DOOMED! THE UNTOLD STORY OF ROGER CORMAN’S THE FANTASTIC FOUR (Marty Langford). 84 minutes. Opens Friday(October 7). See listings. Rating: NN
The Fantastic Four have never had an easy time at the movies. There was that Josh Trank abomination last year and Tim Story made two campy pictures in 2005 and 2007. And in 1993, long before Marvel Comics became the cinematic force it is today, Roger Corman’s New Concorde shingle took a run at the label’s first super-team on behalf of German producer Bernd Eichinger.
There’s a reason you’ve never seen it.
Doomed! The Untold Story Of Roger Corman’s The Fantastic Four creates an oral history of that shelved production. Documentarian Marty Langford talks to its director, Oley Sassone, and various cast and crew members, throwing in a handful of blurry clips from the film, which still circulates in low-resolution bootlegs.
Langford lets his subjects tell their side of the story at exasperating length, as every anecdote is corroborated by three or four different participants when one would do just fine.
Even Marvel diehards might find their attention drifting after the first 20 minutes.
