Review of Swamp Thing (1982) by Spencer S — 05 Mar 2013

One of the better received and critically lauded films of Wes Craven's early career; "Swamp Thing" has a long and fortuitous history that I for one never could have foreseen. Originally a DC comic (eventually Vertigo Comic) of the same name, Swamp Thing was billed as an action film, starring the same characters from the comics.

Craven has said that this was film was a send-up of the monster movies of the thirties and forties, including "The Creature from the Black Lagoon." The film is definitely more action than horror, containing far more scenes of boats launching off algae covered rocks than anything akin to monster movie magic.

The story is set in the swamps of Louisiana, following a group of scientists who are working with plant life. Dr. Alec Holland (Wise) is heading the project, and has just found that he has discovered a way to grow plants on organic materials, including wood.

Government agent Alice Cable (Barbeau) appears on the scene, wearing her heels and gender neutral clothing, and falls for the scientist. Inadvertently Dr. Holland is transformed into the mutated being of the swamp thing thanks to the raiding of the compound at the hands of Arcane's henchmen.

Most of the film contains swamp thing taking care of the defenseless and frankly ignorant Cable, who keeps getting captured, or run down by boats, and the highly weaponized men atop them. Looking more like a cheap eighties horror film (which it is) than the action film promised, "Swamp Thing" still did surprisingly well with critics and even spawned a nineties television show.

Still, there's nothing new or extraordinary about this underwhelming film, except maybe the crafted movie makeup of stuntman Dick Durlock; otherwise it's as trashy as it looks.