In the late 70’s one superhero had a tight grip on the television industry and that show is fondly remembered even now by most people for numerous reasons. Even the most casual of TV viewer will have seen a shot of Lou Ferringo in his green makeup with only his purple pants on at some stage in their life. Of course I am talking about The Incredible Hulk series which blazed brightly through Television screens. But by 1982 the show had been cancelled and viewers had moved onto other things. But the green paint look was not forgotten by Bob Shreck, Bob Karwoski and Larry Ruggiero (And lets not forget editor Marc Harwood) who had that look in mind when they made their 16mm movie The Incredible Hulk vs. The Ever Lovin’ Blue Eyed Thing.
If you’re interested in watching a funny (And messed up, in certain places) short film then you have come to the right place. The basic plot revolves around a very strange bar/nightclub where the Fantastic Four’s Thing is trying to relax with a pint or two but just cannot get his happy face on (Due in part to being a grumpy bugger, as well as the interesting array of characters that reside there. But I’ll talk about that later). It is not until his old sparring partner, The Incredible Hulk, turns up that he truly starts to chill out. But enough talk, here is the short film for your viewing pleasure:
The whole thing has a Rocky Horror Show patch-work vibe to it, with colorful costumes and a real sense of fun. Aside from the various monsters, aliens and just general weirdos who pop up in this short, there is a list of well-known characters that pop up. Here are some of the ones I managed to spot: Superman, Spider-man, X-Men’s Angel and Nightcrawler, Chewbacca, Darth Vader (who struts his funky stuff), The Blues Brothers, a Tuscan raider, Dragon Man and Doc Savage (Still not sure about this one but I double checked the credits and it says he is there somewhere!). Truth be told there are probably even more!
Yes sir, this movie is a continuity fan’s nightmare with different universes all sharing the same space together, but least they are all dressed in the right attire. This brings us to the costumes, which vary greatly in quality. Some of them are obviously bargain basement stuff but others have had some real effort put into them. The Hulk makeup is straight from the TV show and fits in nicely. The Thing’s costume is incredible and as controversial as it sounds, this is the best live-action version of The Thing I have seen. It’s obviously not as realistic as the recent movie franchise’s version but it certainly keeps more in line with the character’s comic book roots. This Ben Grimm gets the moody, mardy look down to a tee but also does not come off as to depressing and melancholy, more just really uptight. And as bad as it is I cannot help but laugh whenever I hear Ben Grimm shout “Back off bitch” to a lady of the night (Though it’s not so funny to watch him get a laugh out of almost killing same said woman with a beer glass thrown at her head).
For the most part it’s all just a bit of harmless 70’s fun, but there is some nice skill on show for such a short feature, and the cracking soft punk soundtrack is also worth noting. It might not to everyone’s tastes but I certainly got a buzz out of it and there is a weird pleasure to be found watching The Thing lamp Darth Vader in the gut while The Hulk smacks Chewbacca so hard he whelps like a dog (Though it kind of sucks that the two never actually fight against each other). It certainly is amateurish but still fun. If you like the movie there is a great interview with Gerry Giovinco the genius behind the actual costume.
Grizzly Bomb 