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1992's secret Doctor Strange movie attempt with Doctor Mordrid could have drastically changed Marvel's cinematic landscape. The movie lost its licence for Doctor Strange before it was completed. Doctor Mordrid, a low-budget hero, shares similarities with Doctor Strange, ultimately shaping Marvel's occult cinematic future.

Before the MCU became the giant it is today, a secret Doctor Strange movie was created in 1992 that you probably never heard of. Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange is the definitive live-action adaptation of the Marvel Comics mainstay, with Strange's MCU story now being one of the most central in the current Multiverse Saga. By now, the character is privy to the McU's most mind-bending narratives and visuals, which are befitting of his entire Mo. Previous live-action iterations of Doctor Strange, however, weren't quite as much of a spectacle.

The first attempt to bring Doctor Strange to live-action was in the 1978 television movie, Dr. Strange starring Peter Hooten and Jessica Walter.

This article contains Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness spoilers

If box-office receipts are any indication, you’ve probably watched Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness at least once. You may have loved it, thrilled by Sam Raimi’s wild direction and its gnarly imagery. Or you may have hated it, disappointed by its nonsensical plot decisions and waste of talented actors.

Whether you’re all in or all out on Multiverse of Madness, the latest MCU entry has connections to a bevy of other cinematic offerings. These ten movies are sure to appease those disappointed by Doctor Strange’s trip across alternate realities and sate those hungry for more mind-bending heroics.

Doctor Mordrid (1992)

These days, we think of the MCU as an unstoppable monolith, the king of the pop culture landscape. But that wasn’t always the case. In fact, in the 1990s Marvel Comics filed for bankruptcy,...

The 1992 Full Moon flick Doctor Mordrid starring Jeffrey Combs was originally intended to be a Doctor Strange movie. Unfortunately, the rights reverted back to Marvel before Charles Band could get the film made.

With an actual Doctor Strange movie in the works, it seems fitting Band would give his pseudo-take on the character the Blu-ray treatment.

Re-Animator’s Jeffrey Combs dons his finest Doctor Strange lounge-wear to play enigmatic interdimensional sorcerer/New York landlord Dr. Anton Mordrid, sworn to protect our world by guarding the gates of the fourth dimension from his mortal enemy, the diabolical warlock Kabul (Brian Thompson, "The X-Files"), while also finding the time to for a little romance with a pretty police research consultant tenant (Yvette Nipar, “Robocop: The Series”).

When Band lost the rights to make a Doctor Strange movie, C. Courtney Joyner’s script was rewritten to create an entirely new supernatural superhero...

Re-Animator, The Beast Within and Camp Dread are among the horror films to appear on DVD and Blu-ray this month. Nick takes a look...

Feature

Wow. Just a month in and this regular post dedicated to the - shall we say - more idiosyncratic, less delicate of movies (or shall we just say “gory horrors and not-quite-b-movies”) has the splendid fortune of getting to review Stuart Gordon’s tongue-in-cheek classic, Re-Animator.

Produced by Brian Yuzna, the warped individual behind the brutal class satire/mutant cannibalism jaunt Society, and starring that rubber-faced icon of the midnight movie, Jeffrey Combs, this remains one of the crowning glories of 80s cult film-making. Re-Animator's essentially an outlandish, sillier take on Hp Lovecraft’s spin on the Frankenstein mad-scientist story, and Combs, who you’ll undoubtedly know from such box-office juggernauts as Doctor Mordrid and Cellar Dweller (reviewed here next month), plays brilliant-if-misguided medical student Herbert West.

Stars: Jeffrey Combs, Yvette Nipar, Jay Acovone, Keith Coulouris, Brian Thompson, Jeff Austin | Written by C. Courtney Joyner | Directed by Charles & Albert Band

88 Films are a company that release some real oddities when it comes to movies, and most of them come from Charles Band’s Full Moon company. Doctor Mordrid is one of these, and hiding away in the nineties section of direct to video releases is very reminiscent to a certain Marvel character known as Dr. Strange. With a little research it comes as no surprise that Albert Band (who directed this along with Charles) once held the option to make a live action Dr. Strange movie, but when this ran out…the characters and movie were altered and yes, you guessed it we were left with Doctor Mordrid.

The fact that this could have been a Marvel live action movie from the nineties in many ways raises alarm bells,...

Full Moon Features recently announced that more of their cult horror titles would be released on Blu-ray. The first batch includes the first three Puppet Master movies available on Blu-ray individually or in a three-disc set. We have release details, plus a look at the HD-remastered trailers for all three films.

For over thirty years Charles Band has been creating modern day horror classics such as Puppetmaster, Trancers and Subspecies. According to Charles Band, Chairman and Founder of Full Moon Features, “After testing the Blu-ray market with the original Puppetmaster, and Subspecies, Full moon will move forward with additional Blu-ray releases of the best selling titles in the Full Moon catalog. The fan response has been overwhelming in support of Blu-ray, and they are demanding more. Featuring wide-screen 16:9 fully remastered picture and sound, these transfers have never looked more beautiful, and we’ll re-release the titles on DVD as well.

