Just so...so bad

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

A young man finds out that his parents had been used in an atomic-weapons experiment shortly before he was born, and that the results have had some unexpected effects on him.So, following his passing in 2017, I figured it was time to go back through Tobe Hooper's career and watch the films of his I had previously missed. After all, this was a "master of horror". But the sad truth has been coming out... most of his work is just average."Spontaneous Combustion" is a good concept with a bad title, and lackluster execution. Shockingly, not even Brad Dourif can save this. Typically I find Dourif to be the cream of the crop for genre films, but he seems to always be going over the top in this film. Is this supposed to be because he is always running a fever or something? There is no reason for him to always be agitated.

I really wanted to love Spontaneous Combustion: I like the basic idea, Brad Dourif is a cool actor, Tobe Hooper is the legendary director responsible for my favourite horror film, and some of the flame effects are pretty intense (I repeat: 'some'). Hell, there's even a fun cameo from John Landis. The problem is that the film just doesn't make a lot of sense.Dourif plays Sam, a young man who discovers that the anti-radiation experiment which caused his parents to spontaneously combust in the 1950s is now responsible for some equally strange side effects in his own body. As Sam tries to prevent himself turning into a small pile of smouldering ash, he realises that his whole life has been a lie perpetrated by sinister industrialist Lew Orlander (William Prince).With some incomprehensible cobblers about an evangelist who preaches to Sam over the radio, a puzzling sub-plot involving a nuclear power station, a killer who inexplicably uses glowing green goop in a syringe to bump people off, and the never-adequately explained presence of a continually growing birthmark on Sam's hand, I lost the plot about half-way through and had to content myself with the occasionally impressive body burn stunts and a modicum of manky make-up effects.The first movie made by Hooper after his unsuccessful three film deal with Cannon, Spontaneous Combustion unsurprisingly didn't set the box-office on fire either, and the director's career has failed to reignite ever since.

Harshly rated as 4 out of 10 on IMDb, this sees Tobe Hooper going all Firestarter on our collective arses.Brad Dourif plays Sam, a man with an unusual birthmark on his hand. Seems the birthmark is the byproduct of his parents involvement in nuclear testing back in the fifties. Trouble is, the testing affected the parents, deceased, in a way they could not possibly have foreseen, and it's not long before Sam is spurting fire from every available orifice.Nonsensical in terms of plotting, this is nevertheless a highly enjoyable horror cum thriller with a healthy dose of pyrotechnics on show to keep you entertained. The actual fire effects are superb throughout, and it's hard to see how no-one was badly burned during filming so convincing are they on occasion. Dourif is his usual, intense self, which is fine by me as his is always a screen presence I enjoy, and overall this feels like a slightly overblown Stephen King style plot done with some verve.Worth a look, geeks.

Seriously, what is THIS? Hooper has made such classic films like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, then he made this god awful film, what happened? did he dip into the crack a little too much? This film is about some dude named Sam who has the ability to set things on fire,(Firestarter, anyone?) the acting was godawful, the plot was rubbish, and the special effects were extremely rubbish, they looked like something from the 70's. Van Damme should be pleased that Derailed is no longer the worst film ever, and what was with the ending? he started glowing blue, turned into a glowing blue blob, sucked out his girlfriends fire, and the film ended. WHAT WAS THAT? HUH? when the film ended I hoped the DVD would Spontaniously Combust to save me from my pain.STAY AWAY FROM THIS FILM.DON'T THINK, OBEY, you'll thank me later.