It’s too bad that in Wes Craven’s long and storied filmmaking career that “Swamp Thing” is the movie that’s aged the worst. It seemed like a slam dunk for the director, but his approach toward “Swamp Thing” never quite rises above niche horror camp. Even when adapting the source material as straight faced as possible, “Swamp Thing” is really never great as, say, “A Nightmare on Elm Street” and that’s probably because the movie itself jumps back and forth in tone and aesthetic. It goes from cheesy monster movie to an attempt at a Beauty and the Beast tale. It garners clear moments of pure camp and then tries to offer allegories on God complex drawing obvious influence from “The Island of Dr. Moreau.”
Sometimes the movie tip toes around the vicious violence, and then other times dives right in with some gruesome scenes. Craven spends a majority of the film building and building but never quite accomplishing a coherent or cogent adaptation of the comic books. On the verge of a breakthrough in his quest to wipe out world hunger, altruistic botanist Dr. Alec Holland (Ray Wise) is placed under the protection of special government agent Alice Cable (Adrienne Barbeau). Mad outlaw scientist Anton Arcane (Louis Jourdan) wants to steal Holland’s research for his own nefarious means, but an unforeseen accident during the heist turns Holland into the Swamp Thing, an enormous plant-like creature that fights back against Arcane’s henchmen to save Cable.
Like most Craven films, “Swamp Thing” is very well directed and garners some neat ideas, but it never really clicks together. You can really feel Craven trying to grasp the source material in so many scenes, and that’s where a lot of it tends to fall apart hindering the momentum of the story. It’s odd how Dick Durock looks pretty great as the big screen Swamp Thing, but every other monster in the picture feel so silly. There’s one particularly goofy scene set during a big meeting where one of Arcane’s henchmen is transformed in to a goblin-like monster. There’s also the final beast that Arcane mutates in to is just all kinds of anti-climactic and never quite resolves any of the film’s ideas.
This is sadly true especially in regards to the maguffin of Alec Holland’s formula. “Swamp Thing” always felt more suitable for a filmmaker like Sam Raimi or Tobe Hooper as Craven was always so much more of a cerebral horror filmmaker. In either case, “Swamp Thing” is an okay movie but I’d recommend it more to fanatics of Craven or Swamp Thing. It’s sad to admit but “The Return of Swamp Thing” ends up being the superior film.
This release carries over the supplements from the prior Shout! Factory release, however there are two featurettes that were not on the Shout! release. Featured in the both the included 4K and Blu-Ray release are the original Theatrical Version and the International Unrated Version with two minutes extra. Included on both the 4K and Blu-Ray, there’s a vintage Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Wes Craven who is joined by moderator/questioner Sean Clark, and finally an Audio Commentary with Makeup Effects Artist William Munn. Michael Felsher hosts this commentary, in which Munn gives some nice detail about so many of the effects in the film.
The Blu-Ray includes Tales From the Swamp with Actress Adrienne Barbeau, a sixteen minutes discussion with iconic actress Adrienne Barbeau, who talks about some of the trials the cast and crew had to endure to get Swamp Thing filmed. Hey Jude with Actor Reggie Batts is a fourteen minutes sit down with the actor (a child during the film’s production) who discusses how being in the film was a blessing. That Swamp Thing, a Look Back with Len Wein, Creator of Swamp Thing is thirteen minutes with creator Len Wein who discusses his initial desire to be an artist, which morphed into him writing for DC Comics. Swamp Screen: Designing DC’s Main Monster is a twenty two minutes featurette from 88 Films featuring production designer Robb Wilson King.
From Krug to Comics: How the Mainstream Shaped a Radical Genre Voice is a seventeen minutes discussion with film critic Kim Newman who talks about his love of horror, comics, and Craven’s film; another piece from 88 Films. There’s the original Theatrical Trailer, as well as four galleries: Posters and Lobby Cards, Photos from the Film, William Munns’ Behind the Scenes Photos Photo Gallery, and Behind the Scenes Photos by Geoffrey Rayle. For collector’s the physical release included a mini-poster from MVD.