Man-Thing (film)

Man-Thing
Directed by	Brett Leonard
Produced by	Avi Arad Scott Karol Gimel Everett Christopher Petzel
Written by	Hans Rodionoff
Based on	Man-Thing by Stan Lee Roy Thomas Gray Morrow Gerry Conway
Starring	Steve Bastoni Rachael Taylor Alex O'Loughlin Mark Stevens Rawiri Paratene Jack Thompson Robert Mammone Matthew Le Nevez
Music by	Roger Mason
Cinematography	Steve Arnold
Edited by	Martin Connor
Production company	Lions Gate Films Artisan Entertainment Fierce Entertainment Marvel Enterprises Screenland Movieworld
Distributed by	Lions Gate Films
Release dates	April 21, 2005 (2005-04-21) (Singapore)
Country	United States Germany Australia
Language	English
Budget	$30 million[1]
Box office	$1.1 million[2]

Man-Thing (also known as Man-Thing: The Nature of Fear) is a 2005 Australian-American horror film, directed by Brett Leonard and featuring the Marvel Comics swamp creature Man-Thing created by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Gerry Conway. The plot is based on a storyline by Steve Gerber, who wrote the best-known series of Man-Thing comics. Agents of an oil tycoon vanish while exploring a swamp marked for drilling. The local sheriff investigates and faces a Seminole legend come to life: Man-Thing, a shambling swamp-monster.

The film appeared on the Sci Fi Channel in 2005 under the Sci Fi Pictures label. It starred Matthew Le Nevez, Rachael Taylor, and Jack Thompson. The film was released theatrically in a handful of International markets. The film was a box office bomb grossing only $1 million and received generally negative reviews from some critics, and was considered by many to be among the worst films ever made, and among the worst films ever made by Marvel Entertainment.^[3]

Plot

At Dark Waters, a Native American sacred land containing an enigmatic swamp spirit, a teenager is murdered by a plant-like monster. The following day, young replacement sheriff Kyle Williams reaches Bywater and meets with deputy sheriff Fraser, who tells him the previous sheriff is among 47 missing persons since oil tycoon Fred Schist bought the ancient tribal lands from shaman and Seminole chieftain Ted Sallis, the first to disappear. Schist claimed Sallis had sold legally and escaped with the money, and asked the sheriff for help: Local protestors opposed his perfectly legal activities, and mestizo scoundrel Renee Laroque was sabotaging his facilities. Williams investigated this while trying to find an explanation for the missing people, some of which were found brutally murdered with plants growing from inside their bodies. Photographer Mike Ploog and shaman Pete Horn tell Williams local legends about the guardian spirit, suggesting that it could be real.

As sabotage and murder continue, Williams investigates the swamp with Fraser and finds the previous sheriff's corpse. Medical examiner Val Mayerik admits that the previous sheriff had ordered him to file the deaths as alligator attacks, even if Mayerik believed otherwise.

Williams and Fraser try to track Laroque, who lives in the swamp, by using a canoe. At the same time, Schist sends local thugs the Thibadeux brothers to track and murder Laroque. The monster in the swamp finds the Thibadeux and kills them. Williams is ensnared by Laroque, who admits having helped Schist buy the lands, but then claims that Sallis opposed to the sale; Laroque insists that the guardian spirit would keep on murdering until Schists stops desecrating the sacred swamp. Fraser tries to help Laroque, but the Man-Thing timely appears and murders Fraser; Laroque knocks Williams down and escapes. Williams wakes up and finds Ploog, who has blurry pictures of the monster; the sheriff seizes the photographs and forbids Ploog to come back to the swamp.

The following day, Williams interviews Horn and Schist, with schoolteacher Teri Richards' help, for whom he starts having romantic feelings. Horn goes to the swamp and tries to stop the Man-Thing with prayers and sacrificing his life but, although the monster kills Horn, he is not affected. That night, Mayerik autopsies the old sheriff and finds a bullet. He tries to tell Williams, but he is back at the swamp, unreachable; he tells Richards, and she goes to the swamp to tell Williams. Meanwhile, Ploog had returned to the swamp, trying to get a picture of the monster, but instead he startles Fred Schist, who was in the swamp to murder Laroque – Schist shoots and kills Ploog. Soon afterward, Laroque ambushes and defeats Schist's son and minion Jake.

Williams finds Ploog's corpse and reasons that Schist murdered Ploog. He then meets Richards, who tells him about Mayerik's autopsy. Williams concludes that Schist is guilty of several murders, trying to incriminate Laroque simply to avoid punishment – in fact, by Schist's confession to Laroque, he murdered Sallis and buried him in Dark Waters (which, due to the magic embedded in the soil, made him go back as the Man-Thing). Richards reveals that she can guide him to Laroque's lair but the Man-Thing starts chasing them. He chases them to the drilling tower at Dark Waters, where Schist is leveling his weapon at Laroque in an attempt to prevent Laroque to blow it away with dynamite. Laroque nonetheless tries to detonate his bomb and is shot and wounded by Schist; Schist then wounds Williams.

However, the Man-Thing arrives and brutally murders Schist by filling his body with oil. Then, the Man-Thing moves toward Williams and Richards. Laroque sacrifices himself shouting at the monster and blowing the bomb. The monster survives the flames, but then is absorbed back to the land.

