Spontaneous Combustion (1990) Reviews

• Tobe Hooper plays with fire.

  BA_Harrison2010-04-03

  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.

  More

• The temperature is boiling… a volcanic firestorm.

  lost-in-limbo2009-10-04

  Not as bad, as it's credited to being (Hooper's done far worse)… more so disappointing for me. Such an imaginative concept, which is never really tapped in to by Hooper with his economical direction and even less so in the smoky (excuse the pun) writing. It goes so sinister and over-the-top in a dead serious tone, becoming ridiculous and unfocused letting the whole pessimistic mystery / conspiracy-laced narrative being easily telegraphed to end on something completely abrupt. Because of that, the pacing goes on to be rather sluggish and Brad Dourif (cool to see him in a leading role) seems to struggle with an off-balanced performance, despite etching out a bemusedly quirky intensity to his off-colour character. Even though it's cheaply done, there's a competent technical attitude to it. However it doesn't seem to go anywhere out of the ordinary with its idea and wants to plaster in nasty jolts (which some do work) and strikingly steaming special effects (flames, flames everywhere) instead. Hooper does display some stylishly frenetic imagery (more so towards the latter end), and the camera-work is swiftly manoeuvred and the beaming score is titillating. The performances are bit all over the shop with the appearances of William Prince, Cynthia Bain, Dey Young, Jon Cypher and Melinda Dillon. Also Geroge Buck Flower and John Landis have small, but amusing cameos… especially Landis. Nothing surprises, but it's passably engaging.

  More

• The Last Great Tobe Hooper Film

  CMRKeyboadist2005-12-02

  Unlike most reviews of this movie that talk about how bad this movie is and how this was one of Tobe Hoopers worst films, all those reviews I completely disagree with. This is easily Hoopers last great film and a very well executed film at that. The story line is simple, Brad Dourif plays the role of Sam in the movie. He finds out that his parents were part of an experiment that had to do with the atomic bomb and that later would kill them. As an adult, Sam discovers he has a great power to control fire and electricity but with horrible results to his body after using them. This all lead to a very odd and some what anticlimactic ending. This is good because the movie plays very dramatically and at times can be almost depressing. Brad Dourif plays a very good role in this movie (Unlike what other reviewers say) and the rest of the cast does a good job also. The only downside of the movie is the special effects were mediocre and could have been better. But, this does not take away from the movie at all. Also, to set the record straight, the only similarity to this and "Firestarter" is the main character can control fire. Other than that, these are two completely different movies. So, if you have been disappointed in Tobe Hooper's work in the past 10 to 12 years and you have not seen this movie, I say buy it. This truly is a great movie. 9 stars

  More

• Poor film, but Brad Dourif is always worth a watch

  tomgillespie20022011-05-21

  Nevada desert, 1955. Peggy and Brian Bell, are being experimented on by the US Army to test the effects of exposure to atomic energy whilst testing a nuclear bomb. The test seems to go well, and the Bells are located in a picturesque suburbia. However, after giving birth to their son, the couple suddenly spontaneously combusted, a clear effect of the nuclear fallout. The baby boy survives them, and grows up to be Sam (Brad Dourif). So we flash forward to the present day, where Sam's freakish ability to combust becomes increasingly dangerous to both himself and others around him. In one scene (with a cameo from John Landis), Sam has called into a radio psychic DJ - who has now gone off the air - and gets through to the Landis' radio technician who refuses to pass him onto the DJ (Dr Persons - played by Joe Mays). This increases Sam's anger (which as we have seen previously, makes Sam burnier), and he projects fire through the phone (in a pseudo-telekinetic flash), which results in fire streaming from the knee-caps of poor Landis. Sam's main goal is to find out about his parents and to determine why these phenomena keep occurring. Tobe Hooper has not had it easy since the release of exceptionally brilliant debut The Texas Chain-Saw Massacre (1974). All of his subsequent films have either fallen foul of studio intervention (Death Trap (1977), The Funhouse (1981)), executive producer Steven Spielberg's ultimate overbearing on-set presence (Poltergeist (1982), or just poorly conceived ideas (Lifeforce (1985), Invaders from Mars (1986) and Texas Chain-Saw Massacre 2 (1986). He seems only in the latter part of the '80's produce Stephen King-like projects, either directly adapting a King novel (Salem's Lot (1979 -TV mini-series), or lifting pseudo-King story devices, much like Spontaneous Combustion. The use of fire as a telekinetic ability had been previously 'explored' in Kings Firestarter. This is not a great film. The production values are akin to the TV movies/series' that were being broadcast at the time. this was seen throughout the genre in the early years of the decade. This period is almost a vacuum of popular visual culture, with the exception of one horror, the TV series Twin Peaks (1990-1991). The camera movements and compositions are standard television production. Aside from the lack of visual flare, there is one element that never really fails to please. That is of course Brad Dourif. I find everything that Dourif is in to be thoroughly fun to watch. Even, as in this performance, when he is wildly over-the-top. His eyes intense, and his vociferousness projected directly into you brain, sharp and direct. No one does sweaty anger like Dourif does. So, in conclusion. S**t film, but it is totally be forgiven cause Brad Dourif is in it. www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

  More

• Well, now.

  Bendy_Spoon_Productions2008-09-03

  I bought this movie in 3-Disc Tobe Hooper Collection. It came with SC, Eaten Alive and the documentary The American Nightmare. I watched Eaten Alive a few weeks ago and liked it, though i thought it could have been better. And last night I watched Spontaneous Combustion. And what I don't understand...Is such a low rating here on IMDb! I mean, this movie is no Texas Chainsaw Massacre but hell, it's not bad! I enjoyed it quite a lot, really. Brad Dourif truly is a good actor, and creates a character that is likable from the word go. The plot twists and turns, and true, is hard to follow but it's worth being confused as bit just to be wowed by the great special effects and curious happenings occurring around the human firecracker Sam Kramer. Overall, not Tobe Hooper's best, but it is very far from his worst, and it's certainly worth a look.

  More