Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Leofwine_draca What happened to Tobe Hooper? The genius that fuelled such genre classics as The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Poltergeist is in short supply in the likes of this and Crocodile. This is a poor man's Firestarter, although plotted with an interesting premise: a baby conceived during nuclear testing literally becomes the 'Atomic Man'. Unfortunately, the film is let down by an over-wordy script that goes nowhere for much of the movie, and too much directing in the dark, and low-budget camera-work which really doesn't help. The latter half of the film serves only as a showcase for lots of fiery special effects, which are admittedly decent; shots of Dourif with fire blasting from his body are good value for money, and the scenes of human torches are also great stuff – over the top (especially in the case of a cameoing John Landis) but still fun. Sadly, things get a little TOO unwieldy come the movie's cheesy climax, which resorts to computer-generated effects work which just doesn't cut it in this day and age, although the sight of burned and burning bodies does pack a disturbing punch every now and then.Brad Dourif, that reliable character actor, is definitely the best thing in this movie, and his crazed 40-year old college student dominates the screen from one moment to the next. When Dourif starts getting toasty towards the movie's climax, his acting goes way over the top, and he single-handedly provides most of the movie's entertainment. The supporting cast is fairly undistinguished, with Jon Cypher's vanilla bad guy and Cynthia Bain's boring heroine becoming quickly forgettable. SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION is an adequate horror film that may pass the time for undemanding viewers.

James Bourke The first and last time I saw this Tobe Hooper movie was back in 1990, I was nineteen years old, the strangest thing about it was that at that time I was totally gripped by it, but also at the same time I couldn't forget about it.The sole reason at that time was the participation of Brad Dourif in the main role of Samson/David Bell, the man with a curse on his very soul! Just recently I managed to pick up the Anchor Bay Region 1 double header release which aside from Spontaneous Combustion, also included the seriously excellent Society.Having just watched SC again, the movie despite some real shoddy effects moments, really has held up well after all these years, as previously mentioned, Dourif holds the movie together despite his performance taking flight on many occasions.I have to say though that two other performances really stood out for me, one being the criminally underused Brian Bremer as Samson's father, you know I still remember Brian as Bunt in Stan Winston's excellent Pumpkinhead' from that performance to his turn here, he has always been an actor to remember.The other was Cynthia Bain as Samson's potential love interest, I cant for the life of me remember her character's name, of course both her and Bremer were both in Pumpkinhead, both shared some serious screen time in that movie and it's two bad they didn't here.Hooper might be considered as a master of horror, and despite having watched nearly all his horror offerings, I can honestly say that aside from SC and The Funhouse, nearly everything else has been more miss than hit, oh the scars that I still carry from sitting through The Mangler.But enough about the bad and remember this decent little flourish that Hooper concocted from his own story, with some decent set pieces and a brisk pace, Spontaneous Combustion certainly set my cinematic world on fire some twenty plus years ago and to this day I recall with fondness.Check it out - 9/10

bernie-122 I tried as hard as I could to sit all the way through this irritating mess, but I just couldn't do it. Brad Dourif absolutely sucked as the lead and all the supporting cast were only marginally worse. The whole thing is just ludicrous, from the awful acting to the laughable FX to the stupid plot.Complete waste of time; don't bother. Root Canal therapy would be more enjoyable. Bamboo slivers under the fingernails would be a lot more pleasant. Watching a Uwe Boll movie would be only a little worse than this. Get the idea?

AngryChair A man discovers that his parents were part of a nuclear experiment in the 50's and that he now has the power to... burst into flames! I was really geared up for this film, what with being directed by the great Toby Hooper and staring wild card Brad Dourif. Unfortunately it didn't rise above the average individual-with-violent-powers movie. Spontaneous Combustion has an interesting premise behind it, unfortunately it never seems to live up to its potential and prolongs its plot too much. The special effects aren't bad though and help to carry the movie to the finale.The cast isn't bad, Dourif does steal the show.All around, no classic but it's not the worst of its kind either.** out of ****