Swamp Thing Review by Bobby LePire. Edited by Courtney McAllister.

 

Released two years before writer/ director Wes Craven firmly cemented his place in pop culture with the “Nightmare On Elm Street” series, this DC comics based film served as Craven’s first big studio movie; as well as his own love letter to the b-movie creature features of the 1950s and the exploitation flicks of the 1960s. With that pedigree, how does “Swamp Thing” hold up? Well,  awesomely, duh!

 

In the swamps of Charleston, SC (yeah, this was essentially filmed in my backyard!) newly appointed government agent Alice Cable arrives to help Alec Holland, his sister Linda, and boss Ritter with their research. This entails “recombinant DNA”, its stated goal is to make strong strains of food that can survive in extremely harsh climates. Their latest serum proves quite volatile and highly combustible… but it is also the only serum that properly bonds with the plant life. Hired mercenaries break-in, destroy the place, and kill Linda. In the ensuing chaos, Holland gets slathered in the serum, set on fire, and flees into the swamp. This violent accident transforms him into the super strong Swamp Thing. Holland, as the creature, now protects Cable, and tries to track down the man responsible for this crime, the ruthless Arcane.

 

The array of characters are all perfectly cast:

• Ray Wise is Alec Holland. Charming, cool, and quite believable as an eccentric single minded scientist, Wise is clearly having fun, and is easily relatable, despite having a small amount of screentime (only the first twenty or so minutes).

• 6’6” actor/ stuntman Dick Durock is brilliant as Swamp Thing. His voice is a smooth baritone, so no matter what, this massive creature continually sounds calm, as if always thinking two steps ahead. His impressive build cuts an imposing figure, and can cause quite the fright.

• Alice Cable is portrayed by Adrienne Barbeau. It’s a self-assured performance, that ranges from tough to dismayed to exhausted, and Barbeau delivers everything required very well.

• Louis Jourdan as Arcane is tremendous fun. While not quite over-the-top enough for parody, he’s playing it just on the edge of such, which fits right in with the movie’s general tone. He does psychotically menacing very well, while still retaining the class that the character believes he is entitled to.

• Playing leader of the mercenaries, Ferret, is David Hess. He hisses and yells his way through the performance, which is entirely appropriate. Hess is clearly relishing the crazed evil intensity of his unscrupulous character.

• Ritter, Holland’s boss, is played by Don Knight. Focused solely on rules and safety, Knight brings a real sense of authoritativeness.

• Constant character actor Nicholas Worth plays Bruno, the yes man to Ferret. His character has a real interesting arc and Worth infuses every crazed twist and turn with a sense of fun.

 

Wes Craven’s direction keeps the action coming and the pace swift. His natural sense of humor, which would become a trademark of his (Freddy’s quips, all of the “Scream” franchise”), is clearly being honed here, and that helps keep things engaging even when the action isn’t going on. The editing by Richard Bracken is extraordinary, with lots of wipes of various kinds, slime-o-edits, and excellent timing- no scene lasts too long, and the wipes all have a thick white line, evoking a kind of comic book panel on a page. It helps sell the crazy world this movie takes place in.

 

So, is there anything bad here? As wonderfully fun and cool as the movie is, unfortunately, yes, there are flaws. We start off with a text crawl that sets up Swamp Thing and his mission, but the creature doesn’t exist yet, so it’s rather pointless. It feels like the movie is afraid the origin isn’t clear, but it is. Also, for supposedly smart people (the scientists, etc. at the research facility) or for those trained in security (the security guards at the facility), they do lots of dumb things, or are taken out a tad too easily. One of the guards was following the hired mercenaries, and A) didn’t really try to hide or stay quiet, and B) was wearing very conspicuous clothing, that wasn’t meant for traversing swamplands. Alice Cable does something equally dumb when she gets chased. Her over shirt is a bright red Hawaiian button up, which she leaves up; her undershirt is a dark grey. When running and hiding, she leaves on the bright, conspicuous shirt, despite that her tank top matches the surroundings infinitely better. Most of the time, the characters act appropriately for their given personalities and professions, just not when it comes to escaping the swamp apparently.

 

But, all that stuff is minor annoyances, given how great the action is, and how wrapped up in everything you’ll become. No, the major issue with the movie is… the makeup and Swamp Thing suit. When standing still, the creature suit looks good; however, when Durock is moving around, it appears to be exactly what it is- rubber and latex. Especially when he is bending- his elbows, kneeling, bending at the waist, it doesn’t matter how he bends- the suit folds and clumps at odd angles, and it is constantly noticeable. It kept taking me out of the movie, which is sad. Also, there’s a very visible demarcation between the face and the rest of the one-pieced suit. This isn’t as big deal, as Durock is so good that one focuses more on the character and what he’s saying than anything else. The suit, as stated, seems to be one large piece, and I think that’s the issue. If it were multiple pieces, seams hidden by overlapping the major parts, I am positive the suit would have offered the same amount of believable motion, and looked more convincing while doing so.

 

Another creature pops up at the end, and it looks even worse. You can see Durock’s eyes as Swamp Thing, which brings a great level of humanity to the role. For this new creature ,though, it’s a full prosthetic mask, with painted eyeballs. They are so dead and lifeless it is very laughable, and the rest of the suit doesn’t fare any better. The snout has very limited range, so its grunts and howls never quite seem realistic. The fur on serpentine like scales is a cool idea, but once again, the execution leaves something to be desired. While the more “Creature From The Black Lagoon” portions of the creature work well enough, the fur running down the back is clearly just glued, and doesn’t appear to be an organic part of the thing.

 

Despite the suits not looking too credible, and the occasional stupidity of otherwise smart characters, it is obvious why this movie got a sequel, a spinoff live action show- both with Durock returning as the titular creature, because even now, if a remake were to happen, I have no idea who else I’d cast as Swamp Thing, he is that good- and indirectly led to a Saturday morning cartoon. “Swamp Thing” is funny, dramatic, cool, comic booky fun, all in equal measures. The acting is top notch, the action is well orchestrated, and the clear love of early b-movies shines through. Highly recommended!