Review of Swamp Thing

Introduction

You make my heart sing... Oh sorry, wrong Thing.

Of all DC Comics` superheroes, Swampie is possibly the most unusual. He`s certainly one of the harder-done-by superheroes, poaching Marvel Comics` style for angst-ridden superheroes.

Horror maestro Wes Craven`s 1981 take on Swampie has a bargain-basement, made-for-tv feel to it with every expense spared in bringing the adventure to the screen. Even the main titles have that movie-of-the-week look about them.

Louis Jourdan turns in his usual lounge-lizard villain portrayal (see "Octopussy"), although it never occurs to him to strike fear into either Swampie`s or 007`s hearts by bursting into a quick chorus of "Gigi".

Swampie`s love interest in the movie is John Carpenter favourite and eighties scream-queen Adrienne Barbeau. Now, while Miss Barbeau has her fans I can`t see what they see in her apart from a Sigourney Weaver clone.

MGM have pushed in all the stops to make this a disappointing release - actually putting less on the disc than the R1 version which was branded a poor bare-bones edition.

Video

Eurgh! A truly unimpressive non-anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen presentation. Shot on grainy available-light stock to start with and with that soft-focus look that a lot of cheap movies had at that time, this is not a pretty picture.

Audio

Equally unimpressive is the flat, basic soundtrack in Dolby 2.0

Features

Grotty quality theatrical trailer and English HOH subtitles.

Conclusion

Another one of those "why did they bother" releases. I mean, it`s one thing to release a bare-bones copy of a film you`re panting to see, but even if you were a Swamp Thing fan, the letterboxed print on this disc is a kick in the teeth. Shame on you, MGM.