My Life in Horror 1982 Part Two – Swamp Thing

So the good people of Twitter voted in Swamp Thing as the second winner of the 1982 poll. A comic book movie that’s not really that much of a horror, in fact lets be honest it lacks everything a horror film needs but that doesn’t mean it’s not a fun film. I had never seen it before and in today’s world of massive CGI SFX in comic films it was fun to watch something from 1982 that wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be! You can check out the other winning film from 1982 by clicking HERE!

Director – Wes Craven

Writer – Wes Craven

Comic Writers – Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson

Stars – Louis Jourdan, Adrienne Barbeau, Dick Durock and Ray Wise

Run Time – 91 minutes

Budget – $3 million estimated

Tagline – Science Transformed Him Into A Monster, Love Changed Him Even More!

 

Trivia –

Trivia –

Dr. Alec Holland is a scientist who lives in a secluded research center in the middle of the swamps of America, he has several assistants with him all working on various tasks to do with the plant life found within the murky swamps. After an assistant gets eaten by some of the wildlife Alice Cable makes her way there as his replacement. Her and Alec hit if off immediately and the flirting starts mainly from him.

He shows her around the swamp and what they do there. Which is an attempt to try and make a new species a combination of animal and plant that can grow in any conditions around the world. Then a break through is made with one of the formulas but there’s also an evil scientist, Arcane who’s after Dr. Holland’s research. They attack the base and in a strange accident Alec is transformed into Swamp Thing.

Arcane take most of the research but Alice Cable manages to hide one of their ledgers, this leads to them chasing her around whilst the evil fellas get attacked by Dr Holland who is now a transformed beast with super strength. Alice is afraid of him at first but soon realises he is trying to help her.

Arcane ventures back into the swamp when they learn of the missing ledger, their goal is to capture Swamp Thing and use his DNA for I presume an evil purpose. This leads to a battle between Arcane and Swamp Thing with Alice caught in the middle! As our hero takes on a really terrible looking new monster.

The Good

• The campy, cheesy and cheap feel to the film is actually a good thing. I loved the feel of the film although I can see why people more used to newer comic book films would be put off.
• The monster design is pretty cool.
• There’s two good reasons why Swamp Thing falls in love with Alice and they’re on display quite a lot.
• Jude the young lad that Alice stumbles into during her escape from Arcane’s henchmen is a nice side character.
• The campy action and fighting!
• I love the swamps it’s a beautiful place to look at.
• It feels like a bit of an homage to the old 1950’s monster movies.

The Bad

• The bad guy is pretty cringe to watch at times.
• I loved the campy actions as I mentioned but I have to include it in the bad as well because I know it won’t be to everyone’s tastes.
• The boat chase scenes are pretty badly done but it does fit with the film somehow.

Not much else wrong, this won’t be to everyone’s taste but I found it a fun, campy, cheesy film that I enjoyed a lot. I saw it described as an action comedy but there really isn’t that much comedy in it at all. It’s a fun film that’s a decent way to waste an hour and a half of your life one sofa Sunday.

Overall Rating – 7/10