I really have an affection for this truly campy, cheaply-made, cheesy film from the early 80's. Wes Craven, before he hits it real big, obviously has some directorial flair, but there is a lot here that is atypical of his work. The special effects are really cheap, I mean, aside from the Swamp Thing outfit, everything else is very badly done from the hideous, cowardly midget to the overblown, terrible outfit of another "fearsome" monster that personifies the very essence of evil - or so we are told. It would be very easy to dissect this film for all of its obvious faults, but what I do like is that it has that feel of an old sci-fi film from years gone by - good vs. evil. It has some decent acting and set locations. Louis Jourdan plays the suave villain as well as anybody and David Hess(Last House on the Left fame) plays a despicable henchman with few peers. And Adrienne Barbeau? She bares it and is beautiful in all forms of undress as her cleavage barely manages to stay on as she runs through swampland. She plays Alice Cable, a love interest for the Swamp Thing, a creation of serendipity and scientific experimentation. The story, loosely based on a comic book, is liberally dosed with action, inane dialog, and what you would expect for a film of this ilk, but all enjoyable. I enjoyed the character of Jude too, played with an innocence to acting(and perhaps talent) that few films would allow but comes off I think. Besides, Adrienne Barbeau is in it - this is one of the few times I really would like to have Cable!
Add a Review
-
BaronBl00d17 February 2008
-
bensonmum29 October 2005In a secret research facility in the middle of the swamp, Dr. Alex Holland is working on an experiment to combine plant and animal DNA. Alice Cable (Adrienne Barbeau) has been sent by the government to help with security. But when the evil Dr. Arcane's men storm to lab trying to get hold of Dr. Holland's work, the results are explosive, literally. Through a chemical reaction, Dr. Holland is transformed into the Swamp Thing. Now, Cable, with the help of the Swamp Thing, must keep the formula out of Dr. Arcane's hands.
I don't know why I insist on re-watching this movie every few years. It's not going to get any better. In fact, I enjoy it less and less with each successive viewing. Once you've seen the laughable creature design, once you've seen Barbeau being captured, once you've seen Dr. Arcane's transformation, once you've seen Barbeau run through the swamp in a wet t-shirt, and once you've seen the final showdown (which happens to be one of the most ridiculous things ever caught on film), there's really no reason to watch it again. One viewing should be enough for any masochist.
The biggest problem with Swamp Thing is the plot or should I say the lack of a plot. The whole "keep the formula from Dr. Arcane" idea is merely window dressing for what I see as the main theme running through the movie the rescue of Barbeau. At least 90% of the movie's runtime is devoted to the Swamp Thing rescuing Barbeau from Arcane's men. And Barbeau's rescue is repeated over and over and over . It's a bit like the bad, humid version of Groundhog Day.
So, why don't I rate it lower? There are a few set pieces that really work. The first 15 minutes or so (the period before Barbeau needs to be rescued) is nice. Also, the movie is beautifully shot. You can compare it with another of Craven's films, think of The Hills Have Eyes only in reverse. Where that movie was shot in such a way that you could almost feel the dry, hot California desert, with Swamp Thing, you can all but feel the humid, dank swamp. -
Minus_The_Beer2 August 2011From the mastermind behind such disturbing horror classics as "The Hills Have Eyes" and "Last House on the Left" comes a new dimension in terror "Swamp Thing!"
Yes, "Swamp Thing." For real. Wes Craven really directed a "Swamp Thing" movie.
Showing the world that he was capable of handling more than just mutants and lowlifes, Craven set to adapting the comic series of the same name to film. The results? Well, let's just say there's some mutants, some lowlifes and a topless Adrienne Barbeau. Not a bad mix if one may say so.
Meet Dr. Alec Holland. Holland, played by the great Ray Wise, is a scientist who likes spending his free time bogged down in the swamp. On the verge of an ecological breakthrough, he is tragically transformed into a hideous yet unstoppable mutant. Treading water and stomping through the bayou, it's up to him to help save a beautiful colleague (Barbeau) from certain danger while trying to come to terms with his rubber suit I mean his new body.
The film is mostly harmless fluff. Craven has his heart in the right place, and even when the film misfires (as it so often does) it's hard not to love it regardless. Barbeau absolutely steals the show and runs with it, although it must be noted that in the short time he spends on film, Ray Wise delivers a charming and wholly human performance. David Hess also pops in to do what he does best: playing a merciless thug. There's also a score by Harry Manfredini at hand that evokes images of Crystal Lake, but for the purposes of this film, let's just call it Crystal Marsh. Also, look out for a cameo from the elusive Manbearpig towards the end of the film.
