Marvel Mondays #16: Doctor Mordrid (1992)

So here's a weird one. Remember how I said a few weeks ago on this blog that there would be times where we'd be taking in some films where the connection to Marvel was a bit tenuous? This is one of those times. Rather like the early '80s, the early '90s were a quiet time for Marvel in terms of cinematic output. With their two late '80s efforts (Howard the Duck and Captain America) both bombing horrifically and the various attempts at relaunching the Incredible Hulk and other spin-offs never really getting anywhere, the period between 1990 and about 1997-98 saw Marvel enter what could pretty much be called the wilderness years. In time, Men In Black, Blade and the X-Men would kick off the resurrection of the genre that's pretty much continued ever since culminating in the MCU films but prior to that there were a few odds 'n' sods type efforts which slipped through the net, generally to little or no success.

"Doctor Mordrid", released in 1992, is a case in point. The back story goes that indie film makers Full Moon had bought the rights to do a new Dr Strange film but unfortunately they took so long making it that by the time it was ready for release, the contract had run out and they couldn't use the name. Not wanting to let their efforts go to waste, they simply renamed the titular character and put the film out anyway. So...given that it's effectively a Dr Strange film in all but name, what the heck, it's going in.

This isn't our first encounter with Dr Strange of course - we reviewed the 1978 film about the character way back in November and, mainly thanks to the efforts of Jessica Walter as the chief villainess Morgan Le Fay, it was probably the best of the late '70s Marvel films. Though obviously that's a bit like winning a "Tallest Dwarf" contest. This version sees a few slight changes - rather than being a medical doctor, Strange/Mordrid is a university professor who specialises in demonology. The film kicks off with him having a conversation with the Ancient One who appears in this film as a pair of eyes floating in outer space - let's just say that if you remember the video for Billy Idol's '80s classic "Eyes Without A Face" then you may find it a bit difficult not to start singing "Les yeux sans viiii-saaaa-geeee" at this point. Apparently, a major threat is coming to face humankind and Mordrid needs to consult the Philosophers' Stone to keep on top of it (sorry JK Rowling but this was five years before Harry Potter so you can't sue).

Anyway, Mordrid is also the landlord for a block of flats in New York and his tenants include an irritable old lady and a bloke with a huge dog who are always arguing with each other and a police researcher, Sam, who's just moved in down the hall and keeps getting caught in the middle of their disputes. Hey, even cosmic guardians have earthly problems too apparently. He also has a study full of cool cosmic library stuff in the middle of a New York tenement block and a pet raven called Edgar Allen rather awesomely.

However, those problems are nothing compared to what's going on in the wider cosmos - at the start of the film we see the main villain Kabal ambushing a security truck in Brazil by hypnotising one of the guards into shooting the other one before unloading the truck and then turning the gun on himself. Also, dunno if this is just me but does anyone else think that Kabal looks oddly like wrestler/rockstar Chris Jericho from his early longhair days? Just me then? Okay.

We find out that Kabal and Mordrid were both students at the same warlock school many centuries ago but while Mordrid stuck to the straight and narrow, Kabal was much more malevolent and wanted to use his powers to enslave humanity. After a conflict between the two, Kabal was imprisoned in some big cosmic castle (which looks like they got it in a clearance sale from the '70s Doctor Strange film).

Mordrid heads to the castle to find out what's going on and finds the guardian Gunner blinded and Kabal escaped. However, Mordrid is able to restore Gunner's sight and finds out that Kabal has headed to earth with the aim of getting the necessary precious metals needed to release the other demons imprisoned in the fortress which Gunner is guarding over.

To this end, he's enlisted the help of a couple of thugs called Adrian and Irene who look like they've stepped out of a Guns 'n' Roses video circa 1989. Adrian is enlisted as Kabal's henchman while Irene ends up stripping naked and then being sacrificed by Kabal in order for him to drain her life energy.

