DOOMED! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four | Film Review

Everyone thinks they know this story.

I sure thought I did. Whenever anyone bandies about the subject of Marvel’s Fantastic Four – the lauded family comic centered around Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, sister and brother Sue and Johnny Storm, and the tortured soul with a stone composition, Ben Grimm – talk instantly leads to disagreements over who should hold the film rights to the property, Marvel or 20^th Century Fox. In comic geek circles, it’s a debate so heated it rivals anything you’ve witnessed in any modern political election. These fans want Don Corleone-style street justice. Yet most of us have never learned the truth behind the story, and that is where director Marty Langford and his film, DOOMED! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four, comes in.

Long before Jessica Alba and Chris Evans played siblings with no distinguishable resemblance, The Fantastic Four was little more than a product acquired by Constantin Film. In the late 80s and early 90s, Marvel was far from the house that Robert Downey Jr. built, and instead a floundering comic company desperate to duplicate the cinematic success of its chief rival, DC. In doing so, insane deals were made, complete with expirations if films failed to materialize from their properties. As one such date approached, Constantin teamed up with Roger Corman to helm a Fantastic Four film on a shoestring budget and expedited production schedule.

Talent and filmmakers were hired – Jay Underwood, Alex Hyde-White, and Joseph Gulp among them – and the film completed. Conventions were attended, actors promoted relentlessly, effects were compiled…and the film disappeared. Was the completed film abysmal, as many believe? Was there a dispute between the studios that led to it being shelved? Many film historians have their opinions, but no one knew for sure. Until now.

Langford has an infectious passion for both The Fantastic Four and its 1992 film shrouded in mystery, and as a result, has pooled his energy into searching for the truth behind the legend of what transpired. Weaving us through the history in a linear timeline, Langford eschews narration to allow the filmmakers to describe the events as they recall them. From conception to deception, this is a journey where even the most informed devotees are likely to achieve a jolt of shock and awe as the layers continue to unfold.

Documentaries that follow the making of a film in the day and age of blu-ray extras and commentaries are forced to carry a much sharper hook, and DOOMED has one. This is less a rudimentary story on how the film was made, than why the film vanished and all of the talent involved were kept oblivious to both the decisions and the reasoning. What seems like a simple business decision ultimately plays out as dark a fable as any Brothers Grimm tale, with many careers and dreams decimated in its wake.

You need not be a comic fan to enjoy it, as DOOMED is an absolute must-see for any person appreciative of cinema as an art form. And even though the original movie may forever remain locked away in the Marvel vaults, thanks to Marty Langford and his team, the work and efforts of the talent behind that fateful film have finally been exposed as nothing short of fantastic.

DOOMED! The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four releases on VOD October 11, 2016

Listen to our exclusive interview with DOOMED’s director, Marty Langford