A scientist Doctor
Alec Holland (Ray Wise) has invented a
formula to create new species - a
combination of animal and plant capable
of adapting and thriving in the harshest
conditions. He hides away in the murky
swamp to keep what he has a secret.
He is greeted by a woman scientist
Alice Cable (Adrienne Barbieau) in which
he is romantically linked to as he shows
her his secret formula and see if it will
work on his plants but suddenly an evil
scientist Dr. Anton Arcane (Louis
Jordan) wants this secret formula and
breaks into his laboratory with his goons
led by Ferret (David Hess) and Bruno
(Nicholas Worth). Suddenly Alec has been
burned alive by this potion and runs into
the waters of the swamp presumably dead
and Anton wants this to be top secret as
he kidnaps Alice.
Later on Alice tries to escape and Ferret
tries to drown her but something in the
water seems to attack Ferret and his
goons and saves Alice whom is called the
Swamp Thing (Dick Durock) which was
originally Alec as he seems invincible
and this interests Anton even more as he
tries to find any way to capture this
creature and find any use on how him or
his men can become so powerful.
There's good takes on Ferret and Bruno in the swamp taunting, beating
and killing someone as it looked a bit
intense.
We spot many good scene's both involving Alice Cable and Doctor Alec Holland with a
camera looking up at them in a boat at
the swamp trying to look for things there
as well as their great chemistry together
trying experiments in their science lab.
There's many good blocking shots on Alice with her self defensive actions
towards the people like Ferret trying to attack her which looked very
well done.
There's nice intense happenings with Ferret and Bruno getting physical
towards Alec at the lab throwing
him around as well as a good shot on him
getting chemicals spilled on him and
running outdoors in flames and jumping
into the swampy pond.
There's a good camera shot looking up on Dr. Anton Arcane and Ferret standing on
a pier with a green light glowing on them
with Anton telling Ferret to keep what happened top secret which
looked quite effective.
Many good camera takes on Ferret driving a boat in the swamp after Alice with a nice close up shot on him
pushing her head down into the water and
then later on a great rising hand shot on the Swamp Thing
which looked suspenseful along with nice
shots on him pulling these goons
out of the boat. Then we have some good
close up shots on others like Ferret aiming his gun trying to shoot him from a
distance away while he is carrying Alice to shore.
There are good camera takes on Swamp Thing sitting on shore looking at a locket and
feeling sad.
Good shots on Alice running
away in the forest from a jeep driven by Ferret and his goons with many good
suspeseful shots on everything that's
going on as well as her running on a dirt
road and tripping with the jeep ready to
charge at her and then suddenly Swamp Thing approaching and stopping the vehicle with
shots on him throwing everyone out.
There's many good takes on Swamp Thing in the swamp battling with others in
their boats and him jumping in the air as
well as a terrific shot on two boats
crashing and exploding.
A good shot on Ferret striking Swamp Thing by cutting his
arm off with a machette and then a great
gruesome close up shot on his hand crushing Ferret's head.
We spot a good discussion between Swamp Thing by telling Alice who he is which
looks nice and peaceful as well as them
both laughing.
There's a nice shot on Alice bathing
in the lake and then the camera panning
to Swamp Thing watching from a close
distance.
Then a nice shot on him being tied up by a net with the
goons lead by Bruno on
top of him which looks good wondering if
he will escape or not.
There's a good setting of a banquet on
some sort with Anton hosting
and then telling everyone what's going to
happen once he uses the formula on one of
his people and a good close up shot on him with his face changing and him gagging
and falling down as the moments looked
intense. Then we have a
shot on him jumping up on the table which
looked very kookie on how it was done
but again it seemed necessary.
There's a nice shot on Swamp Thing raising his hand while chained up to get
to the sunlight which looked good and
showing good energy on trying to be free
from the chains.
A good shot on Anton drinking the formula and standing next to
a balcony and later on a good shot on him
breaking out with wide eyes and his skin
oozing. Afterwards there's a perfect shot
on the monsterous Anton breaking anything in his path.
There's many terrific shots between Swamp Thing and Anton battling in the swamp
which is probably the best moments used
in this movie ever.
Bottom line is this is a film based on a
cult popular horror/sci-fi comic book by Len
Wein and Bernie Wrightson.
Yet it doesn't seem to play off too well
as a motion picture. It can be fun at
times if you're in the mood for cheesy
drive-in movies, otherwise it's a bit of
a bore. Like most movies based on comic
book there's a scientist inventing a
special formula and and evil scientist
with his goons to go after it then
something turns bad for them like you'd
see in Batman, The
Incredible Hulk or somewhere
along those lines.
I wondered at all if this was a horror
film as the Swamp Thing almost reminded
me of the Incredible Hulk but yet Swamp
Thing seems more monstrous looking.
However, he was a good guy. Still, you
can use good guy's in horror flicks and
close to the end is when the horror
really starts with the evil scientist Dr. Anton Arcane
by trying the formula out for
himself.
Yes folks it's an action-horror-sci-fi
but not a film to be taken seriously as a
horror film since it's not really scary
even if the music score tries very hard
to make it seem scary enough. Plus, this
film looked like it influenced the people
from Troma Team Entertainment to make a
zany spoof called The Toxic
Avenger since they tried to use
some similar chemistry to it but in a
gross out way.
However, this flick reigned in as a cult
classic but it didn't do much for me. Not
bad but not very good either. Later, the
series spawned a sequel and a short-lived
TV series.
The acting is
quite dated and a bit corny but not
terrible. Lead actor Louis Jordan
(Dr. Anton Arcane) was perfect as a slick and evil doctor in
the film showing a perfect seriousness to
his role and came across very well that
he was untrustworthy. He also showed a
nice evil expression to him to top it all
off. His performance on
this looked a bit corny after using some of his own formula.
Adrienne Barbeau (Alice Cable) usually does her
character's quite well in anything I've
seen her in and she seems passable in
this one but that's my point. She's
passable but nothing too special. Yet she
did present herself well as the romantic
type to the monster in this film so I
have to give her credit there. A nice emotional
crying from her during a discussion.
Ray Wise (Doctor Alec Holland) brings on a nice charm to
his role as the inventor of the formula
he's made and really knew how to act
outgoing and being full of life. He
brought alot of characteristics to his
part in the film.
David Hess (Ferret) seemed to borrow alot
from his role as Krug in Last
House on the Left by playing a
type of killer in this one. Yet, he
doesn't seem intimidating at all like in
his previous film. He was a bit corny
with his actions in the film but he
wasn't terrible. He just wasn't too
remembered for his performance in this
one since he wasn't anything
specatacular. Yet he seemed to do well as
a comic book type of villain.
Dick Durock (Swamp Thing) really stood out
terrifically as the Swamp Thing in this
film with his gruff speaking and truly
knew how to play a monstrous action hero.
I give him great credit for what he did
in this film.
The Swamp Thing's
arm is chopped off
A man's head is getting crushed with
blood oozing down
Flesh is tearing off a person while
changing into a monster
Harry Manfredini
who composed for the Friday the
13th films worked on this
project using some of the same elements
with some high pitched violin playing and
other types of formula but it doesn't
seem to suit the film at all. There's
also many toned out orchestral playing
for the adventureous music mainly the
trombone playing which sounds awfully
cheesy. |