When Irene's murder case turns up at the police station, Sam suggests that her police colleagues go to see Dr Mordrid as she recognises the symbol branded on the girl's head to one of the ones that Mordrid showed her in his flat. Unfortunately, the cops get completely the wrong end of the stick and Mordrid manages to talk himself into getting arrested.

After being grilled at the cop shop, Mordrid eventually persuades Sam to recover his amulet (which has the power to briefly freeze time) from the lab and they use it to make their escape. In the meantime, Kabal has given Adrian the power of immunity for 24 hours and he promptly challenges a cop to a fight and Molotovs his car which leads to him getting arrested as well. Exactly how this fits into the plan is never really explained - you'd have thought having an extra henchman on the ground would be preferable to having one in the police station as a distraction tactic. Or perhaps he just sussed that Adrian is rather irritating and didn't really fancy having him around as a "helper".

Mordrid and Sam escape to the park where Mordrid realises that Kabal has headed to the museum on the other side of town to recover the last artifact that he needs for his demon summoning. As he's unable to get there on time, Mordrid uses his ability to leave his body and send his spirit there.

Mordrid and Kabal have their confrontation at the museum and you know what that means...

BADLY ANIMATED DINOSAUR SKELETON FIGHT!

Well, technically a T-Rex skeleton and a woolly mammoth skeleton fighting but hey, who's counting? Kabal is on the verge of releasing the (badly animated claymation) demons but he takes his eye off the ball and ends up gored to death by the woolly mammoth skeleton. Well, you certainly can't accuse the makers of this film of not being inventive with their on screen deaths.

World saved, Mordrid teleports back to the park but he and Sam are interrupted by Adrian who goes to stab them but is frozen by the ring and gratuitously kicked in the nuts for his trouble. With the cops closing in, Mordrid is summoned back to the magic plane by the Ancient One as too many people are now aware of his presence on earth. Sam agrees to look after his flat while he's gone.

Fast forward six months ago and Sam is spending Christmas alone at the flat watching "It's A Wonderful Life" when Mordrid returns and asks if she wants to travel to the magic plane with him which she agrees to once they've had a mug of eggnog each. And that's where the film ends rather festively.

Although it's cheap and cheesy, at least "Doctor Mordrid" is reasonably good low-rent fun. With suitably hammy acting, enjoyably silly special FX sequences and enough of a plot to keep you engaged, it makes for a reasonably enjoyable 75 minutes (our shortest film on the blog so far and a record that I suspect may well hold up for the rest of this series) of viewing time. Inevitably though given the low budget and Marvel withdrawing their endorsement, it was pretty much a straight-to-video effort and a sequel was not forthcoming. Indeed, the next time we'd see Dr Strange would be under his Marvel name about 20 years later. But that's a film we're a long long long way off reviewing at the moment...

FINAL RATING: 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 (5/10)

CURRENT MARVEL FILM TABLE

1. The Incredible Hulk Returns (1988) (6/10)
2. Conan The Barbarian (1982) (6/10)
3. Conan The Destroyer (1984) (6/10)
4. The Trial Of The Incredible Hulk (1989) (6/10)
5. Doctor Mordrid (1992) (5/10)
6. The Punisher (1989) (5/10)
7. Doctor Strange (1978) (5/10)
8. Red Sonja (1985) (4/10)
9. Captain America 2: Death Too Soon (1979) (4/10)
10. Spiderman (1977) (4/10)
11. The Death Of The Incredible Hulk (1990) (3/10)
12. Spiderman: The Dragon's Challenge (1979) (3/10)
13. Howard The Duck (1986) (2/10)
14. Captain America (1990) (2/10)
15. Captain America (1979) (2/10)
16. Spiderman Strikes Back (1978) (2/10)

NEXT WEEK: Ever wondered what would happen if you tried to put a Fantastic Four film together on a budget of about twenty quid? Well, wonder no longer...