it not so much that spontaneous combustion have little potential . indeed the under explored title phenomenon be quite intriguing and and for at least the opening half and this tobe hooper effort promise to entertain in a way only cheesy 90 horror can . but somewhere between brad dourif on again off again performance and the overly intricate plot and this would be thriller lose it way . dourif and feature here before his built in horror fan base have accumulate and be average guy sam . of course average guy do not stay average for long in horror movie and so after a well do origin outline and we see sam various body part start to ignite . soon he ignite other people and too and much to the consternation of gal pal lisa and play unmemorably by cynthia bain . while the title of the film imply a fire happy monster on the loose and director hooper opt to make sam an unwilling killer . this approach give the film an added human depth it would otherwise lack and but it also prevent u from truly fear the human flamethrower . be leave wonder whether this would have work well a a straight up villain versus everyone effort ala nightmare on elm street . spontaneous combustion be a pretty nominal effort when all be say and do . it will carry added appeal for dourif fan and those who can not get enough 1990s horror and be it good and bad or in between and but only on a slow night .