DOOMED: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s THE FANTASTIC FOUR Debuts At Comic-Con

The documentary, DOOMED: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s THE FANTASTIC FOUR will see its world premiere take place at Comic-Con this Summer.

The documentary sheds new light on the mysterious circumstances surrounding the legendary cult classic and “lost” Roger Corman film, The Fantastic Four.

In 1994, Roger Corman was tapped to produce this Marvel superhero story on a very small film budget. The film was ultimately shelved prior to distribution, but a VHS copy was mysteriously leaked and the movie became a darling of film bootleggers and, more recently, web pirates.  Rumors and speculation surrounding the production have become as much a part of the lore of the film as the movie itself.

The feature length documentary was edited and directed by east coast film studies professor and independent filmmaker, Marty Langford and executive produced by LA-based casting director, Mark Sikes.  Sikes was the casting assistant on the 1994 Concorde-New Horizons / Neue Constantin co-production, and was on site at Corman’s studio, offices and locations during the 28 day production.

The original Oley Sassone-directed film stars Alex Hyde-White, Rebecca Staab, Jay Underwood, Carl Ciarfalio and Michael Bailey Smith as Marvel’s “First Family of Super Heroes”, along with Joseph Culp who played ‘Dr. Doom’. These principals are all included in DOOMED: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s THE FANTASTIC FOUR. 

Other interview subjects include:

-Roger Corman, executive producer

-Jonathan Fernandez, VP or Marketing for Concorde/New Horizons

-Glenn Garland, editor

-Chris Gore, on-set journalist

-Sean Howe, author, “Marvel Comics: The Untold Story”

-Lloyd Kaufman, president Troma Entertainment

-Mark Sikes, casting assistant

-John Vulich, make up/effects

The world premiere of this documentary comes mere weeks before the August 7^th debut of the new 20^th Century Fox reboot, Fantastic Four, directed by Josh Trank.  Constantin Films is among the worldwide distributors of this reboot, a role that would have been impossible without their involvement in the 1994 original film.

The trailer for DOOMED: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s THE FANTASTIC FOUR has racked up nearly 400,000 views on YouTube.  Distribution rights for the documentary are still available.

DOOMED: The Untold Story of Roger Corman’s THE FANTASTIC FOUR will screen at the Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival.  Judged by a panel of industry luminaries, the CCI-IFF screens genre-related films in the following categories: Action/Adventure, Animation, Comics-Oriented, Documentary (Pop Culture–Related), Horror/Suspense, Humor, and Science Fiction/Fantasy. Awards and prizes will be given out at Comic-Con, with film screenings all four days of the event.

Executive Producer Mark Sikes and editor/director Marty Langford will be in attendance at the screening to introduce the documentary.