After the success of Superman, DC tried to kickstart another comic book franchise, with mixed results. While Swamp Thing isn’t exactly bad, it’s kind of an odd duck. Despite the pedigree of horror maestro Wes Craven behind the camera, and a who’s who of genre vets in supporting roles, it never quite gels.
Doctor Holland (Ray Wise) is performing experiments in the swamp when the evil Arcane (Louis Jourdan) steals his work and sets his lab (and Holland) ablaze. In the fire, Holland’s formula grafts onto his body and turns him into the rubbery looking Swamp Thing. Arcane wants the formula for himself, so he sets a trap for him by using Holland’s associate Cable (Adrienne Barbeau) as bait.
Craven tones down his usual horror instincts and takes an overly comic books approach, which is only occasionally successful. The comic book transitions are a little too on the nose, as if to wink to the audience and say, “Hey guys! It's just like a comic book!” Even the straightforward attempts at horror wind up being a little goofy and don’t really land. Conversely, the score by Harry Manfredini works overtime trying to sound like a horror film, which doesn’t quite match the action on screen. (It often sounds like outtakes from his score to Friday the 13th.)
The Swamp Thing suit often looks phony baloney too. You can see the seams, and the rubber bends and bulges when he walks around. He looks much better from afar and he takes on a Bigfoot kind of mystique when he runs around the swamp in long shots. Maybe if he had been kept in the shadows, it might’ve been a different story, but in brightly lit scenes, it looks like a monster from a ‘50s movie. The final Arcane monster is particularly silly looking.
That said, it still remains reasonably enjoyable, even if the film never lives up to its potential. Barbeau is fun as the spunky and resourceful heroine. Craven’s Last House on the Left leading man David Hess makes a memorable impression as Jourdan’s right-hand man, as does Nicholas Worth as another one of his armed guards. Jourdan makes for an appropriately smarmy villain, but it’s Reggie Batts (in his only film role) who steals the movie as Barbeau’s wisecracking sidekick.
Ultimately, I think Jim Wynorski embraced the camp factor much more successfully with the sequel, The Return of Swamp Thing. (The Swamp Thing suit looked a lot better in that one too.) The TV series which soon followed did a better job with the horror elements and mood. This one sort of falls in between those efforts in terms of tone. Overall, it’s not one of Craven’s best, but it’s an interesting enough attempt of a horror master trying to go mainstream.
Kudos to the folks at MVD for releasing the mythical unrated version. This edition contains some extra nudity from not only Barbeau but a few random belly dancers as well. It’s nothing to get your heart racing or anything, but it at least gives the film a bit more edge.
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