In the end, "Swamp Thing" is far from the finest comic adaptation, but then again, it's not the worst either. Fact of the matter is that it's a harmless and enjoyable affair, provided one is in the appropriate state of mind. Filled to the brim with oddball characters (Jude deserves his own spin-off) and goofy monster antics, "Swamp Thing" is an odd creature that you can't help but adore. -
If only the first half of Wes Craven's Swamp Thing had been as incredibly craptastic as the second: the latter part of the film sees a henchmen transformed into a disfigured dwarf, the villain of the piece becoming a sword-wielding wolf/pig creature with a really hairy back, and Adrienne Barbeau stripping off to take a skinny dip in a swamp (mind the leeches, deary).
Sadly, in order to get to this cheezy but still very fun stuff, the viewer has to trawl through lots of bland comic-book tosh including a dreary introduction to the characters, repetitive poorly staged fight and chase scenes featuring David Hess and his team of stereotypically dumb henchmen, and clumsily handled attempts at tragedy and pathos. It doesn't help either that the central character, The Swamp Thing, is so crap to look at—a man in a rubbishy rubber suit that buckles unconvincingly at the joints.
Worth a look if you're a big fan of the comics, Craven or Barbeau, but casual viewers will probably switch off before they even get to the most enjoyable bits. -
ccthemovieman-120 August 2006This reminded me of the 1950s science-fiction/horror films with its primitive dialog, hokey action scenes and laughable makeup for the monsters. Oh, man, does this look bad as time goes on and we have been treated to 25 years of great special-effects since this was made.
What makes this more attractive to watch than those '50s films, however, are great swamp photography, Adrienne Barbeau's body and a story that moves fast. Barbeau, as she was prone to do, appears to be only this is to show off her massive chest. However, it's pretty harmless fun, very tame compared to the horror movies of the past generation regarding gore and profanity. It's also pretty tame for a Wes Craven-directed film.
In the end, it's a good Class B film, usually fun to watch for a number of reasons. -
blanbrn7 September 2007Wes Craven, who's normally known for his horror films that bring terror and fright, here with this 1982 entry he toned it down a lot. 1982's "Swamp Thing" is certainly campy as you can tell from the scenes it's cheap made and the sets look unrealistic and finally the costume of the creature is much to be desired. Still for a 1982 film well before the big computer and special effects graphic boom it held up pretty good and it's still a fun little watch and it was nice to be treated to Adrienne Barbeau's performance. Set in the muggy and swamp land of the deep southern US a scientist Alec Holland(Ray Wise)meets up with a sexy federal government agent Alice Cable(Adrienne Barbeau)and they develop a cure thru chemicals that is supposed to end hunger. A bad guy nemesis Arcane(Louis Jourdan)plans to steal the serum potion and use it for his own deadly benefits, yet it backfires one day and Holland becomes Swamp Thing a half man and half plant superhero. From then like your typical comic book fashion the good guy against bad guy chase and adventure starts with the hero saving mankind, the planet, and the damsel. Overall good yet nothing great, an extra treat is the lake river bath of Adrienne when she gets topless! A good sexy performance from Barbeau that freshens up the dull camp and cheesy feel of this sci-fi cult film.
-
Filmnerd19843 April 2010Hilarious campy cheesefest "Swamp Thing" is an interesting look on Wes Craven's work as a director. people call him a hit and miss director, but i think he just says once in a while "damn it, lets just have fun on this movie". or maybe when studio execs are breathing down his neck he just makes things the opposite of what he wants. a good example would be "Cursed", he hated the studio interference according to the man himself. and he made an in-joke gester about it in the film. the werewolf giving the finger. Hilarious. in my opinion Craven is a great director. sometimes he'll make deadly serious horrors and sometimes he makes them funny. And trust me Swamp Thing is funny!
