Swamp Thing – Review

Can you handle low budget productions, corny acting, goofy 80s hair, deep environmental dialogue, and a story that will leave your cells hungry for more photosynthesis? If so, let me offer you Swamp Thing, one of the earliest takes on DC superheroes. Written and directed by Wes Craven in his early career and featuring a few good actors, the film offers an exaggerated and campy presentation. If this is not your thing, I’d say don’t give it a shot. However, if you can handle goofy twilight-zone-esque tale of the week type of late-night Sci-Fi schlock, maybe, just maybe, try this.

Deep in the swamps there is a secret team of experimenters led by siblings Dr. Alec Holland (Wise) and Dr. Linda Holland (Brown). After one of their scientists is mysteriously killed by a team of camouflaged swamp assassins, the government sends in a high-heeled replacement worker via helicopter, Alice Cable (Barbeau).

Cable flies in and meets the Hollands and tours their secret swamp lab, as well as learns about a new explosive green goo compound that also leads to plant growth. As swamp sensors are sabotaged, mysterious plots seem to be forming. Rumors of a mercenary group looking to take control of the experiment led by one Anton Arcane (Jourdan) have hit these swampy waters, so do the Hollands have any chance against this growing threat?

Swamp Thing is fairly short, thankfully, since it still moves pretty slowly. The film absolutely can be defined as “80s camp” so if this term is news to you, use the internet to define it and you will have a better understanding of what awaits you. Its style will not work for all, and some will downright hate it. For those that it does work for, even then, it’s only so good. The story itself is plain, and can only drive the film along so far.

Thankfully there are a few seasoned actors contained within, and they do their best despite the tone of the film. The budget was not very large, and the sets and costumes were restrained by this, but it all has the same type of feel to it. If you can get into its vibe, you can turn your brain off and have an okay enough time. This is definitely not one to compare to contemporary superhero affairs, but if you want to have a cheesy time, you could do worse.

There is a Theatrical and Uncut version, however they are virtually identical with the Uncut version featuring a tiny bit of nudity, which is the only difference.

There is a sequel “The Return of Swamp Thing” but I have heard it is even more suspect than this one, by a decent margin also, so there’s that.