''Body Melt'' is a 1993 Australian

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

biopunk Biopunk (a portmanteau of "biotechnology" or "biology" and "punk") is a subgenre of science fiction that focuses on biotechnology. It is derived from cyberpunk, but focuses on the implications of biotechnology rather than mechanical cyberware and ...

and

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

body horror Body horror or biological horror is a subgenre of horror that intentionally showcases grotesque or psychologically disturbing violations of the human body. These violations may manifest through aberrant sex, mutations, mutilation, zombification, ...

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

directed by

Philip Brophy Philip Brophy, born in Reservoir, Melbourne 1959 is an Australian musician, composer, sound designer, filmmaker, writer, graphic designer, educator and academic. Music In 1977, Brophy formed the experimental group → ↑ → more often writte ...

and written by Brophy and Rod Bishop. Brophy and Bishop are ex-members of the

art punk Art punk is a subgenre of punk rock in which artists go beyond the genre's rudimentary garage rock and are considered more sophisticated than their peers. These groups still generated punk's aesthetic of being simple, offensive, and free-spirit ...

group → ↑ →. The pair also composed the film's soundtrack.

Plot

The film is about the residents of Pebbles Court in the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

suburb of Homesville who are the unknowing test subjects for a new variety of "Vimuville" dietary supplement pills that arrive for free in their mailboxes. The pills are designed to produce the ultimate healthy human, but have unexpected side effects including

hallucination A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of a real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. Hallucination is a combinatio ...

s and

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, mi ...

s. Despite the attempts made to warn the townsfolk from a previous test subject, who is now undergoing rapid cellular decay, he arrives too late, and crashes his car and is killed by

tentacle In zoology, a tentacle is a flexible, mobile, and elongated organ present in some species of animals, most of them invertebrates. In animal anatomy, tentacles usually occur in one or more pairs. Anatomically, the tentacles of animals work main ...

s growing out of his

throat In vertebrate anatomy, the throat is the front part of the neck, internally positioned in front of the vertebrae. It contains the pharynx and larynx. An important section of it is the epiglottis, separating the esophagus from the trachea (windpipe ...

. The pills are consumed by the residents, and produce liquefying flesh, elongated tongues, exploding stomachs, exploding

penis A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males do n ...

es, imploding heads, monstrous births, tentacles growing out of the

face The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may aff ...

, living

mucus Mucus ( ) is a slippery aqueous secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. It is typically produced from cells found in mucous glands, although it may also originate from mixed glands, which contain both serous and mucous cells. It is ...

, sentient

placenta The placenta is a temporary embryonic and later fetal organ that begins developing from the blastocyst shortly after implantation. It plays critical roles in facilitating nutrient, gas and waste exchange between the physically separate mater ...

s, and other gruesome mutations. Ultimately more and more of the residents of the Pebbles Court mutate or die horrific deaths, until almost every character has been dispatched.

Cast

Gerard Kennedy Gerard Michael Kennedy (born July 24, 1960) is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of C ...

as Det. Samuel Phillips *

Andrew Daddo Andrew Dugald Daddo (born 18 February 1967) is an Australian actor, author and television and radio personality. Early life Daddo was born in Melbourne on 18 February 1967. He began his education at Mt Eliza Primary School and in year seven mo ...

as Johnno *

Ian Smith Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to ...

as Dr. Carrera * Regina Gaigalas as Shaan *

Vincent Gil Vincent Gil (1939 – 21 August 2022), also credited as Vince Gil, was an Australian film and television actor best known for his portrayal of the character ''Nightrider'' in the 1979 film ''Mad Max'', and ''Stone''. Gil had also starred in m ...

as Pud * Neil Foley as Bab * Anthea Davis as Slab *

Matthew Newton Matthew Joseph Newton (born January 22, 1977) is an Australian actor, writer, and director, and son of TV personalities Bert Newton, Bert and Patti Newton. His acting career was interrupted by treatment in a psychiatric unit for bipolar disor ...

as Bronto *

Lesley Baker Lesley Baker (born 20 January 1944) is an Australian actress, singer, dancer and comedian. She was well known for her early appearances on In Melbourne Tonight with Graham Kennedy. After which she went on to play several roles for Crawford Pr ...