-
eibon092 November 2001Not a masterpiece by any means but still an entertaining film with a couple of postives. One, the appearence of Adrienne Barbeau who shows here why she was a mainstay in American horror films during the late 70s to early 80s. Two, the humorous but slightly dark appoarch of the material. Now for the negatives of the films. One, the acting goes from being very good to very bad in seconds. Two, the inconsistency of the film's sequences and story. Swamp Thing(1982) is what I consider a transitional film that bridges his early films of Last House on the Left(1972), and The Hills Have Eyes(1977) to his mid 1980s films like A Nightmare on Elm Street(1984). A very satifying performance is given by Last House on the Left(1972) actor, David Hess. Its too bad that Craven never worked with David Hess after this film because Hess added a true feeling of screen villainly in his performances for LHOTL & Swamp Thing(1982). Swamp Thing(1982) belongs in the category of cult classic status and as a middle of the road type of film for Wes Craven.
-
Groverdox18 November 2017For most of its run-time, "Swamp Thing" feels like an episode of "Tales From the Crypt" or "The Outer Limits" stretched out to feature length.
The film contains no surprises until one hour and eleven minutes into its hour-and-a-half run time. If you can't tell, I was counting.
Even if you've never heard of the DC character of the same name, you can see every twist and turn coming straight from the opening scenes. A good man and a good woman are working on a top secret formula in a lab in the Louisiana bayou. A bad guy - basically a third rate Bond villain - shows up with an army led by the always dependable David Hess and set about trying to steal the formula. In the process, the good guy is dosed with it and becomes the titular Swamp Thing.
I think the problem with this movie is that Wes Craven made it to prove he could direct an action movie. He proves that he was a remarkably average action director. Sure, it's a "monster movie", but the Swamp Thing is also a good guy; you're not supposed to be scared of him, and there is no attempt to make him such.
The only time the movie shows you anything interesting or surprising is in the final 20 minutes, where Craven is finally allowed to inject some horror into the proceedings. This is where the director obviously felt at home; it's the only time I was able to concentrate on the movie.
In its final act "Swamp Thing" turns into an "Island of Doctor Moreau" type of story, and it's only there that it becomes effective.
But after an hour and eleven minutes of pure tedium and mediocrity, you might have nodded off missed it. -
barrynewblood8 October 2020A woman is sent from D.C. to see what a scientist is up to in the swamps of Louisiana and gets caught in the middle of a terrifying siege where a wealthy sociopath pops in to steal the formula the scientist is working on. In the process, the scientist is transformed into a monster and he teams up with the woman to get revenge on those who are after the formula.
Swamp Thing won't ever be known as one of Wes Craven's finest films. It sometimes feels a little more low budget than it probably was and some moments feel like they need more time to breathe and some feel like they've had too much room to breathe. The romance between Barbeau and Wise could have been better handled, because as is, it feels like it comes out of nowhere. They just met a few hours ago and they're already kissing? C'mon!
There's a decent sense of humor throughout the whole film that helps a lot and Louis Jordan and David Hess make a terrific bad guy pair. -
vigilantereviewer21 March 2019Wes Craven's Swamp Thing is a victim of its time. The plot is pretty simple which makes it a little boring at times. The movie's action scenes are very campy, and, other than the final fight, they do not really ruin much of the movie. The acting of Louis Jourdan, Adrienne Barbeau, and Ray Wise give the movie a few great character moments to save the film from being a terrible movie. With its mostly delightful campiness and good acting, Swamp Thing becomes an enjoyable film to watch but far from a great film.
-
Scientists say that the human eye can see more shades of green than any other color within the observable light spectrum. With that being said, this is probably the most wonderfully "green" movie that sci-fi/action film fans will ever see, and director, Wes Craven departs from his normally shock/horror nature into the lively world of beauty and love, tragedy and redemption.
Its an 80's cult classic along with practically every Wes Craven film, but stands alone as a representation of the classic archetypal super-hero as well. Adrienne Barbeau is a tech. wiz that takes a job as an assistant to brilliant organic chemistry genius, Dr. Alec Holland (Ray Wise) who eventually falls victim to the diabolical Arcane (Louis Jourdan) who is after Holland's breakthrough secrets in plant/animal regeneration formula. After Holland is burned and exposed to the new serum, He ultimately becomes the super-human monstrosity, and still retains human emotion and feelings, especially for his newfound love, Barbeau.
