Review of Swamp Thing (1982) by Alex G — 27 Feb 2013

Other than being directed by horror movie maestro Wes Craven, there's nothing that special about this movie. That doesn't mean its bad. To me, it was a throwback to old 1950s monster horror movies, and it did a good job at doing that. There were moments in there that reminded me of the Creature from the Black Lagoon. However, unlike monsters from the 1950s, the Swamp Thing was played more like Frankenstein's monster, and as a result, we got to see some pretty emotional parts between him and Allison Cable (Adrienne Barbeau).

I saw in a profile that Wes Craven was disappointed because a large amount of the movie was only able to be shot in masters for various reasons. Honestly, I think the master shots reinforced the fact that it was more of a primal horror movie, as most of those films relied on wider shots, so I think it worked well for the movie. It made for somewhat creepy shots, such as the Swamp Thing being in the z axis of the frame. The transitions were campy and funny, and the pig monster thing at the end was SCARY as hell! It was a cool fight between him and Swamp Thing.

Again, nothing necessarily bad about this movie. If you like old monster horror movies, then you'll like this. I enjoy those movies, and that's kind of what I was expecting from this movie, it being called Swamp Thing. So as a result, I enjoyed it. It never tried to be anything more than what it was, and I liked it for that.