Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Leofwine_draca What happened to Tobe Hooper? The genius that fuelled such genre classics as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Poltergeist is in short supply in the likes of this and Crocodile. This is a poor man's Firestarter, although plotted with an interesting premise: a baby conceived during nuclear testing literally becomes the 'Atomic Man'. Unfortunately, the film is let down by an over-wordy script that goes nowhere for much of the movie, and too much directing in the dark, and low-budget camera-work which really doesn't help. The latter half of the film serves only as a showcase for lots of fiery special effects, which are admittedly decent; shots of Dourif with fire blasting from his body are good value for money, and the scenes of human torches are also great stuff – over the top (especially in the case of a cameoing John Landis) but still fun. Sadly, things get a little TOO unwieldy come the movie's cheesy climax, which resorts to computer-generated effects work which just doesn't cut it in this day and age, although the sight of burned and burning bodies does pack a disturbing punch every now and then.Brad Dourif, that reliable character actor, is definitely the best thing in this movie, and his crazed 40-year old college student dominates the screen from one moment to the next. When Dourif starts getting toasty towards the movie's climax, his acting goes way over the top, and he single-handedly provides most of the movie's entertainment. The supporting cast is fairly undistinguished, with Jon Cypher's vanilla bad guy and Cynthia Bain's boring heroine becoming quickly forgettable. SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION is an adequate horror film that may pass the time for undemanding viewers.

Scarecrow-88 Bizarre Tobe Hooper exercise regarding an unfortunate young man(Brad Dourif)with the ability to set people on fire. This ability stems from parents who partook in atomic experiments in the 50's. They die of Spontaneous Human Combustion and it seems that what Sam is beginning to suffer from derives by these pills his girlfriend, Lisa(Cynthia Bain)gives him to take for rough migraines. In actuality, Lisa was told to manipulate Sam into taking the pills by Lew Orlander(William Prince), pretty much the young man's father who raised him from a child. Lew has benevolent plans..he sees Sam as the first "Atomic Man", a pure killing machine in human form. Sam never wanted this and will do whatever it takes to silence those responsible for his condition. As the film goes, Sam's blood is slowly growing toxic, green in color instead of red. It seems that water and other substances which often put out fire react right the opposite when Sam's uncontrollable outbursts of flame ignite. Come to find out, Lisa has Sam's condition whose parents also dies from SHC. Dr. Marsh(Jon Cypher), someone who Sam has known for quite some time as his physician, is to insert toxic green fluid into their bodies, I'm guessing to increase their levels of flame. Nina(Melinda Dillon, sporting an accent that fades in and out)was Sam's parents' friend and associate on the experiments in the 50's who tries to talk things over with him regarding what is happening. And, Rachel(Dey Young)is Sam's ex-wife who may be working against her former husband with Lew and Marsh to harm him and Lisa.Quite a strange little horror flick, filled with some pretty awful flame-effects. Dourif tries to bring a tragic element and intensity to his character whose plight we continue to watch as his body slowly becomes toxic waste with fire often igniting from his orifices. There's this large hole in his arm that spits out flame like a volcano and a massive burn spot on his hand which increases in size over time. Best scene is probably when director John Landis, who portrays a rude electrical engineer trying to inform Sam to hang up because the radio program he's calling has sounded off for the night, becomes a victim of SHC. The flick never quite works because it's so wildly uneven with an abrupt, ridiculous finale where Sam offers to free Lisa of her fire by taking it from her.

Paul-b-1 Another of my delves into the bargain bin, this movie gave me exactly what I expected - a load of trashy horror complete with screaming ladies.It all started so well - I liked the little intro with the "newsreel" about the young couple being exposed to a nuclear blast, and was totally absorbed right up until the first person caught fire...From then onwards the film descended into outright silliness, and at times became almost embarrassing to watch. When the heroine turned out to have been afflicted with the same condition as the main character (the ability to light one's own farts without the aid of a match) it seemed almost as if someone had thrown the idea in at the last moment ("that'll be good!" you can almost hear them say...) As for the almost psychic link between the main character and the nuclear power plant, well...The movie came across as cheap tat - if you pay more than £1.50 for it you've been done.

horrorfan81 Tobe Hooper brought us Salem's Lot The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in the seventies, they were good films but with this one he did something wrong, the main actor Brad Dourif ( the voice of Chucky in childs play) is a really good actor and Tobe's career must've been going down hill, John Landis had a small cameo roll which didn't help it, the special effect were poor, the plot of the story is the OK but some scenes could've been better with some explanation like Sam goes to his car and finds a parcel from someone and later we hear he was adopted under a new name. Tobe must've watched this film and saw it was bad and bounced back and made a few good films.