* BigLippedAlligatorMoment:
** There's a lot of these for a horror movie. Because it was originally intended as a straight-faced B-Movie parody that was reworked in the middle of production, there's a lot of scenes that are remnants of the original concept:
*** The scenes of Judy's mother (and her boyfriend) come almost out of nowhere and clash in tone with the rest of the film (it was an AnswerCut to Judy wondering where the couple were and why they were late, but ''still'').
*** There's also a scene early in the film where Ted Nelson and his wife argue interminably about crackers. Mike and the Bots are completely baffled, comparing it to the steak scene from ''Film/RagingBull''; they make it into a RunningGag.
*** And then there's the famous ending where Melty's remains are scooped up by a janitor while more astronauts are sent to their doom.
* DesignatedHero: Ted Nelson doesn't do a single heroic thing at all. Hell, the woman who cut off one of Melting Man's arms when he tries to kill her comes off as more heroic.
* FairForItsDay: Bad as this film is, it's quite progressive for a horror movie. Dr. Loring is the only black character with a speaking part in the film, and his role is pretty brief, but also has the distinction of being one of the only characters to survive. There's also the plus-size nurse who isn't reduced to being either a background character or comic-relief, scenes of unmarried elderly romance, and the character General Perry being a laid back guy compared to most movie generals in the horror genre.
* JustHereForGodzilla: The gore and BodyHorror, courtesy of famed makeup artist Creator/RickBaker, are commonly cited as the only reason the watch this film as they're one of the few ''good'' things to come out of it.
* {{Narm}}: Plenty; the nurse's slowed-down running scene near the beginning, or the fisherman's line, "Don't scare away the fishes."
** The elderly citrus thieves are completely bonkers.
** "DON'T SHOOT! I'M TED NELSON!" ''(blam!)''
** When Steve rips the bandages off his face and sees that its starting to melt, he goes berserk and starts trashing the hospital room... with a strip of bandage still sticking to his nose.
-->'''Mike:''' Uh Melt, you got a little something there.
** All of these are almost certainly artifacts from the original plan to make the film a spoof. There are ''tons'' of things left in the flick that could have very easily been played for laughs, only they weren't.
* NarmCharm: Helen and Harold, the elderly couple, are funny and adorable.
-->'''Helen:''' Oh, Haarrroooold!
* NauseaFuel: Pretty much the entire movie. You wouldn't have wanted to be the person who had to mop up the theaters where this was screened. The astronaut even leaves puddles of himself behind with every step!
** The Melting Man's death scene is particularly gruesome, though. ([[GallowsHumor But hilarious!]])
* {{Padding}}: Dear God, yes. The same "You've never seen anything til you've seen the Sun through the rings of Saturn!" transmission, and so on.
** See also the many, many shots of Judy Nelson knitting or sleeping.
* 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''.
* SpecialEffectsFailure: The Melting Man gets his arm cut off by a woman and, from that point on, spends the rest of the film with only one arm. However, there are a few scenes where you can tell that the actor just has his real arm tucked underneath his shirt.
* {{Squick}}: As you might expect.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The idea of a man exposed to outer space radiation and his physical appearance and overall sanity slowly deteriorating as a result ''could've'' made a good horror movie [[note]] Just change "exposed to outer space" with "teleportation experiment gone wrong" and you basically have ''Film/TheFly1986''. [[/note]] (and has [[Franchise/{{Quatermass}} in the past]], [[Film/FirstManIntoSpace several times in fact]]) if not for the shoddy writing, dull characterization, and loads of ArtisticLicense. By that same token, it could've made a good parody, as was originally intended, but [=MST3K=] films have shown us ([[Film/PodPeople on more]] [[Film/TheIncrediblyStrangeCreatures than one]] [[Film/MerlinsShopOfMysticalWonders occasion, in fact]]) that switching genres halfway through the filmmaking process leaves two halves of a movie that rarely form a coherent whole.
* TooBleakStoppedCaring: Because the film was written and begun as a parody of horror movies and then filmed straight, the formerly "funny" moments end up giving the whole production a nihilistic and hopeless tone. To wit, the DesignatedHero protagonist is a loser, the monster is a pathetic WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, the authorities are useless or at best incompetent, the violence and gore quotient is through the roof, and virtually everyone with a speaking part dies, including the hero. Then it ends with the villain melting and his remains scooped into a bucket. Certainly among the most unremittingly bleak movies to grace ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' (and yet is one of the ''funniest'' as a result).
* TookTheBadFilmSeriously: A non-acting example, but Creator/RickBaker clearly didn't slouch when it came to the special effects.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: As noted several times on this page, Creator/RickBaker's makeup effects. While not enough to save the movie, the Melting Man is very highly detailed and convincing, with perpetually dripping flesh, leaking fluids, and a visible skeleton allowing for him to look like an actual melting man. As such, the effects are widely agreed to be one of the film's few saving graces. It also helped to launch the careers of Creator/RobBottin and Greg Cannom as successful makeup effects artists.
* {{Wangst}}: Okay, we get it - more horror movies have a callous attitude towards death and that death itself is not something that should be taken lightly, but everyone in this film, especially Ted, wildly overreact to it.
-->'''Ted Nelson:''' OHHHHHHHHHHHH MYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY GOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!
----