Hot Picks

- Ready for My Close Up 2019

- Talk of the Dead 2016

- Tower Rats 2020

- Script of the Dead 2024

- The Bell Affair 2023

- Easter Bloody Easter 2024

- Velma 2022

- Everwinter Night 2023

- Main Character Energy 2023

- Stupid Games 2024

- Bittertooth 2023

- 4 Minutes of Terror: Night Slasher 2024

- Apart 2024

- The Abandoned 2006

- Becky 2024

- The Evil Fairy Queen 2024

- The Black Guelph 2022

- Followers 2024

- Silence of the Prey 2024

- Battle for the Western Front 2024

- Beware the Boogeyman 2024

- Subject 101 2022

- Driftwood 2023

- The Legend of Lake Hollow 2024

- Black Mass 2023

- Skinwalkers: American Werewolves 2 2023

- The Manifestation 2024

- Spirit Riser 2024

- Garden of Souls 2019

- It's a Wonderful Slice 2024

- Caleb & Sarah 2024

- The Thousand Steps 2020

- The Desiring 2021

- When a Stranger Knocks 2024

- Quint-essentially Irish 2024

- Son of Gacy 2024

- Saltville 2024

- The True Story of the Christ's Return 2024

- Whenever I'm Alone with You 2023

- Jurassic Triangle 2024

- Midnight Peepshow 2022

- Offworld: Alien Planet 2024

- The Swiss Conspiracy 1976

- Sex-Positive 2024

- Here for Blood 2022

- All Over Again 2024

- The Color Yellow 2023

- Des Töchterleins Leid 2024

- I Am a Channel 2024

- The Hermits 2023

- Murdaritaville 2024

- Inheritance 2024

- The Devil's Partner 1960

- First Impressions Can Kill 2017

- A Killer Conversation 2014

- Star Crash 1979

- Strangler of the Swamp 1946

Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman's the Fantastic Four

USA 2015
produced by
Marty Langford, Mark Sikes
directed by Marty Langford
starring Carl Ciarfalio, Roger Corman, Joseph Culp, Jonathan Fernandez, Glenn Garland, Chris Gore, Kat Green, Sean Howe, Alex Hyde-White, Lloyd Kaufman, Oley Sassone, Mark Sikes, Michael Bailey Smith, Rebecca Staab, Jay Underwood, John Vulich
written by Marty Langford, music by Davis Horgan, Fantastic Four created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, published by Marvel Comics

documentary
Fantastic Four

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Those who are into comicbooks, superheroes and Marvel Comics will probably know: 11 years before the blockbuster Fantastic Four from 2005, comicbooks favourite foursome saw the big screen in the movie The Fantastic Four, a low budget flick produced by legendary Roger Corman [Roger Corman bio - click here] - well, almost, as the plug got pulled on that movie. Popular lore has it that German producer Bernd Eichinger of Constantin Film and Corman struck a deal to produce the movie with the intention to release it, just so Eichinger could keep the license to the characters until a better deal came along - but Doomed! sheds a little bit of a different light on the story: Fact is, the film was actually produced, and on a budget higher than the usual Corman flick of the time, featured some very decent practical special effects (the Thing is actually pretty awesomely rendered), and cast and crew made comicon appearances to promote the movie. So the theory this movie has is that not even Corman himself was aware that the movie would eventually be pulled, maybe not even Eichinger himself (who had died prior to the production of this documentary and thus wasn't available for comment. And unfortunately, the two players in this game that could give clarification on what has happened that led to the movie being canned, Marvel mastermind and former Marvel moviedom bigshot Avi Arad declined to answer any questions - and it's especially disappointing that the latter wasn't up for comment as it is said (in this documentary) that Arad was instrumental in shelving The Fantastic Four - and that in mind, despite costing only a small fraction of any of the later adaptations of the comicbook, it's actually the best Fantastic Four movie yet - a B-movie for sure, but let's face it, when Stan Lee and Jack Kirby created the characters decades back, they were very probably inspired by B-movies (everything in the comics suggests as much), including those by Roger Corman ...

 

Now for anyone not only into comicbooks, superheroes and Marvel Comics, but also the shadowy lanes of Hollywood, B-movies and real life soap operas, this is nothing short of a gem, a lost piece of Hollywood history finally examined - and not in a one-sided, accusatory, biased way, but it seems to be looking for the deeper truth rather than just repeating Hollywood lore. And it's great that the filmmakers really managed to interview all the Fantastic Four (Alex Hyde-White, Jay Underwood, Rebecca Staab, Michael Bailey Smith), Doctor Doom (Joseph Culp), Alicia Masters (Kat Green), the film's director (Oley Sassone) as well as a few others on the cast and crew to give their version of things, without them throwing their disappointment at the screen but giving a decent account of things that were and actually were not, and thus painting a very levelled picture of everything. And the result is just awesome!

 

Quick Links

Abbott & Costello

The Addams Family

Alice in Wonderland

Arsène Lupin

Batman

Bigfoot

Black Emanuelle

Bomba the Jungle Boy

Bowery Boys

Bulldog Drummond

Captain America

Charlie Chan

Cinderella

Deerslayer

Dick Tracy

Dr. Mabuse

Dr. Orloff

Doctor Who

Dracula

Edgar Wallace made in Germany

Elizabeth Bathory

Emmanuelle

Fantomas

Flash Gordon

Frankenstein

Frankie & Annette Beach Party movies

Freddy Krueger

Fu Manchu

Fuzzy

Gamera

Godzilla

Hercules

El Hombre Lobo

Incredible Hulk

Jack the Ripper

James Bond

Jekyll and Hyde

Jerry Cotton

Jungle Jim

Justine

Kekko Kamen

King Kong

Laurel and Hardy

Lemmy Caution

Lobo

Lone Wolf and Cub

Lupin III

Maciste

Marx Brothers

Miss Marple

Mr. Moto

Mister Wong

Mothra

The Munsters

Nick Carter

OSS 117

Phantom of the Opera

Philip Marlowe

Philo Vance

Quatermass

Robin Hood

The Saint

Santa Claus

El Santo

Schoolgirl Report

The Shadow

Sherlock Holmes

Spider-Man

Star Trek

Sukeban Deka

Superman

Tarzan

Three Mesquiteers

Three Musketeers

Three Stooges

Three Supermen

Winnetou

Wizard of Oz

Wolf Man

Wonder Woman

Yojimbo

Zatoichi

Zorro

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned)

The links below
will take you
just there!!!

Find Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman's the Fantastic Four
at the amazons ...

USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

Germany (East AND West)  amazon.de

Looking for imports?
Find Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman's the Fantastic Four here ...

Thailand  eThaiCD.com
Your shop for all things Thai

Something naughty?
(Must be over 18 to go there!)

x-rated  find Doomed! The Untold Story of Roger Corman's the Fantastic Four at adultvideouniverse.com


Thanks for watching !!!

 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!