Swampfilms, 1982

starring: Ray Wise, Louis Jourdan, Adrienne Barbeau, and Dick Durock

written and directed by: Wes Craven

why it’s good: Not all monsters lurking in the water are evil, and “Swamp Thing,” based on the DC Comics character created  by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson, goes to great lengths to make its mucky hero an action star. At the time, director Wes Craven was in somewhat of a slump. His two earliest hits, “The Last House on the Left” and “The Hills Have Eyes,” were years behind him, and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” was still two years ahead. Craven may well have just been collecting a paycheck, as “Swamp Thing” is chock-full of kid-friendly action and adventure and utterly devoid of the grim horror and surreal scares for which Craven is known. Most of the action is limited to Swamp Thing tossing thugs and goons out of boats and into the swamp (sometimes, the boats explode, but other times, they don’t). Surprisingly, the goons are extensively showcased here—David Hess, who played the sleazy Krug in Craven’s “Last House,” is the ringleader, and he’s as creepy and slimy as ever. He’s joined by Nicholas Worth, a bald, lumpy-faced character actor who starred as the murderous heavy-breather in 1980’s “Don’t Answer the Phone!” Worth gets more lines than he should, but by the end of the movie, he’s been turned into a wise-cracking troll. No, really—Holland’s formula, when ingested by humans, brings out their true selves. This might explain why the headstrong but diminutive Ray Wise is replaced by hulking stuntman Dick Durock when Holland morphs into Swamp Thing, but it doesn’t really explain why Arcane becomes a giant man-badger with vaguely magenta fur. Pre-transformation, Louis Jourdan is suitably maniacal and cartoonish as Arcane, and he and Barbeau gleefully carry the movie. It’s not a high point for Craven or for the character of Swamp Thing itself, but there are worse boggy films to be stuck in than “Swamp Thing.”

why you should own it: “Swamp Thing” is campy, cheesy fun, though it’s definitely a minor footnote in Craven’s career and comic book movies in general. Exercise caution, however, when exploring the sequel “The Return of Swamp Thing,” and the subsequent TV series that ran on the USA Network in the early ’90s.