flesh bitten off as well as having been remorselessly beaten to death, is soon found on the premises.

And it’s not long before the astronaut is out of his room and viciously killing his first unsuspecting victim. Something horrific that had killed two of the astronauts and left just Steve West as the sole survivor of the expedition.Īfter landing back on Earth, West is quickly swept off into quarantine at the nearby hospital. Three astronauts had travelled to Mars in Prometheus One, and were now finally returning from their extraordinary trip. It was a magnificent achievement for mankind. The screenplay drew heavily from the likes of Robert Day’s movie ‘The First Man Into Space’ (1959) as well as Irvin S Yeaworth Jnr’s ‘The Blob’ (1958). First published back in 1978, 70’s pulp author Phil Smith’s novelisation ‘The Incredible Melting Man’ was a paperback adaptation of William Sachs’ wacky screenplay from the 1977 B-Movie of the same title.

The Incredible Melting Man. by Phil Smith