Full Moon Entertainment has unveiled its remastered Blu-Ray versions of Puppet Master, Puppet Master II and Puppet Master III, and we have the details, along with three remastered trailers giving a taste at what has been done to improve each film. There’s also a promise of more horror films coming from the company.

Here’s the press release from the company:

On September 18th, 2012, the premiere Full Moon Blu-ray releases will be the first three Puppet Master films, available individually and as a three-disc set. Subsequent releases will include sequels from the Subspecies and Trancers franchises, as well as classic films directed by Stuart Gordon such as Pit and the Pendulum starring Lance Henkrisen and Castle Freak starring Jeffrey Combs.

Other Full Moon classics seeing release on Blu-ray for the first time include Dollman and Dollman vs. The Demonic Toys starring Tim Thomerson, Vampire Journals, Doctor Mordrid, Demonic Toys,...

Full Moon Entertainment is on the verge of releasing the remastered Blu-ray versions of the original Puppet Master, Puppet Master II, and Puppet Master III; and to celebrate their arrival, they've unleashed brand new trailers for each!

From the Press Release:

On September 18th, 2012, the premiere Full Moon Blu-ray releases will be the first three Puppet Master films, available individually and as a three-disc set. Subsequent releases will include sequels from the Subspecies and Trancers franchises, as well as classic films directed by Stuart Gordon such as Pit and the Pendulum starring Lance Henkrisen and Castle Freak starring Jeffrey Combs.

Other Full Moon classics seeing release on Blu-ray for the first time include Dollman and Dollman vs. The Demonic Toys starring Tim Thomerson, Vampire Journals, Doctor Mordrid, Demonic Toys, Head of the Family and more to be announced later in 2012. They will be available for the low price of only...

After testing the waters with Blu-ray versions of Puppet Master and Subspecies, Full Moon has announced that they are working on bringing more of their horror catalog to Blu-ray. The first new release includes the first three Puppet Master films:

Press Release: For over thirty years Charles Band has been creating modern day horror classics such as Puppetmaster, Trancers and Subspecies. According to Charles Band, Chairman and Founder of Full Moon Features, “After testing the Blu-ray market with the original Puppetmaster, and Subspecies, Full moon will move forward with additional Blu-ray releases of the best selling titles in the Full Moon catalog. The fan response has been overwhelming in support of Blu-ray, and they are demanding more. Featuring wide-screen 16:9 fully remastered picture and sound, these transfers have never looked more beautiful, and we’ll re-release the titles on DVD as well.”

On September 18th, 2012, the premiere Full Moon Blu-ray...

There's nothing like a good old fashioned Full Moon feature to conjure up the chills and laughs of days gone by. The studio announced today that even more of its library is going high-def! I'm clearing a spot for Castle Freak right now!

From the Press Release

For over thirty years Charles Band has been creating modern day horror classics such as Puppetmaster, Trancers and Subspecies. According to Charles Band, Chairman and Founder of Full Moon Features, “After testing the Blu-ray market with the original Puppetmaster, and Subspecies, Full moon will move forward with additional Blu-ray releases of the best selling titles in the Full Moon catalog. The fan response has been overwhelming in support of Blu-ray, and they are demanding more. Featuring wide-screen 16:9 fully remastered picture and sound, these transfers have never looked more beautiful, and we’ll re-release the titles on DVD as well.”

On September 18th,...

From the early days of Hollywood, film studios have believed that if one is good, five or six are better. That seems even truer today, when deals are inked for sequels before the first film even gets released. Even worse, it seems that over the years we’ve been bombarded by terrible sequels or worse, sequels to movies that weren’t all that great to begin with. And yet, there are those movies that are so good, they need – nay, deserve – to have their stories continued on the big screen...

10. Crossroads (1986)

Ralph Macchio plays Eugene Martone, a young guitar prodigy at Julliard who becomes enamored with Robert Johnson, and finds his friend Willie Brown (Joe Seneca) in a minimum security hospital. Eugene believes there is a lost song of Johnson’s, and Willie tricks him into breaking him out in exchange for the song. But in all honesty, Willie wants...

I was going through some of my old VHS tapes (yes, I still keep them, and keep a working Vcr on hand to watch them) and came across a copy of Doctor Mordrid. I had been planning on writing up piece in praise of this great b-movie, when I realized there was a bigger picture. The star of this film is an unsung hero of b-movie fans everywhere. He’s been in everything, but his name isn’t known by many of those outside of the diehard fans. He’s done many cult films, but doesn’t get as much attention as Bruce Campbell. And what’s worse, the man can actually act. So now, I say, let’s give tribute where tribute is due, and give praise to the work of Jeffrey Combs.

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