This makes for a touching and exciting movie experience featuring ambitious performances by the whole cast, including Dick Durock as Swamp Thing, David Hess in his typical scumbag role, Nicholas Worth taking one for the team and talented French actor Louis Jourdan as the arch nemesis. This fantastic little film contains all of the ingredients of a comic book fantasy adventure portraying the classic hero mythology with style and wit. Craven's use of color, lighting and sound illustrates his love for making movies, and the cast is excellent. It's modest budget shows through the costume design and layout, but the end result is a spectacularly profound love story ending in an exciting climax and statement on technology and its probability to fall into the wrong hands. Its definitely one of Craven's underrated best. -
claudio_carvalho31 July 2020The American Alice Cable (Adrienne Barbeau) travels to a secret governmental bio laboratory of research in the swamp to replace a missing scientist. Soon she befriends the leader of the research Dr. Alec Holland (Ray Wise) and his sister Dr. Linda Holland (Nannette Brown) and she learns that Alec is developing a hybrid plant combined with animal with the intention to solve the world hunger. However, the ambitious and wealthy Arcane (Louis Jourdan) sends a paramilitary team to steal the research and kill all the team. But there is an accident and the formula spills on Dr. Alec Holland and set him on fire. He disappears in the swamp and Alice is the only survivor of the laboratory team. She hides the seventh notebook with the Alec´s formula and runs to the forest and soon she notes that something is protect her.
"Swamp Thing" is a different film by Wes Craven based on a D.C. Comics. The IMDb rating is unfair since the movie is highly entertaining. One of the greatest attractions is Mrs. "John Carpenter" Adrienne Barbeau, for whom the Swamp Thing falls in love. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "O Monstro do Pântano" ("The Swamp Monster") -
Fluke_Skywalker23 June 2014Wes Craven's 'Swamp Thing' certainly aspires to be more than the campy B-movie that it ultimately is, and as a result much of the fun has been stripped away. What's left is cheese; cold, rubbery and without much flavor.
Despite this, the cast certainly do their best. Ray Wise is only in the first act, but he's charming and likable enough that we care when he's turned into a giant plant. And speaking of the plant, stuntman Dick Durock manages to slip the bonds of his poorly made rubber suit and let his humanity shine through. Lois Jourdan is also great as the somewhat effete gentleman villain Anton Arcane. But the real star here is Adrienne Barbeau. Sure, the obvious reason is watching the voluptuous Ms. Barbeau jiggle her way through the Bayou, but she also makes for a tough and likable heroine.
Had this embraced its rather obvious B-movie trappings it may have been a lot of fun. Or if had a better script and production values it might have been something even more. Unfortunately, 'Swamp Thing' is stuck somewhere in the middle. -
garynorton10 March 2019Clearly the budget was a major issue, but the script and story are v poor. Sadly, Wes Craveb has to resort to throwing some breaths and bums into the film. I hope Andrienne Barbeau was rewarded handsomely for having to bare her breasts, which are probably the films best asset. Looking forward to seeing what the tv show makes of the character when it arrives. It will certainly look like Kew Gardens botanical garden as opposed this dried out dead husk in a plant pot. The occasional unintentional "so bad, it's great" moment does make up for some of it. A henchman being inadvertently turned by the Swamp Thing formula into a monster midget is funny not only for how daft it looks, but his clothes shrink down to match his size.
-
gridoon22 June 2003"Swamp Thing" is beautifully photographed in authentic swamps, and directed with a nice comic-book sensibility by Wes Craven, but the script is flat, boring and (eventually) silly, and the title creature is too human-like to inspire much awe. However, Louis Jourdan is enjoyable as the suave, cultivated villain, David Hess is in his element as one of his goons, and there is also a black kid who's the epitome of "coolness". (**1/2)
-
juneebuggy27 August 2020This was unbelievably bad. It reminded me of those 1950s horror films with its primitive dialogue, hokey action scenes, well dressed damsel in distress and laughable makeup for the monsters except its Wes Craven circa 1982. However because this is so terrible it also becomes very watchable. Its corny, campy fun and at times I couldn't believe what I was seeing or what insane thing was going to come at me next.
Story follows scientist Dr. Alec Holland who is transformed into a plant creature while working on his project to create a new plant/animal species capable of thriving in extreme conditions. Chaos ensues.
