Roger Corman's Fantastic Four Movie up on the Tube

May 23, 2024 11:36 PM

Corman imbued his version of the MCU with the 80s/90s feel it so richly deserved. The classic Silver Age Marvel comics didn't suffer from being low-budget productions, and from what I've seen of this so far (only 15 minutes—it's late) this Corman film didn't either. Too bad the embedded ads are the usual short-term rental and learn-AI things and not pitches for sea monkeys and a travelogue of Palisades Park.
posted by morspin (19 comments total)

RIP Roger Corman.
posted by HearHere at 4:15 AM on May 24 [5 favorites]

Mod note: Edited link so that it starts at the beginning.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (staff) at 5:16 AM on May 24

I remember reading about this being in the works in some comic book magazine around 1990 and getting excited...and then, crickets. I heard of its unreleased existence a few years ago, and I'm still sorta excited to watch it, but also don't want to be too disappointed. I also haven't watched the Star Wars Christmas Special for similar reasons.
posted by AzraelBrown at 6:36 AM on May 24

This movie!

This bit looks like Doctor Doom is gloating about destroying the Satellite of Love while sitting on his opulent commode atop the staircase with the red carpet and flaming orbs. That room must get overheated so very easily.
posted by JHarris at 6:37 AM on May 24

I don't think we've formally met.
posted by pracowity at 6:45 AM on May 24

It's silly and campy and the special effects are horrid but it really does capture the Fantastic Four in a way that none of the big-budget movies ever did.
posted by HunterFelt at 6:46 AM on May 24 [1 favorite]

For some reason this is reminding me of the Power Rangers movie. Vibes!
posted by tmt at 7:18 AM on May 24

One thing that stands out almost immediately is that they figured out how to include Victor von Doom's original origin story (former college roommate/research associate of Reed's who had his accident while still in school); both of the more recent FF movies folded Doom's origin into the FF's, which always seemed like a cheat of sorts. (Unfortunately, they also included the retcon from the comics in which pre-teen Sue Storm has a big ol' crush on adult Reed; oh well.)
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:19 AM on May 24 [1 favorite]

This film's got one of my favorite dopey continuity errors towards the end of the second act, when Alicia is kidnapped by "The Jeweler". His mooks come up behind her and chloroform her, and she falls asleep, but before she does we get a first person perspective of her looking up at them, so her viewpoint goes oval-shaped to represent her eyes, then unfocused and fuzzy, before finally fading to black.

Can you guess the error here?

ALICIA IS BLIND!

posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 8:21 AM on May 24 [2 favorites]

Can you guess the error here?

As I recall, Alicia was a cousin of Superman, so she had some of his powers, notably heat vision. She should have been able to use that to fight off the mooks. 😀
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 8:28 AM on May 24

We were talking about this film (and the documentary about it) just a couple months previously.
posted by Rash at 8:30 AM on May 24 [2 favorites]

I can't help but think of the running joke of Tobias and the actress playing the Invisible Woman in Arrested Development.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 8:37 AM on May 24 [2 favorites]

Harmony!
posted by solotoro at 8:41 AM on May 24

both of the more recent FF movies folded Doom's origin into the FF's, which always seemed like a cheat of sorts

I didn't see the most recent FF movie, and I disliked the earlier movies' take on his origin, which I think was borrowed from the Ultimate Marvel comics (Victor goes to space and gets bombarded with cosmic rays too, which gives him powers and a metal exoskeleton), but I remember reading a slightly modified, splitting-the-difference origin story at one point that I do like: Victor goes to space with the other four. Sensors detect cosmic rays. Victor panics and steals the only escape pod. He crashes to earth and gets all burned up, while the others, whom he had left to die, get superpowers.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:45 AM on May 24 [1 favorite]

Better to introduce Doom in a post-credits scene in first FF movie. Just a clenched mail fist would be enough. In the second film, Doom appears as he did in the comics: he just shows up, captures and then experiments on the FF. Why? Who knows? It's a mystery! Why explain everything at once? Look at Darth Vader. He just showed up! But Vader was a major character with little backstory, just an overwhelming presence. And that's what you want with Doom. He's not there to fight the Four; he's there to use them towards his own mysterious ends. (Doctor Doom was an early subscriber to the Xanatos Gambit.)
posted by SPrintF at 12:10 PM on May 24 [4 favorites]

Did anyone else think that "The Jeweler" was supposed to be the Mole Man? Having him being a denizen of NYC's underground tunnels is a clever way of getting around having to create giant subterranean monsters, but it's also pretty derivative of Batman Returns' Penguin.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:45 PM on May 24

Did anyone else think that "The Jeweler" was supposed to be the Mole Man?

Reportedly, he was the Mole Man in earlier drafts, but the name had to be changed for rights reasons.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:36 PM on May 24 [1 favorite]

I am loving this film, especially as a fan of the ridiculous Corman films/TV series 'Black Scorpion'. A Corman staple is a baddie having two comical mooks, and a game I like to play is trying to guess the incredibly on-the-nose names the mooks get (i.e. the Blorpion villainess Medusa has a pair named Marble and Granite). Unfortunately it appears Dooms goons are uncredited, but based on their introduction scene I'd guess they're called Rook and Pawn.
posted by FatherDagon at 8:51 PM on May 24 [2 favorites]

Every shot looks like it's at night or in an unlit building, which I guess probably helps sell the special effects. They do have the Four's classic characterizations down pat, though.
posted by one for the books at 11:25 AM on May 31