10 Goopiest Horror Melts

Goop, there it is.
Goopy

This article is part of our ongoing series, 31 Days of Horror Lists.


Goopy melts are a staple of the horror genre. You just love to see them. They’re almost always done via practical effects and even the noobiest of noobs can tell you the fastest way to a horror fan’s cold, dark heart is with practical effects. There’s also something quite cathartic about seeing things melt into disgusting heaps of sludge.

That being said, The Boo Crew is hard to impress. We won’t just bow down to any old melt. We want the goopiest and the gooiest. So we put our heads together and came up with a few tests. We gathered the melted substances, sent them off to the lab, and patiently waited for the results. It was with those results we determined that the following ten films are the goopiest, gooiest, gookiest, gloppiest, gunkiest yet. Let the melting commence!

Our 31 Days of Horror Lists continues with a look at the goopiest melts put to celluloid. Read on to see the ten film’s that made the cut, as decided by the Boo Crew — Anna Swanson, Valerie Ettenhofer, Kieran Fisher, Brad Gullickson, Rob Hunter, Meg Shields, Jacob Trussell, and myself.

10. The Evil Dead (1981)

What do you get when you combine oatmeal, marshmallow, and cockroaches? If you’re The Evil Dead’s special effects artist, Tom Sullivan, the answer is a gloriously goopy melting corpse. The sequence is a slimy cornerstone of the film’s notoriety and a not so friendly reminder that when you mess with the dead, the dead mess back. Sam Raimi’s film is a testament to practical effects and the whole movie is practically oozing and dripping with goo, puss, and fake blood. But this melting scene, in particular, takes the goopy, gnarly crown and it’s well deserved. (Anna Swanson)


9. The Fly II (1989)

Inarguably the melting moment in The Fly 2 is the best moment in The Fly 2. Now, this isn’t a slight on the sequel to Cronenberg’s splatterpiece, it’s just because the melt is so goddamn good that no amount of Eric Stoltz can match it. I mean, it’s so magnificently grody that it’s been immortalized alongside the melty Nazi’s in Raiders of the Lost Ark as goopy, spooky reaction gifs proliferating reddit comment sections. And while the effects are great, the melt is strengthed by the emotion behind it. You feel the pain of this guy, his throaty, deep breathed scream double underlining how literally having your face melted off is a fate worse than death. But goddamn if we can’t tear our eyes away. (Jacob Trussell)


8. The Incredible Melting Man (1977)

It’s in the name for gosh sakes! From everyone’s favorite spirit-gum wizard Rick Baker, The Incredible Melting Man is a disastrous sci-fi horror turkey about an astronaut transforming into a murderous pile of jello after a bad trip to space. It’s like a much more entertaining Lucy in the Sky with 150% more KY Jelly. So look, yes, The Incredible Melting Man is a “bad movie” and it “was on Mystery Science Theater 2000” but wow does this film have some GOOP and a final, pulsating melt that gives the “better” films on this list a run for their money. If you’ve got a stomach for so-bad-it’s-good shlock and have always wanted to see a person get slowly microwaved for an hour and a half, this is the film for you! (Meg Shields)


7. The Devil’s Rain (1975)

Look, when your brother is kidnapped and hypnotized by a goat-headed Ernest Borgnine for the purpose of a soul-sucking Satanic sacrifice, you gotta attack the beast where it hurts him the most — his ornate vase collection. After infiltrating the ceremony by sneaking a cloak off an eyeless acolyte, Tom Skerritt bumbles his way into a brawl with Borgnine’s cult. It’s all fists, feet, and fury until he nabs a jug called “The Devil’s Rain,” which contains the goat man’s precious collection of souls. Skerritt shatters it upon the ground, and a righteous storm erupts inside the temple. All the sinners melt in agony, mixing like a glorious soup of butterscotch Jell-O with a hint of lime. A minute later, and they’re still liquefying. Five minutes later and they’re still dripping away. Ten minutes later? Yeah, still melting! The movie is called The Devil’s Rain, and they’re going to deliver on that title, dammit! (Brad Gullickson)


6. Creepshow 2 (1987)

The blob-like creature in “The Raft” segment of Creepshow 2 looks rather cheap. When we first see it it just looks like some jerk-ass littered in the Granite Basin Lake and now the giant trash bag they left behind has floated to the surface. Once the trash bag creature attacks shit gets really cool. Faces begin to melt into goopy, oozy piles of slop. The kills come quick, but they’re sticky tar-like deaths that one can’t help but appreciate. Also, that douche Randy gets eaten after he makes it to shore and that’s a satisfying ending. (Chris Coffel)

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Chris Coffel: Chris Coffel is a contributor at Film School Rejects. He’s a connoisseur of Christmas horror, a Nic Cage fanatic, and bad at Rocket League. He can be found on Twitter here: @Chris_Coffel. (He/Him)