Swamp Thing spends his time in an ill fitting rubber suit, roaring and waving his arms at the sky. Damsel in distress is in a ball gown and high heels swimming around in the swamp, endless bad guys get thrown through the air by Swamp Thing or exploded out of boats- this became a joke actually. The last act goes off the rails completely with Adrienne Barbeau taken hostage and tied to a chair during a formal dinner at the bad guys mansion where none of the guests seem to notice or care. The body guard/henchmen is turned into a disfigured little person and the bad guy becomes a sword welding hairy aardvark creature who battles Swamp Thing to the death. You know what, I take it back, this was awesome. -
gavin694213 October 2011After a violent incident with a special chemical, a research scientist (Ray Wise) is turned into a swamp plant monster.
We have iconic director Wes Craven, the great actress Adrienne Barbeau, great actor David Hess and the composer Harry Manfredini. How can a horror fan watch this and not be in some kind of heaven?
Roger Ebert says this film is "one of those movies that fall somewhere between buried treasures and guilty pleasures." He further says it is "an off-the-wall, eccentric, peculiar movie fueled by the demented obsessions of its makers." He means this in the nicest way possible, and I love him for that.
Author John Kenneth Muir notes that Swamp Thing differs in many respects from Craven's usual work, in that Craven's intent was to show the major Hollywood studios that he could handle action, stunts and major stars. Craven substituted his usual focus on the problems of the family and society for pure entertainment. And you know what? He did it flawlessly.
Why is this film in French on Netflix? There has to be a good reason, but I have no idea why. Also, this film needs a decent DVD release. The Netflix one looks like a VHS transfer. I know it was released a few years ago, but how about a 30th anniversary edition in 2012 with some good features?
And lastly, how this scores a PG rating with three topless women is beyond me. But, well played, Wes. -
reddiemurf8127 December 2021Alec Holland, through an accident prompted by evil men, becomes the creature known as Swamp Thing. A perfected plant beast with incredible strength and dang near invulnerable. Will Swamp Thing be able to the evil Arcane's plans?!?
Made 40 yrs ago with a 3 million dollar budget,, it could've been done better, but still pretty good for the time, just don't expect perfection.
While I definitely prefer the sequel (Heather Locklear 😍), and the tv show is great,, this one is alright for the person who has no clue what Swamp Thing is. Rifftrax really needs to cover it though. I'd give it a 5.9 rating. -
A good, but not particularly spectacular superhero comic-strip outing (off DC comics) by writer / director Wes Craven. A threadbare, but glum story (filled with tragedy and vengeance) seems to only repeat its actions on a continuously patchy loop (wandering around the swamp fleeing from bad guys to be only captured and flee again with the swamp thing always appearing from nowhere to rescue the day), but there's a welcoming dose of humour and some good solid central performances by Adrienne Barbeau, Louis Jourdan, David Hess and Ray Wise. Craven inventively frames the activity with some comic book-like touches between scenes, but it's the effective location work that does it wonders. The swamp terrain is masterfully captured, as the muggy atmosphere is thick and Craven cooks up some stylishly arresting imagery with his use positional lighting. Harry Manfredini's music score is fitting. The creature effects do stand-up well enough (rubber suits), well some more so than others and there's an impressively unusual transformation sequence --- although the final result of it isn't as so. Still Craven stagy direction packs this venture with fun, overblown nonsense, but it's enjoyably campy. Stunt-work is done with plenty of energy, big ambitions and vehicles/stunt-men getting plenty of air in the wake of destruction. Plus who gets guys wrestling about in the swamps in costume.
Barbeau becomes bait and gets wet quite a bit, but brings a strong-willed presence to her character and Jourdan gives out a brazen bad guy turn. Hess eats up his role as a mercenary and as well as Nicholas Worth. Wise is fruitfully likable in his short time on screen and Dick Durock has a strong solemn air about when donning that Swamp thing suit. Reggie Batts (in his one and only ever film role!) is quite memorable as the very-laid back Jude, who's there for some comical relief and it surprisingly works. Don Knight also appears.
Standard but diverting comic-book fare. -
davidmvining1 July 2022Apparently Wes Craven took this comic book adaptation to prove a couple of things to studios: that he could work with action and that he could work with movie stars. Is it a surprise that he didn't get Batman immediately after this, a few years before Tim Burton got his shot, after everyone saw Swamp Thing? I don't think he actually proved that he was any good at action, perhaps serviceable at best. The performance he got from Adrienne Barbeau is serviceable as well. The largest problem is that the film is somewhere between a loving homage to 40s and 50s Universal monster movies and simply a bad addition to the genre. Taking itself too seriously to be comic, and too poorly written to be taken seriously, Swamp Thing is surprisingly inept.
