Swamp Thing: Wes Craven

Wes Craven's Swamp Thing looks like a made-for-television movie from the 70s that was originally shot on VHS and then transferred to 8mm film stock. Listen...I didn't expect Wes Craven to make masterpiece, here. And I totally didn't expect for it to live up to the staggering heights of Alan Moore's run on the Swamp Thing comic book (which FYI is one of the greatest comic book runs of all time). But I expected more than THIS. Oh, the basics of Swamp Thing's origins are still there: Dr. Alec Holland works in a laboratory in the middle of the Louisiana swamp where he tries to create some kind of animal/plant hybrid. There is an accident which results in Alec getting covered by chemicals and falling into the swamp. He thereby becomes the Swamp Thing, the protector of the swamp! Of course...in the comics this is all an accident. In the movie, it is the result of a group of paramilitary soldiers seeking a formula for immortality which cause the fateful accident. We then witness a series of increasingly ridiculous fight scenes where the Swamp Thing manages to repeatedly sneak up on trained soldiers and incapacitate them. But the worst part is that the Swamp Thing isn't on camera very much! For a movie called Swamp Thing which is literally about a THING from the SWAMP, we see only about 30 minutes worth of this creature. And, yes, I'll be fair, most of my problems with this film comes from how it goes against what made Swamp Thing such a great comic book character. In the comics, the Swamp Thing was a gentle protector of nature who rarely used physical violence. The series was about tone, atmosphere, and horror. Here, it's about explosions and cheap special effects. All I can say is that Swamp Thing deserves better than this movie.