Deviations from the comic book

The movie changed the setting from the Florida Everglades to Louisiana (though the film was actually made in Australia), and the creature's powers from burning those who "know fear" to being able to manipulate the swamp's vegetation. The movie also makes no mention of A.I.M. or its attempt to steal the super soldier serum. The character is also represented in a significantly more antagonistic light than the comic-book version. Man-Thing's former identity remained Ted Sallis, though in the film he is portrayed as a Native American shaman instead of a scientist. Consequently, the Man-Thing's origin is somewhat different, though the Nexus of All Realities is still involved. Major characters are named after Man-Thing artists Mike Ploog and Val Mayerik and writer Steve Gerber.

Cast

Production

Development

In 2000, Marvel Entertainment entered into a joint venture agreement with Artisan Entertainment to turn at least 15 Marvel superhero franchises into live-action films, television series, direct-to-video films and internet projects. These franchises included an adaptation of Man-Thing.^[4] Plans to make a film about Man-Thing were first announced in 2001.^[5] It was variously considered for a direct-to-video release,^[6] or a theatrical release.^[7] After the success of Bryan Singer's X-Men (2000), M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable (2000) and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002) the film was moved to a theatrical release to exploit on the success of superheroes.^[8]

Post-production

On Octobor 27,2003 it was reports that Artisan, who partnership with Marvel Enterprises is production The Punisher and Man-Thing movies, is being purchase by Lions Gate (then known as Lions Gate Films).^[9]In February 2004, the film production and distribution company Lions Gate Entertainment merged with Artisan Entertainment and receive the film rights to Iron Fist, Black Widow, Man-Thing and The Punisher.^[10] In January 2004, producer Avi Arad said Man-Thing was more of a departure from the original comic than were Marvel's other film character in that it was a horror movie with a menacing central character.^[5] On April 2004, the film had been completed, with the finished print received and waiting to be tested with audiences, after which an exact release date would be determined, the film was rated R for violence, grisly images, language and some sexuality by the MPAA.^[5]

The movie had a production budget of $30 million dollars.^[1] Then Marvel Studios CEO Avi Arad admitted it was a mistake not keeping tabs on the production as it was being filmed so far away in Australia. He stated "The one hiccup we had was the one project we didn't micromanage. We were not going to the Outback, there was so much going on. We will never do that again. We should never have trusted anybody that far away without our supervision. Thankfully it was a small movie and not a disaster. If we were there and on top of it, it would have been a amazing movie. I look at the {horror} genre, and I think 'Sh--, I can't believe this'. We've learned our lesson."^[1]

Filming

Man-Thing was shot completely on location in Sydney, Australia, included Wiseman’s Ferry, Serenity Cove Studios at Kurnell for exterior swamp scenes and Homebush Bay.^[11] Man-Thing concluded its principle photography in 2003.

Effects

Marvel Studios producer Avi Arad said "the lead character in the Man-Thing movie would be a combination of prosthetics and computer-generated effects.^[5] From the outset, Man-Thing was intended to be a prosthetic, CG-enhanced creature", Arad told The Continuum during a visit to Marvel Studios So there was a great deal of R&D.... There's positional stuff happening on location, on the set, but at the same time the stuff you don't currently see in camera was always engineered to be enhanced by digital effects. So when you see the movie, hopefully the line is pretty blurry. It's not an all-CG creature.^[5]

Design

Special effects makeup was by the Make-Up Effects Group of Australia.^[5] The Man-Thing was built as a full-size creature suit, performed by Mark Stevens, a 7'1" (216 cm) Australian actor, ex-wrestler and stuntman.^[5]

Although no full-digital Man-Thing model was made due to budgetary constraints, the suit was combined with digital moving branches and tendrils for certain sequences, also well as digital augmentation for the eyes.^[5]

Music

The band AzUR (DOG Productions Wayne and Luke joined with Bec And Freddie) recorded the song The Man-Thing Lives Again that played over the end credits of the film. It was supposed to be released as a promo video, but since the movie was in a constant state of flux (financial, script, etc...) and wasn't going to go to theatres (as intended), the music video was pulled lack of budget, and Marvel didn't want to leak advance images of the set & creature costume before the films eventual release.One of the band members has worked on the footage and uploaded a remix on YouTube.^[5]

Soundtrack

Man Thing album was composed by Roger Mason and was released on March 17, 2009. Soundtrack consists of 21 tracks with duration over more than hour. Album was released by Nice Spot. ^[12]

Track listing

Release

Man-Thing had originally been scheduled for release date on August 27, 2004. The US release date was set for Halloween (October 31) 2004,^[5] but when Marvel Enterprises released its second quarter financial report, Man-Thing was included in the 2005 line-up with a release date "to be decided. Reportedly, the movie was so bad that the test audience walked out before it was finished. So, Marvel put it back on video in the U.S. since wouldn't be bankable in a domestic release, but did release it internationally in places like Russia and the United Arab Emirates. It aired on the Sci-Fi Channel as a "Sci-Fi Original" movie, Man-Thing was released April 30, 2005, as a "Sci-Fi Original" on the Sci-Fi Channel.^[5]

Home media

The film was released on DVD on June 14, 2005 in the United States.^[13]

It was released as a two-disc DVD in Region 2 format.^[14]

Reception

Box office

While the film was released direct to television in North America, it played theatrically in three International markets where it accumulated $1,123,136 in box-office grosses.^[15] On April 28, 2005, Man-Thing opened in Russia and four breakaway republics.^[16][17] The film opened on October 26, 2005, in United Arab Emirates.^[18] Finally, the film opened in Spain on March 3, 2006.^[19]

Critical reception

Upon its release, Man-Thing received generally negative response and reviews from film critics. On the film-critics aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it earned 17% positive reviews based on 50 reviews.^[20]

References

External links

• Man-Thing at the Internet Movie Database