Alice Cable (Adrienne Barbeau) is a scientist of something and arrives at a remote research station in the middle of a swamp (actually Monck's Corner, South Carolina, just a few miles from me) where she meets Alec Holland (Ray Wise), a brilliant scientist working to find a chemical that will gives plants the ability to defend themselves (you know, Poison Ivy's evil plan in Batman & Robin). There's some awkward flirting between the two, especially since Alice thinks, wrongly, that Dr. Linda Holland, Alec's assistant, is his wife when she's actually his sister for half of it. They've just met, Alice thought he was married and rebuffed him, and that's about it for their personal interactions. Oh, and their love story is emotional bedrock on which the film is built. This is not a good start.
The chemical that Holland is developing is greatly desired by Anton Arcane (Louis Jourdan), a vaguely European bad guy who wants it for...reasons. It's not clear. He sends in a troop of commandos led by Ferret (David Hess) to attack and retrieve the formula. The attack succeeds in getting Alec burned and covered in the stuff before they burn the whole place down, leaving only Alice alive. They don't actually get the formula, though, so they have to go back and forth with Arcane to return to the place and try to retrieve it. They find Alice, nearly drown her, but she's saved by a mysterious thing in the swamp, a humanlike creature who pops up from the water with incredible strength.
One of the reasons I don't think this film works is the Swamp Thing suit itself (well, any of the creature effects). It's horribly cheap and unconvincing, a seemingly solid piece of rubber that just hangs off of the stuntman's body (Dick Durock). Looking at the poster, it seems obvious that the original concept of the creature was supposed to be far more hulking and muscular, but with the stuntman almost always just standing upright and the suit just hanging off of his shoulders, there's little to no definition, especially around his legs. It looks silly. Is this supposed to be funny or scary? It looks like it's supposed to be part of a joke, but the film doesn't have that sort of joking tone except in small moments here and there. It takes itself too seriously for that.
Anyway, Alice wanders the swamps looking for help, finding a nearly abandoned gas station populated only by the twelve-year-old Jude (Reggie Batts). Together, they are going to go back to the hidden lab and find the key notebook that Arcane and his men missed. They retrieve it, get almost instantly attacked by Ferret who only takes Alice captive and ignores Jude after hitting him over the head (convenient for Alice since Jude actually had the notebook very obviously stuffed into his shirt), and then Alice instantly gets away again by kicking him in the groin on Arcane's boat and successfully swimming away. She ultimately gets saved by Swamp Thing, who has also healed Jude of his head injury and retrieved the notebook.
This is a busy film, moving from one event to the next, and nothing really connects on any level. The lack of any emotional journey prevents any sort of emotional connection. The silly suit prevents any sense of danger on a monster level. The action is adequate enough to not be a distraction but not outrageous or skilled enough to be a draw on its own. On top of that, character motivations, especially Arcane's are murky at best.
The finale of the film involves Arcane's castle-like lair, testing the chemical on a few people, and a monster fight between the silly looking Swamp Thing and a wolf mask that doesn't articulate at all and feels like it was picked up at a costume shop. The earnestness Swamp Thing tries to portray when he sticks his hand up into the light to try and regrow a limb in seconds (despite having been de-limbed during the day and walking around in sunlight for a while afterwards) undermines any idea that this was supposed to be campy fun. It's earnestly trying to play these moments, and they all just fall flat. Oh, and Barbeau is running around in a lowcut dress.
This movie dragged, but it did have a few moments here and there. Reggie Batts is actually kind of fun as Jude, and there are bits of humor that made me chuckle like right after Ferret dies and Arcane makes the pronouncement that they're leaving. They're few and far between, though.
