Swamp Thing (1982)

Directed by Wes Craven [Other horror films: The Last House on the Left (1972), The Hills Have Eyes (1977), Stranger in Our House (1978), Deadly Blessing (1981), Invitation to Hell (1984), The Hills Have Eyes Part II (1984), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Chiller (1985), Deadly Friend (1986), The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988), Shocker (1989), The People Under the Stairs (1991), New Nightmare (1994), Vampire in Brooklyn (1995), Scream (1996), Scream 2 (1997), Scream 3 (2000), Cursed (2005), My Soul to Take (2010), Scream 4 (2011)]

While not your typical horror movie, Swamp Thing comes with a comic book feel to tell the story of a scientist tragically transformed into a beast, and using his newfound abilities to save the woman he loves, despite knowing that few could love him back.

Like I said, this Wes Craven movie has a comic book feel, and given this is based on a comic book character, that makes sense. I am a comic book collector, though I collect only Marvel – while I’ve read plenty of DC comics (primarily Batman, but various other things too), I never got into Swamp Thing. The main reason for that, I’d guess, is that I’m already a giant fan of Man-Thing, and in my mind, there’s no doubt which character I find more interesting.

Plus, Man-Thing has tendrils.

Truthfully, while I knew Swamp Thing’s name was Alec Holland, that’s about all I knew about his character. I didn’t even know he could talk (or at least can talk in this movie – since I’ve not read much Swamp Thing material, I have no idea if he can talk in the comic books), so that came as a surprise.

Despite not really having a working knowledge of the source material, there’s no doubt the movie is fun in a sort of campy, comic book way. I always enjoy a good swamp setting, and as one might expect, Swamp Thing has a beautiful swampy setting throughout. The story is decently tragic, though there’s also elements of optimism in the fact one of Swamp Thing’s abilities is to heal others, which is put to good use twice.

I didn’t know that Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog, Open House, Someone’s Watching Me!) starred here. She was a nice face to see, and I also felt her performance was particularly strong. I also didn’t know Ray Wise (Dead End, Jeepers Creepers 2, The Butterfly Room) was in it, but he was fun, and playing his character’s sister was Nannette Brown (who only had one other small role in the atrocious My Boyfriend’s Back), and I rather liked Brown’s character for the time she’s on screen.

Louis Jourdan (Ritual of Evil, Count Dracula, Fear No Evil) isn’t a name I know, but he made for an okay villain. More interesting to me was David Hess (Body Count, House on the Edge of the Park, The Last House on the Left, Smash Cut), who, surprise, I also didn’t know was here. Hess made for a pretty awful person, so he’s on point, and does well with it. Reggie Batts was decent comedic relief, and I found him a fun addition.

The special effects were pretty solid. I mean, I don’t think Swamp Thing looked great, but his character’s design never seemed that interesting to me to begin with. No tendrils, see. Still, he looked okay. The other effects were decent too, save the monster-thing at the end, which I thought looked rather awful, and also not a great route for that specific character to take.

Swamp Thing is probably a fair movie for fans of the comic book series, and I’d dare say that it’s a better movie for Swamp Thing fans than the 2005 Man-Thing movie was for Man-Thing fans. It’s not something I find great, and the fact Wes Craven directed this strikes me more of a curiosity than anything else, but it’s a decent time.

7/10