as Mack * Amy Grove-Rogers as Old Woman *

Adrian Wright Adrian Wright (1 July 1947 – 28 November 2015) was English Australian actor remembered for his roles in the 1970s children's television series ''Freewheelers'' and the Australian serial ''Prisoner (TV series), Prisoner'' in which he played ma ...

as Thompson Noble * Jillian Murray as Angelica Noble *

Ben Geurens Ben Geurens (born 24 December 1979) is an Australian actor. Biography Geurens graduated from NIDA in 2004. At drama school his credits include '' The Return'', ''Romeo and Juliet'', ''Much Ado About Nothing'', and ''Who's Afraid of the Working C ...

as Brandon Noble *

Amanda Douge Amanda Douge (born December 1976) is an Australian actress, best known from a range of television and feature film roles. Douge studied law at Melbourne University (1993) and has been with the Melbourne Theatre Company. She has played Becky G ...

as Elloise Noble *

Brett Climo Brett Leonard Climo (born 26 September 1964) is an Australian actor and comedian best known for his television soap opera roles, but has also appeared in films (feature-length and made-for-TV features). He is best known roles include in producti ...

as Brian Rand *

Lisa McCune Lisa McCune (born 19 February 1971) is an Australian actress, known for her role in TV series ''Blue Heelers'' as Senior Constable Maggie Doyle, and in ''Sea Patrol'' as Lieutenant Kate McGregor RAN. She has won four Gold Logie Awards. McCune ...

as Cheryl Rand * Nick Polites as Sal Ciccone *

Maurie Annese Maurie Annese (born July 1971, Adelaide) is an Australian actor and producer. He most recently starred in and co-produced ''I Can't Believe it's Not Countdown, it's a Musical Comedy'', in collaboration with Brian Mannix and Crown Entertainment. ...

as Gino Argento *

William McInnes Daryl William Mathew Gabriel McInnes (born 10 September 1963) is an Australian film and television actor and writer. He portrayed the role of Matt Tivolli in '' The Time of Our Lives''. He is best known for his roles as Senior Constable Nick S ...

as Paul Matthews * Suzi Dougherty as Kate * Bill Young as Willie

Production

The film was shot in October and November 1992.

Critical reception

*''Video review'' wrote "With over 150 ways to melt your body, it's one of the most innovative and versatile horror films ever. Guaranteed to make you squirm." *''Samhain'' wrote "Unique and individual. A wicked and gruesome satire on the clean-living lifestyle of modern Australia as seen across the globe in various TV soaps." *''Screen International'' described the film "As satirical as it is sick-making. A cult hit." *''Star Burst'' wrote "Packs more mucous, phlegm, puke, snot, slime & spit than you'd ever think possible." *''Time Out'' wrote "Despite its emetic preoccupation with exploding stomachs & bodily fluids there is also a liberal injection of black humour." *''Fangoria'' wrote "A slime-soaked all-out shocker!" *''Face'' described the film as "A dumb/smart satire on health fascism. The kind of movie they just don't make anymore." *According to Bloody Disgusting Magazine: «The film is a satire of extremely healthy living» * PopHorror: "Residents of peaceful Pebbles Court, Homesville, are being used unknowingly as test experiments for a new Body Drug that causes rapid body decomposition (melting skin etc.) and painful death." * SBS Moves: "A yucky, shlocky, gory, tongue-in-cheek horror film".

Accolades

Home media

''Body Melt'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

with a new print by Umbrella Entertainment in August 2006. The DVD is compatible with all region codes and includes special features such as the original theatrical trailer, Umbrella Entertainment trailers, a behind the scenes featurette with cast and crew and a storyboard gallery. On 25 September 2018, the film was released on DVD and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

Vinegar Syndrome Cellulose acetate film, or safety film, is used in photography as a base material for photographic emulsions. It was introduced in the early 20th century by film manufacturers and intended as a safe film base replacement for unstable and highly ...

References

External links

* * {{Amg movie, 122590, Body Melt
''Body Melt''
at Oz Movies
Body Melt at the National Film and Sound Archive
1993 films 1990s science fiction horror films Australian satirical films 1990s English-language films 1993 horror films Films set in Melbourne Films shot in Melbourne Australian splatter films Australian comedy horror films Australian science fiction comedy films Biopunk films Body horror films Mad scientist films Australian science fiction horror films