I can see how this film didn't really help Wes Craven's career. His next two projects were another made for television film and the sequel to The Hills Have Eyes (that he never technically finished and got released in sort of finished form after the success of A Nightmare on Elm Street). It's not very fun, not very involving, and not very good. -
Brilliant and kindly scientist Dr. Alec Holland (a fine Ray Wise) is working on a special growth formula in a laboratory that's located in a secluded swampland area. Holland mutates into a half-man, half-plant hybrid creature called Swamp Thing (amiable Dick Durock in a nifty rubber suit) after being drenched with his serum by suavely wicked arch nemesis Anton Arcane (delightfully played with lip-smacking hammy relish by Louis Jourdan). Swamp Thing protects brassy CIA agent Alice Cable (a marvelously tough and sassy portrayal by Adrienne Barbeau) from Arcane and his nasty flunkies. Writer/director Wes Craven handles the cheerfully silly premise in a suitably garish comic book style, keeps the pace snappy throughout, stages the plentiful action with rip-roaring brio, delivers a strong and vivid evocation of the murky marshland setting (the authentic South Carolina locations are a major plus), does a sound job of creating a hugely entertaining tongue-in-cheek tone, and tops things off with a welcome sense of self-mocking humor. Moreover, Swamp Thing makes for a strangely moving and sympathetic protagonist; there's a real sense of heart evident in the depiction of his lonely plight that's both touching and surprising. The cast have a ball with their broadly drawn roles: Barbeau is a brash treat as the fiercely self-reliant heroine, Jourdan chews the scenery with eye-rolling gusto, David Hess excels in one of his standard sleazy villain parts as the vicious Ferret, Nicholas Worth likewise does well as the doltish Bruno, and Reggie Batts almost steals the whole show with his very natural and amusing deadpan performance as hip, but laid-back black teenage gas station attendant Jude. In addition, this film comes through with a few inspired outrageous touches: Bruno becomes a pathetic midget monster after drinking the formula, Swamp Thing has one of his arms chopped off, but grows a new one in its place, and Arcane transforms into a crazed werewolf lizard beast that engages in a lively to-the-death climactic fight with Swamp Thing. Robbie Greenberg's cinematography makes nice use of elaborate fades and wipes. Harry Manfredini supplies a rousing, spirited score. An enormously enjoyable romp.
-
AlsExGal28 January 2017... with the unlikely Wes Craven as director. Brilliant scientist Dr. Alec Holland (Ray Wise) is conducting experiments for the US government deep in the heart of bayou swamp country. The isolation causes a lot of turnover in employees at the lab, so new recruit Alice Cable (Adrienne Barbeau) arrives as a replacement. She's just in time for the lab to be attacked by mercenary goons in the employ of the diabolical Arcane (Louis Jourdan). Holland is doused in an experimental substance and set on fire, left to die in the swamp. However, instead of dying, he is reborn as Swamp Thing, a tall, super strong humanoid made out of green plant material. He uses his new found strength to battle Arcane and his men.
Barbeau makes a good, tough female hero, and Jourdan has fun with his villainous role. Veteran stuntman Dick Durock plays the title green guy, a role he would reprise in the film's sequel seven years later, as well as a TV show spin-off in 1990. Frequent B-movie bad guys David Hess and Nicholas Worth also have a lot of screen time as Arcane's chief thugs. The effects are a bit on the cheap side, but it adds to the film's charm. The whole enterprise has a comic-book vibe, and fits in with the late 70s superhero style; it's not as cheesy as the 60s BATMAN TV show, but keeps some comic touches, like the Christopher Reeves SUPERMAN films or the Tim Burton BATMAN films.
It's also not quite clear who the audience for this was supposed to be. It has the aforementioned comic book style, and the story never gets more complicated than say a middle-school level. But it also features some gruesome violence and some nudity. It managed a PG rating (this was before PG-13), and you can tell there were some awkward edits to tone down the language. Based on the DC Comics characters. -
Coventry7 August 2005Even though I always thought of Wes Craven as an overrated and vainglorious director, I did expect that he was capable of doing something more (and better) with the adaptation of the Swamp Thing comic book. Guess I'm still giving him too much credit! This was meant to be an adventurous horror-comedy but it isn't funny or scary and it definitely doesn't contain much adventure! It's hard to believe how dreadfully boring the screenplay is, especially considering the potential of the premise and the beauty of the filming locations. The titular creature is a peaceable being, mainly occupied with protecting his love-interest from the bad people that are after her. He himself got mutated into a hideous creature when these same villains broke into his lab to steal his groundbreaking formulas that turn plants into nourishment for the Third World. The only really good element about this production is the well-chosen cast, with a great Louis Jourdan as the nemesis who seems to come straight out of a James Bond movie and David Hess ("Last House on the Left") as the relentless and savage crook. Adrienne Barbeau also is a great choice for the female lead and she has a wonderful nude-bathing sequence in the swamp (I thought that was worth mentioning!). The make-up effects are pretty weak and the last half hour is a giant mess. "Swamp Thing" is not worth your time.