Spontaneous Combustion is a 1990 American science fictionhorror film directed by Tobe Hooper. It was written by Tobe Hooper and Howard Goldberg, based on a story by Hooper, and is a co-production between Henry Bushkin, Sanford Hampton, Jerrold W. Lambert, Jim Rogers and Arthur M. Sarkissian.
It was nominated for best film in the 1991 Fantasporto International Fantasy Film Awards.[1]
Plot
In 1955, in an underground bunker in the middle of a Nevada desert, Brian and Peggy Bell are a couple who become subjects of a human experiment. In this experiment called Operation Samson they are exposed to a massive nuclear explosion as part of a specific project to test immune substances against radiation. They survive the detonation and are celebrated and revered as national heroes afterwards. However, when the high-ranking military and nuclear scientists find out about Peggy's pregnancy a short time later, which causes them dismay and concern, they cannot decide to have an abortion. The newborn, a son named David, is subjected to various tests immediately after birth, but is reported as "healthy" with a slightly elevated temperature. On the same day, his parents die in agony from spontaneous human combustion, the so-called "Fire Syndrome".
As an adult, David, now called Sam, who is now 34 years old, is a teacher in California. He begins to have spontaneous combustion in the form of pyrokinesis, especially, when he has emotional distress. It also means he can control fire and electricity this way. He tries to do something about it with the help of Lisa, whose parents suffered a similar fate, but to no avail.
However, when he discovers through his doctor, who he visits and who intends to kill him because of his situation, that he has been subjected to ruthless experiments by him and the people he works for, that he has been controlled his whole life and that they now want to kill him, he runs amok against them because of their actions by killing them using his newfound powers, who at the same time are killing him while he also loses more and more the control of his powers, which causes him to also kill innocent people.
In the meantime Lisa begins to suffer a similar fate for which they also intend to kill her. With his last strengh Sam manages to save her and free her from her condition. During the event he disintegrates.
Spontaneus Combustion was produced by Henry Bushkin, a former manager and partner of Johnny Carson.[2]
Critical reception
Spin magazine, while writing, "no one makes bad movies as deliriously entertaining as Tobe Hooper, whose career continues its spectacular downward slide with Spontaneous Combustion", gave the film an overall favorable review.[3] John Kenneth Muir, in his book Horror Films of the 1980s, wrote, "Spontaneous Combustion commences on a high note of creativity and wit, but then promptly goes down in flames."[4] Writing for DVD Talk, critic Kurt Dahlke described the film as "a weird bit of burn injury pornography (so to speak) that otherwise comes off as an oddball Cable TV drama," noting a "lack of attachment to the characters, little in the way of dynamic tension, a needless and off-putting cameo by director John Landis [...] Spontaneous Combustion is, to put it mildly, painfully stupid."[5] Critic Loron Hays wrote in movie review site Reel Reviews that the film's story "is all Hooper. So, too, are the faults in the film," and noted that Dourif's performance was "unhinged" and "watching Dourif completely spiral out of control as he flexes power over electricity is one enjoyment of the film."[6] Writing in RogerEbert.com, Simon Abrams described Dourif's performance as "unhinged in a way that makes this otherwise stillborn 1990 post-atomic-age creature feature fitfully compelling."[7]
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