Swamp Thing (1982)

 Save your childhood memories and DONT watch this DVD
The Swamp Thing - DVD

I know that this film is a cult classic, so I will tread carefully in this review. When you were young, and you watched this movie, you saw a green monster who was tough, explosions, people being thrown headfirst into the swamp, and Adrienne Barbeau's boobies bouncing about. If that is your recollection of this film, then please save your childhood memories and do NOT go back and watch this film again.

If you are an adult and you have not seen this film, or if you want to destroy your childhood memories of this movie... this is what you will see:

1) First there are not any special features on the DVD, except for the trailer which is a cheesefest of epic proportions.

2) Adrienne Barbeau's boobies do have 85% of the movie as the main focus... they bounce in all sort of directions under various conditions and have more costume changes than any other character in the film.

3) The Swamp thing is a man in a rubber suit that does not bend quite properly.

4) If you look carefully you can see netting and other things in the background used to increase the "Swampy" feel

5) The voices don't go to their mouths... infact often there are voices for characters who never open their mouths through the entire scene.

6) The things that blow up... aren't things that should probably have blown up under those circumstances.

7) The pig costume is TERRIBLE

8) Apparently a Doctor and A Government Agent can fall in love in under 12 hours... and it will be a lasting love that will be strong enough for them to be willing to sacrifice it all for their lover, whom they have only ever kissed and an awkwardly dispassionate way.

9) Bad guys always drink the potions...

10) 13 year old African American children run/own stores out in the middle of the swamp.

Basically this movie has about 20 minutes of plot, and it's not very good plot either. To fill up the rest of the time you have Cable (Adrienne Barbeau's Character) running about the swamp with her boobies bouncing, to be saved by the swamp thing who will then leave the scene with a reused shot resembling the "Big Foot" footage. This repeats about 8 times before she is captured and placed in an evening gown so her now tired boobies can breath. The bad guy chugs the potion and turns into a badly made monster who runs out into the swamp with a sword for an epic wrestling match with the Swamp Thing. The movie is funny, and bad, and cheesy and probably okay to let the kids watch if it wasn't for a few minor "s" words. But I would NEVER call this a 5 star film. Entertaining in that cheesy early 80's film way... but no great feat of cinematic genius.
January 14, 2008

 Cheese
I bought this movie for a friend who is into cheesey eighties movies and he loved it. The crazy creatures in this movie are hokey enough to laugh at but at the same time believable enough to not totally nullify the action. If you like cultish movies from the eighties you can't go wrong with this classic. December 23, 2007

 *3.99 Stars * A 80s, B movie, comic book version of a cross between the original King Kong and Frankenstein.
Wes craven has made terrifying and disturbing movies prior to this with The last house on the left and The Hills have eyes. I think he was doing a throw back to old school monster movies or horror comics as scenes flow like pages of a comic.
The movie is fun. It has some cheesy lines and more catch phrases than i've ever heard in one movie and some things don't add up. You could be there watching with friends like, "grenades don't effect him but a machete is gonna do him in, how many times is she going to fall down, I bet when Adrienne Barbeau saw the sun make his arm grow back she was hoping it would shine somewhere else cause once you've had tree you never go bark. Reggie Batts who plays Jude is hilarious he's about 13 and apparantly owns his own gas station, a boat (with a black doll tied to the front for whatever reason), and delivers slow funny lines from behind his huge glasses.
The movie has a creative and original idea, a serum or a potion that enhances what you are on the inside (this could be alcohol for some) as Dr. Anton Arcane finds out he is not a genius but a monster. Wes Craven will show his creativity a few years later with another modern movie monster i think you might have heard of him Freddy Krueger. I think swamp thing was him (craven) paying homage to a different time in horror the classic monster movie, maybe the kind that he grew up watching and was perhaps inspired by Then in a Nightmare on Elm st he does his version of a modern monster which will turn into an icon.
Swamp thing is also in the 101 best horror movies you've never seen book by Fangoria. June 20, 2007

 Which copy should you buy?
Just to get it out of the way, Swamp Thing is okay. However, it did spawn the much better sequel Return Of The Swamp Thing in all its campy goodness.

But, there are 2 distinct versions out there. If you want the US version, then buy the RED title cover. It is also 91 minutes. If you're looking for the added nudity version, then buy the GREEN title cover. The run time for the green version is 93 minutes. Then again, it makes more sense that the less butchered version is 2 minutes longer.

Plain English: RED = Less nekkid, GREEN = more nekkid. Get it? May 8, 2007

 A Great Movie
Swamp Ting is one of DC Comics Second String Super-Heroes and Wes Craven does a great job with the character. Sure there was some "dramatic license" like the fact that Cable was not a romantic interest in the comics and Arcane was never the romantic man who had women fawning over him as Jordan has, but the movie is excellent. I still need to buy the DVD for the Region I live in and only able to view my copy on my computer, but the movie is up there with Superman the Movie, the first Batman movie with Keaton & Nicholson, Batman Begins, the Spider-Man movies, X-Men movies and the like. Sure Swamp-Thing is not for everyone, but the characterizations of the characters are down pat. A great flick! May 2, 2007

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