The Cinema Snob reviews The Fantastic Four (1994).

The Cinema Snow reviews The Fantastic Four (1994).



I actually like this movie quite a bit more than the 2005 Fantastic Four movie. It manages to make a halfway-decent movie considering the low budget and the effects are actually quite good all things considered (well, sometimes).

Too bad it was never intended for release. You can read more about it here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fantastic_Four_(unreleased_film)

 

I love a bad movie as much as the next guy, but that movie is just sooo bad. I don't mean the special effects either, I mean the dumb story, script, and bad acting. I thought it would be good for a laugh. Boy, was I wrong.

I don't necessarily believe the whole "never intended to be released" story either. It's a fan theory that somehow morphed into the truth.

 

I was way into comics during the 80s and 90s and I remember seeing updates about the progress of the FF movie in the news pages of Marvel's various comic books and then suddenly... pffft, it disappeared.

Bootleg VHS tapes of it started turning up at comic book conventions shortly thereafter, I was tempted to buy one a couple of times but they were always terrible quality copies, not worth the $20 or $25 asking price.

20 years later I finally got the chance to see it on YouTube and y'know what? It really wasn't as bad as I'd heard. I'd rank it above the "Captain America" and "Punisher" movies that actually got legitimately released around the same time (straight to video, but still!)

I reviewed it on my blog a while ago: http://fatfreddyscat.hubpages.com/hub/It-Came-From-the-Bargain-Bin-THE-FANTASTIC-FOUR-1994

 

There was a big article in one of the film magazines in 1994 and I was pretty excited to see this before it disappeared. I finally saw it a few years ago and enjoyed it. The only real negative I had was that they didn't have money to spend on the effects and it showed.

It's too bad Marvel won't buy the rights and release it as a special feature somewhere.

 

They really should release it on DVD/Blu-Ray with a commentary track and documentary about the making of the movie! It's one of those cult movies that would totally sell.

 

There is a documentary about it in the works, called "Doomed!" Not sure when it's due out though...