Cheap Swamp Thing (Video) (Adrienne Barbeau) Price

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Customer Reviews of Swamp Thing

The swamp Thing
As a mother of a 10 year old, I read the reviews and bought this tape for my son. Unfortuatly this tape should not and never be rated PG. This is an R rated film if any thing! What the reviews DO NOT tell you, or on the back of the box, is there is nudity, and language that is inapropriate for young viewers.
As far as the story line, that leaves little to be desired.
My over all view is not worth the effort or money.

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One of the worst comic book adaptations in movie history
"Swamp Thing" has got to be one of the worst comic book adaptation movies in history. Of course we begin by setting up the tragic explosion that turns Dr. Alec Holland (Ray Wise) into the Swamp Thing (Dick Durock). The idea is that the movie is supposed to improve once the monster actually shows up, but that is not the case in this one. I mean, basically the Swamp Thing is a guy in a suit and instead of doing everything possible to obscure this fact as much as possible this film keeps having him wandering around and fighting bad guys in broad daylight. At its best "Swamp Thing" was one of the more atmospheric comic books around, especially the first issues drawn by Berni Wrightston.

In the hands of writer-director Wes Craven, the comic book story by Len Wein is followed but the Holland/Swamp Thing character becomes secondary to both the girl, Alice Cable (Adrienne Barbeau), and the villain, Anton Arcane (Louis Jordan). Maybe this reflects the realization that having the title character on screen was not particularly helpful for this film. Craven is probably interested in Arcane, a megalomaniac who wants to do to himself on purpose what happened to Holland by accident. But the epic confrontation that Wein developed over the course of many issues is turned into a standard monster movie melodrama. Barbeau's character is the most sympathetic character in the film and my memory is that the word of mouth when "Swamp Thing" came out was to check out this film to check out her (one of her two great attributes at the time was that she was married to John Carpenter as I recall). Jordan's performance is the only one of note, as the French actor truly relishes the opportunity to play an over the top character. Wise, in his brief role, makes little impression and I was stunned to realize he was the guy who made his mark in television's "Twin Peaks."

The movie also reveals the inherent limitations of the original conception of the Swamp Thing (how many really exciting things can happen in a swamp?) and reminds us of the masterful reconceptualization writer Alan Moore did when he took over scripting chores on the comic book and made it a cult phenomenon. But ultimately this is just a tacky little monster movie, despite Craven's involvement and best intentions. Fans of the comic book will check it out just to say been there, done that. Final Note: Durock continued to play the Swamp Thing, both in the 1989 sequel, "The Return of the Swamp Thing," which led to the 1990 television series (which was clearly the best of the bunch).

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The comic book legend lives on!
A story of mystery and adventure, based on the DC comics, Inc. magazines. Dr. Holland (RAY WISE) and a group of scientists join forces to creat a potion to halt world hunger by making things grow to enormous proportions. Little do they know that there are others who would like to get their hands on the formula, like the evil Arcane (LOUIS JOURDAN). In the swamplands of Florida, Jourdans thugs fight holland for the potion. In a desperate struggle, he is doused with the flaming chemicals and dives into the swamp. He emerges as SWAMP THING. Only the beautiful ADRIENNE BARBEAU, a government expert assigned to protect him, can save him from Arcane's disastrous ploy. An entertaining flic. Enjoy!