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

In 1992, producer Bernd Eichinger approached director Roger Corman to make a Fantastic Four movie.  Eichinger needed to make the film quickly to keep the film rights to the characters, and Corman agreed to make the film for $1 million.  Corman and his production team, who typically made direct-to-video B movies, wanted to stay true to the comics, while keeping the budget reasonable.  Everyone on Corman's team was excited to work on such a high-profile film and to have the opportunity to see the film released in theaters.  The film was meant to be the big break for everyone involved: the production team, director Oley Sassone, and the cast of theater actors.  But despite their best intentions and efforts, the film was never released.


I grew up loving The Fantastic Four cartoon.  I remember seeing the trailer for this film and being very excited about it.  May years later I looked for the film and was disappointed to learn that it was never released.

I found this documentary while browsing on Hulu and couldn't resist the opportunity to learn more about the film.  Director Marty Langford was able to speak to all of the primary cast and crew members, including Corman.  Their interviews explain the film and their expectations for the finished product.  The cover a range of emotions and memories, but no regrets.  Clips from the film, in various stages of production, are shown throughout.

It is an interesting story that keeps your attention from start to finish.  Executives from Marvel did not comment, so their version of the events is missing from an otherwise fascinating film.  While Corman's film may never be seen as originally intended, bootleg copies still exist.  And there have been 3 big studio live-action films about these characters; The Fantastic Four in 2005, it's 2007 sequel The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, and the reboot Fantastic Four in 2015.

To learn more about this documentary you can check out their website.

Doomed: The Untold Story of Roger Corman's the Fantastic Four (2015) 85 minutes
Director: Marty Langford
Starring: Carl Ciarfalio
Roger Corman
Joseph Culp
Jonathan Fernandez
Glenn Garland
Chris Gore
Kat Green
Alex Hyde-White
Lloyd Kaufman
Oley Sassone
Mark Sikes
Michael Bailey Smith
Rebecca Staab
Jay Underwood