SwampThing

Swamp Thing (1982)

When brilliant scientist Alec Holland is burned and left for dead in the swamp by those seeking to steal his research a funny thing happens. The compound that he was working on uses the environment of the swamp to turn him into something that is both man and plant. And when the thieves return to seek out a missing notebook that will be the key to Holland’s research they are met by Holland, who is now the Swamp Thing. The crooks, lead by the evil Dr. Arcane, eventually capture the Swamp Thing and his only remaining friend Cable. Even though Holland explains to them what will happen if they take his now recreated formula they don’t listen. Before you know it Holland is now battling it out with the mutated Dr. Arcane in a desperate attempt to save both he and Cable.

I really liked Swamp Thing when I was younger. There was plenty of action in the story and clearly defined bad guys. But as an adult I realize that there just isn’t much to the story. I do still enjoy the introduction of the characters and the part of the movie that creates the accidental transformation of Holland into the Swamp Thing. But the movie seems to lose it’s way around this point and becomes a repetitive series of action sequences involving Arcane’s men getting the crap kicked out of them by the Swap Thing. While this appealed to the 12 year old me it just doesn’t cut it now. The movie never really gets back around to telling the story, and while the action changes from the swamp to Arcane’s hideout it goes right back to another set of fight scenes. And just as a side note the movie hints a bit about Bruno character maybe not being such a bad guy. He cringes at killing a woman and makes a point of returning a broach back to where another had died. But then for no apparent reason the character is transformed into a sniveling coward, literally, when he unknowingly takes the formula that will “only make you more of what you are.” I guess according to director/writer Wes Craven showing human kindness makes you weak.

So here I’ve spent some time trashing the story and the writer Wes Craven. But to be honest there are some things about the movie that I do like. After watching as many exploitation movies as I have over the last couple of years I realized that Swamp Thing has a real exploitation vibe to it. First are the recognizable faces in supporting roles. David Hess (Last House on the Left) is Ferret, Arcane’s right hand man. The character comes off as a tamer PG rated version of his Last House character Krug. Also noticeable is Nicholas Worth (Don’t Answer the Phone) another exploitation veteran in the role of Bruno. Worth starts off giving an interesting performance in his role, showing some depth that suddenly disappears when the character becomes just another henchmen. Still it is an interesting performance and good to see that at least part way thru Worth was given something to sink his acting chops into. There is also a sort of low budget gorilla feel to much of the production. There clearly wasn’t a lot of money sunk into this film and it shows, but not in a bad way. The Swamp Thing costume looks pretty damn bad. Honestly the micro budget USA Swamp Thing cable series had a better suite than this movie did! Also there is a funny scene where Swamp Thing rips the roof off of a Jeep and tosses out a couple of the passengers. Pay attention and you can clearly see the wires. There is just such a feeling of a sincere effort being made that these “flaws” put a smile on my face and amused me. I also really thought the comic book style transitions between scenes were great as well.

So I suppose the bottom line for me is did I have fun watching the movie? Truthfully I didn’t enjoy this as much as I did when I was a kid, but there still is something that I enjoyed. I suppose it just isn’t as good as I remember it being, but is still worth checking out.

2 ½ out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer