jadavix For 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 and will miss it.

kclipper 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.

bernhard_alund I know what you think. A movie for kids about some cartoon hero. Well sure it is based on a comic book but don't let that premise fool you. First of all this movie comes with a 15+ rating and for good reasons since people die to the left and the right and Adrienne Barbeau can't stop from pulling her tits out. Some of the scenes like the one where Swamp Thing crushes a man's head with his bare hands can also be a bit to graphical for minors. This is the way I remember it since my mother never kept a close eye to what I was watching as a kid and this resulted in me without any recognition of the English language at an age of 9 getting my hands on this tape through a friends friends older brother or something like that. Even though I couldn't understand most of the dialogue I just loved the movie with all its awkward action scenes, rubber monster-suits and most of all the voluptuous woman known as Adrienne Barbeau. A woman whom I as a kid had a crush on, a crush that made me watch everything from Escape from New York to the fantastic film The Fog.I am no longer a kid (even though most people I know keep telling me that I act like one) but I must say this piece of cinema is an excellent example of how good B-movies can be if given a proper budget. The plot is not the most original (think any other super hero from your childhood) but it has a story that is interesting and easy to follow. It sports some of the biggest genre-stars of its time all under the directing wings of none other than the legendary Wes Craven. It has tits, midgets, heads being crushed, swamp monsters, shoot outs and even a little "Women in bondage" section. All this is made with a class and taste that is far from common in the 80's genre movies.One can laugh hard at the rubber suits and try to poke fun at the numerous plot holes throughout the movie, especially in the beginning when the bad guy orchestrates an attack on his own facility or the little black kid that seems to pop up from nowhere in the middle of the swamp but this is just too good to be picked on.

tomgillespie2002 Sat somewhere between Wes Craven's disturbing yet interesting The Last House on the Left (1972), and his uber-popular, icon making A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), is this low budget adaptation of a semi-popular DC comics character, Swamp Thing. During this shift from gritty, cinema verite style of Last House, to the more fantastical, "polished" Nightmare, Craven seems to have been trapped within the confines of a television aesthetic. This films action sequences often feel like (and look like) an episode of The A-Team (1983 - 1987). Craven did work on a few TV shows during this period also, so I'm guessing that this film probably had technicians (and particularly), and a similar budget to a TV movie.Alice Cable (Adrienne Barbeau) arrives in the swamps where secret science experiments are taking place. Doctor Holland (Ray Wise) heads the team researching a chemical that has an effect on organic life. Unfortunately, a group of "villains" want the formula for evil purposes (one of the hoods, Ferret, is played by star of Last House, David Hess). After an explosion, Dr Holland disappears, only to turn up as human/plant hybrid monster of the films title.This is a pretty lacklustre film. As I mentioned, it has that oh-so distinctive TV aesthetic. It is not altogether bad. It has some fun, and funny moments, and the make-up/costume for the Swamp Thing is not too bad for the time. It makes good use of its source, in the sense that it uses it's comic-book devices such as dramatic editing, and sequences where the screen is masked with action shapes. However, this technique was used to greater effect in the same year in George A. Romero's and Stephen King's underrated Creepshow (1982 - a film that also starred Barbeau - who was married to John Carpenter at the time) that used EC horror comics as it's source.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com