History Trivia / TheIncredibleMeltingMan

* RealLifeRelative: the voice of Nora the police dispatcher, is provided by Rosemary Alexander (credited as Rosemary Lovell). Then future wife of Steve's voice actor Newell Alexander.

* WordOfGod: Originally Rob Bottin, when asked what the film's morale was, responded with "What morale?", but then gave the somewhat better answer of "[[SpoofAesop If you're melting, don't sit next to a garbage can.]]"

* FanNickname: Since ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'', Steve's earned the nickname "Melty".

* SameLanguageDub: Steve West himself. Played on camera by Alex Rebar, but re-dubbed by voice over artist and character actor Newell Alexander.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Originally was going to be a spoof of horror films, until the executives told the director to play it straight. He wasn't amused.
** Also, the special effects were originally planned (and prosthetics made) to show the eponymous melting man start off looking relatively normal, and slowly "melt" in stages. But the actor was very difficult to work with, and pretty much refused to deal with having the prosthetics changed, so they stuck with the same one throughout.
** Rob Bottin stated that he took a ''LOT'' of inspiration from this film for the special effects in ''Film/RoboCop1987''. Most notably seen in the part where a guy gets dunked in toxic waste, "melts", and gets hit (and exploded) by a car.

* SameLanguageDub: Steve West himself. Played on camera by one Alex Rebar, but re-dubbed by voice over artist Newell Alexander.

* ParodyRetcon: Inverted. The director has gone on record to say that he intended it from the start to be a parody of monster flicks (which considering its ridiculous premise and being made about 20 years after the heyday of such movies in the 1950s, isn't hard to believe -- even more so given that he went on to do a sci-fi comedy with 1980's ''Film/{{Galaxina}}''), but that the final product ''isn't'' one. It ended up being a hot mess thanks to ExecutiveMeddling, when the studio insisted that he play it all totally straight against his wishes.

* ParodyRetcon: Inverted. The director has gone on record to say that he intended it from the start to be a parody of monster flicks (which considering its ridiculous premise and being made about 20 years after the heyday of such movies in the 1950s, isn't hard to believe -- even more so given that he went on to do a sci-fi comedy with 1980's ''Galaxina''), but that the final product ''isn't'' one. It ended up being a hot mess thanks to ExecutiveMeddling, when the studio insisted that he play it all totally straight against his wishes.

* ScienceMarchesOn: The impossibility of any human ''landing'' on Saturn was established by the Voyager space probes just a few years after this film came out.

* RetroactiveRecognition: The actor playing the male half of the young couple who Steve murders after invading their house is Creator/JonathanDemme, future Academy Award-winning director of ''Film/{{Philadelphia}}'' and ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''.

** Rob Bottin stated that he took a ''LOT'' of inspiration from this film for the special effects in ''Film/RoboCop1987''. Most notably seen in the part where a guy gets dunked in toxic waste, "melts", and gets hit (and exploded) by a car.

* ParodyRetcon: Inverted. The director has gone on record to say that he intended it from the start to be a parody of monster flicks (which considering its ridiculous premise and being made about 20 years after the heyday of such movies in the 1950s, isn't hard to believe), but that the final product ''isn't'' one. It ended up being a hot mess thanks to ExecutiveMeddling, when the studio insisted that he play it all totally straight against his wishes.

** This was intended as a parody of horror films; the producers decided it would work better as a straight horror film and cut out many of the (intentionally) comedic scenes. The result was indeed hilarious, but not quite the way it was intended.

* ParodyRetcon: Inverted. The director has gone on record to say that he intended it from the start to be a parody of monster flicks (which considering its ridiculous premise and being made about 20 years after the heyday of such movies in the 1950s, isn't hard to believe), but that that the final product isn't one. It ended up being a hot mess thanks to ExecutiveMeddling, when the studio insisted that he play it all totally straight against his wishes.

** Rob Bottin stated that he took a ''LOT'' of inspiration from this film for the special effects in ''Film/RoboCop''. Most notably seen in the part where a guy gets dunked in toxic waste, "melts", and gets hit (and exploded) by a car.

** The man behind the special effects of Robocop stated that he took a LOT of inspiration from this film for special effects. Most notably seen in the part where a guy gets dunked in toxic waste, "melts", and gets hit by (and exploded) by a car.

* ExecutiveMeddling: This was intended as a parody of horror films; the producers decided it would work better as a straight horror film and cut out many of the (intentionally) comedic scenes. The result was indeed hilarious, but not quite the way it was intended.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally was going to be a spoof of horror films, until the executives told the director to play it straight. He wasn't amused.

** Also, the special effects were originally planned (and prosthetics made) to show the eponymous melting man start off looking relatively normal, and slowly "melt" in stages. But the actor was very difficult to work with, and pretty much refused to deal with having the prosthetics changed, so they stuck with the same one throughout.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Originally was going to be a spoof of horror films, until the executives told the director to play it straight. He wasn't amused.

* ParodyRetcon: Inverted. The director has gone on record to say that he intended it from the start to be a parody of monster flicks, but that that the final product isn't one. It ended up being a hot mess thanks to ExecutiveMeddling, when the studio insisted that he play it all totally straight against his wishes.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Jonathan Demme has a bit role.
** FanService courtesy of ExploitationFilm favorite Cheryl Smith.