"The Incredible Hulk Meets the Ever Lovin' Blue Eyed Thing" 1980s fan film

Fan films based on comic book properties are nothing new, but I had quite a shock a few weeks ago when I found the above 8mm film featuring none other than the Hulk and the Thing.  At this point, it's almost 35 years old, so I'm surprised that a copy survived to be digitized, but I'm glad that one made it to YouTube.

Despite the technological limitations of the period, the film quality is decent, all things considering.  It's amusing to see all of the different costumed characters in this film, from Superman to Darth Vader (Star Wars was pretty new at this point) to the Thing himself.  The costume belongs to Gerry Giovinco, who relays the story behind this film here.  Joe Sinnott even drew what amounts to the flyer for the film, as can be seen above.

The film itself is fairly crude and, interestingly enough, it doesn't feature the Hulk and Thing fighting - they just hang out and drink for a bit.  Maybe the people behind the film were worried about messing up that great Thing costume.  As Giovinco explains, he created the costume to wear at a convention - and 35 years later, I still have yet to see a better Thing getup at any con I've been to.

The entire film has its audio dubbed, which is, of course, a sign of when it was filmed.  One of the directors listed in the credits is none other than Bob Schreck, who went on to be a top editor at DC for a time and is part of the Legendary line of comics (publisher of Holy Terror) today.

The film even has an IMDB page.  I can't figure out if the Thing only has one eye, as you can only see the right eye throughout the film, of if the other is just perpetually shadowed.

The date for this film is either 1982 or '83 (I found both dates listed), and the Hulk obviously takes its cues from the Ferrigno version.  What a strange find.  The film seems pretty random and madcap throughout - someone compared it to the Rocky Horror Picture Show - but it's fun to see.  I wonder what these guys are up to today.  I'd sure love to chat it up with Giovinco about his Thing costume.