Body Melt is some of the best "melt horror" there is and adds another movie to my sick list of films with an onscreen child death.The plot is simple: a health spa sells a vitamin called "Vimuville" that makes random Australians melt. You gotta love the savant-like genius of melt horror.
What is melt horror, you ask? Its sort of a nanogenre; derivative of the horror subgenre known as "splatstick." The term splatstick (coined by Peter Jackson) refers to a horror film where gore is played for laughs (e.g. Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn & Dead Alive).
From the Peter Jackson Bio on the DVD for Bad Taste:
Jackson never takes his gore very seriously, calling films like BAD TASTE and its follow-ups, MEET THE FEEBLES (1989) and DEAD ALIVE (1992), "splatstick" or "splatoons."
According to the Wikipedia, Body Melt was inspired by these early Peter Jackson gems that you'll either love or hate. Read more about the Body Melt at badmovies.org.Melt horror movies are like slasher flicks; but the stalker is replaced with a substance that; when imbibed, results in a hilarious, horrible, and sloppy death. In a slasher film, you can't wait until someone gets stabbed. In melt horror, you'll be hoping that a character decides to have a taste of some mysterious substance.
Arguably, the masterpiece of all melt horror is Street Trash. Check it: a liquor store owner uncovers a crate of "Viper" in his cellar and sells it to the homeless for a bargain price. Little do they know it only takes one swig of this purple drank become a pile of flesh.Most melt horror films look as low budget as they are; but Street Trash rises above the rest with direction by Jim Muro. There are some interesting camera movements that are indicative of the steadicam ability Muro later presents in a slew of other films.
You're either a click away from piling your Netflix cue with these films or you're still skeptical of what melt horror has to offer.
I leave you with this: the best melt scene in the history of cinema.
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