10 Horror Movie Characters Who Went Through Hell (Then Died Anyway)

Okay, now this one was supposed to be a comedic parody of horror movies which ended up being re-edited into a dead straight example of the genre, so it’s no surprise that it turned out more than a little silly.

But the title sort of gives the game away on this one. 1977’s sci-fi horror The Incredible Melting Man follows the tale of an astronaut who returns home from a mission in outer space and seems strangely changed by his experience. It’s not clear what’s gone wrong at first, but soon our leading man… Well, he melts - throughout the film’s runtime - until eventually he’s swept up by maintenance men and thrown in a bin.

The end.

If this sounds like a surreal and depressing slog, it’s because the film’s self-spoofing tone was cut out by the editors at the behest of the studio. The result was a disappointed director, some amazing wasted effects work, and a bizarre and bleak movie which essentially just put a poor character through the wringer for nothing.

Well, not quite nothing. They got a great MST3K episode out of it.