The Fantastic Four (film)
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- For the 2005 Fantastic Four film, see Fantastic Four (film)
| The Fantastic Four | |
|---|---|
 The film's promotional poster |
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| Directed by | Oley Sassone |
| Produced by | Steven Rabiner Roger Corman Bernd Eichinger Glenn Garland Jan Kikumoto |
| Written by | Craig J. Nevius Kevin Rock |
| Starring | Alex Hyde-White Jay Underwood Rebecca Staab Michael Bailey Smith Ian Trigger Joseph Culp |
| Music by | David Wurst Eric Wurst |
| Cinematography | Mark Parry |
| Editing by | Glenn Garland |
| Distributed by | New Horizons |
| Running time | 90 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,500,000 (estimated) |
| IMDb profile | |
The Fantastic Four is an unreleased low-budget feature film completed in 1994. Created to secure copyright to the property, it was never intended for release. It was produced by Roger Corman (famous for his low-budget productions) and Bernd Eichinger (who also produced another Fantastic Four movie in 2005). The film was based on the popular comic book by Marvel Comics and featured the origin of the Fantastic Four and their first battle with the evil Doctor Doom and a mysterious Mole Man-like creature.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The film begins with Reed Richards (Alex Hyde-White) and Victor Von Doom (Joseph Culp) as close University buddies who decide to use the opportunity of an electrical storm to try an experiment. However, the experiment goes wrong, leaving Victor horribly scarred. Sue and Johnny Storm are two children living with their mother, who has a boarding house where Reed lives. Ben Grimm (Michael Bailey Smith) is a family friend. The film then fast forwards to the present (early 1990s), where Reed, Sue (Rebecca Staab), Johnny (Jay Underwood), and Ben go up into an experimental space craft, only to be hit by cosmic rays, and are taken into protective custody by the marines upon crash landing.
The four of them soon discover that the cosmic rays gave them special powers; Reed can stretch his arms, Sue can turn invisible, Johnny can make fire come out of his hand, and Ben has transformed into the Thing. After escaping from the marines, they regroup at the Baxter Building, trying to decide what to do now that they gained superpowers. An angry Ben leaves the group to go out on his own, feeling that he has become a horrible freak of nature.
Meanwhile two henchmen of Doctor Doom steal a large diamond that the blind artist Alicia (Kat Green) has somehow gotten on loan. Before they can steal the diamond, Alicia and the diamond are both kidnapped by homeless henchmen working for the Jeweler (a character similar to the comics' Mole Man). The Jeweler wants Alicia to be his bride, with the diamond as his wedding present to her. While roaming the streets, Ben comes into contact with the Jeweler and breaks Alicia free.
However, Doctor Doom and his henchmen locate the Jeweler's lair, and grab the diamond, just as Ben wanders into the underground lair and frees Alicia. Doom needs the diamond to power a laser cannon that will destroy New York City. Realizing that they are the only ones that can stop Doom, the heroes don the 1960s style Fantastic Four costumes and travel to Doom's castle to save the city.
At the castle, the Fantastic Four battles a series of robots, while Reed has a final battle with Doom. Doom is defeated, possibly killed, but Johnny Storm has to transform into a CGI Human Torch to block the laser beam from destroying the city.
Having saved the city, and deciding to dedicate themselves to fighting crime, the film ends with Reed and Sue marrying.
[edit] Cast
- Alex Hyde-White as Mister Fantastic/Reed Richards
- Rebecca Staab as Invisible Woman/Sue Storm
- Michael Bailey Smith as The Thing/Ben Grimm
- Jay Underwood as Human Torch/Johnny Storm
- Joseph Culp as Doctor Doom
- Kat Green as Alicia Masters
- Ian Trigger as The Jeweler
[edit] Controversy
Following the announcement of the cancellation of the film's release, a rumor spread that the studio intended this version of the Fantastic Four to be the film equivalent of an ashcan copy: they had the legal rights to create a film based on the Fantastic Four, but they were not ready to produce a big budget film. However, they needed to produce something or else they would lose the legal right to the characters. Apparently the studio misled everyone involved in the making of this film by letting them believe it was going to be a genuine release rather than a way to maintain their license on the property. Corman since confirmed that this was indeed the case.[1]
There may have been more to this production than simply keeping the right to the characters; Chris Columbus was set to make a big budget version of the comic. However, in order to do that, he had to wait for the existing option on the rights to expire. The producers could have rushed this film into production, hoping that the makers of a big budget version would not want a cheaper version of the same story to be available immediately before their expensive blockbuster. If that was the case, the strategy worked, as the film was bought for many times the cost of the option and production, and theater audiences never saw the finished production.
Although not released, the film can be seen for free on youtube.com.
[edit] "Special Effects"
The lack of substantial funds for special effects made for some very low-quality attempts to bring the character's superpowers to "life", such as a shot of Mr. Fantastic stretching his arm obviously being little more than a painted pole with a false hand attached. Possibly the most glaring was the single instance in the film of the Human Torch "flaming on" (covering his whole body in flames) and taking flight; unable to afford CGI effects or stunt work to achieve the effect, the scene was rendered using traditional animation, causing the live-action character to effectively transform into a cartoon. On the other hand, the costume worn by Michael Bailey Smith as the Thing was visually impressive, especially in light of the limited budget.
[edit] DVD release
There had been some speculation, by fans, that this film would be given an official release on the DVD edition of the 2005 Fantastic Four film, but this did not happen. Unofficial releases are available, however.
[edit] Trivia
- Wizard Magazine ranked this film higher than Batman & Robin, Steel and Virus
[edit] External links
- Youtube - part1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9
- Fantastic Four movies on Marvel.com
- The Fantastic Four at the Internet Movie Database
- The Fantastic Four-Gotten: In-depth article includes cast/crew comments, interviews, photos
- Review of the film, with trailer, clips, and screenshots.
- Review of the film
- Review of the film
| Marvel Comics films | |
|---|---|
| Single films | Captain America (1991) · Ghost Rider (2007) · Howard the Duck (1986) |
| Franchises |
Blade: Blade (1998) · Blade II (2002) · Blade: Trinity (2004) |
| In development | Iron Man (2008) · The Incredible Hulk (2008) · Ant-Man (2008) · Wolverine · Luke Cage · Deathlok · Gargoyle · Magneto · Namor · The Punisher 2 |
[edit] References
- ^ [http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2005/04/01 Roger Corman interview on The Leonard Lopate Show (New York Public Radio), April 01, 2005
