Spontaneous Combustion (1990)

Director:

Tobe Hooper

Writers:

Tobe Hooper (story)
Tobe Hooper (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

23 February 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

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. |

Plot Keywords:

Pyrokinesis | Science | Spontaneous Combustion | Nuclear | Independent Film

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Brad Dourif	...	Sam
Cynthia Bain	...	Lisa Wilcox
Jon Cypher	...	Dr. Marsh
William Prince	...	Lew Orlander
Melinda Dillon	...	Nina
Dey Young	...	Rachel
Tegan West	...	Springer
Michael Keys Hall	...	Dr. Cagney
Dale Dye	...	General
Dick Butkus	...	Lt. General
Joe Mays	...	Dr. Persons
Stacy Edwards	...	Peggy Bell
Brian Bremer	...	Brian Bell
Frank Whiteman	...	Young Orlander
Judy Prescott	...	Student Director

Runtime:

97 min | Argentina:96 min | Finland:89 min (cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Iceland:16 | West Germany:16 (nf) | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Black Owl Productions

Trivia:

Director Cameo: [Tobe Hooper]man with his back to the camera, lighting a cigar, when Sam enters the rest room at the restaurant.

Goofs:

Continuity: The position of the syringe stuck in Lisa, changes.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Ring (2002)

Soundtrack:

HOW COULD I'VE KNOWN

Prearranged boredom!

It's often said that Tobe Hooper just struck lucky with his grisly 1974 horror film 'The Texas Chain Saw Massacre' and every time I see another Hooper film - that view is only reinforced. It would seem that Hooper wanted to make his own version of films such as Scanners and Firestarter in 1990 and so we end up with Spontaneous Combustion; a film with a couple of good ideas and a whole load more that are borrowed from other films. Put it all together and you get a messy, boring film that most people would do well to miss! The film leads the audience to believe that it might be half decent initially with an intriguing back story that focuses on some experiments carried out on two young people in the fifties. The couple have a child and shortly thereafter burn to death as a result of the experiments done on them. Fast forward some years and the baby is now an adult named Sam; but naturally he's not a normal person and soon finds when it's discovered that he has the ability to set things on fire at will.

The film stars Brad Dourif, who must have seemed like a good casting choice given his success with Child's Play two years earlier; but actually was an uninspired decision as the central performance is really terrible; and not helped by the terrible supporting performances. The turgid direction and dull script also don't do the film many favours and the trend of lacking in favours is continued by the special effects, which are very unrealistic and have nothing on the films that this one is ripping off; all of which were made some years earlier. The plot is really slow and it's almost an hour before anything of note happens, and I didn't care for it even then. It soon becomes obvious which direction the film will go in and it all boils down to the sort of tedious ending you would expect. The final confrontation is a big disappointment and nothing is really explained during the film. Not that any revelation would have been interesting anyway. Overall, this is a rubbish film and another reason why Tobe Hooper is a long way from being a great horror director. See Firestarter again instead.