Michael_Elliott The Return of Swamp Thing (1989) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Abby Arcane (Heather Locklear) returns to the swamp to visit her stepdad and learns that he's doing strange experiments that are turning people into mutants. Before long she meets Swamp Thing (Dick Durock) who was a victim of her stepfather's and before long the two are falling for each other while he is battling the bad guys.I must admit right up front that I was never a big fan of Wes Craven's SWAMP THING. I tried watching it a couple times as a kid and then again as an adult but it just never worked for me. To me the film was way too serious and it seemed to forget that it should be fun. THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING comes from Jim Wynorski and there's no question that it captures the lighter mood of a comic book and delivers some fun throughout its running time.That's not to say that this here is a perfect movie because it's far from that. Truth be told, I can understand why some people wouldn't like this and especially since it does go over-the-top with its humor. I think the film was made campy on purpose and that's proven with some of the one-liners plus it never takes itself overly serious. The campy nature works well and especially during the action scenes as well as with creature designs. The mutants all look rather good in a low-budget way and help add to the fun.Of course, the story itself is basically THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU with pinches of the first film thrown in. For the most part I thought Durock was good in the lead, although the bad dubbing certainly didn't help the character. I also like Locklear in the part as she did the "dumb blonde" thing kind of well and she was certainly easy on the eyes. The villains in the film aren't the most memorable but they're far from awful as well.THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING has a different tone than the first movie and for my money that's okay.

Billy Gator This is a film that i will always remember,however this is based more on the context of how i watched it rather than the film itself although i did rather enjoy it. Way way back in 89 for reasons long now forgotten i decided to skive of school for the day.So i enter the local town centre and decide to go see a film and this caught my eye. So I'm in the cinema and no one else comes in and now the movie starts and i have the whole place to myself,at age 15 that seems rather cool to me.So thats why it always stayed with me. So the film itself is great tongue in cheek fun,various monsters which i loved and the effects where very good.Worth a watch.

Paul Andrews The Return of Swamp Thing sees evil scientist Dr. Anton Arcane (Louis Jordan) trying to reverse the extreme ageing that he is undergoing as a result of his experiments. Meanwhile in Los Angeles his stepdaughter Abigail (Heather Locklear) decides to visit him to find out more about her late mother & the events surrounding her sudden death. It turns out that Abigail has the exact genetic make-up that Arcane needs to complete his experiments & give himself eternal life. Arcane also needs a sample of Swamp Thing's (Dick Durock) DNA to complete the process but getting a sample isn't going to be as easy as Arcane hoped for as Swamp Thing sets out to put an end to Arcane's evil experiments...Directed by Jim Wynorski whom I consider one of the worst genre filmmakers of all time I have to say that I really liked The Return of Swamp Thing & for my money just about the best thing Wynorski has ever done (which isn't saying much in itself). A direct sequel to Wes Craven's Swamp Thing (1982) it is never actually explained how Arcane survived the events during the climax of the original although it turns out he is suffering from the process that saved him which forms the basis of the plot as he sets out to find a cure & doesn't care how many people he kills to do just that. Based on the dark Gothic DC comic book character the script by Neil Cuthbert & Grant Morris hasn't got too much to it & is rather simplistic & underdeveloped but is good fun all the same & you suspect that what the production team were aiming for, a good solid entertaining light hearted fun comic book superhero flick which I think it succeeds at being but like most things in life it's down to personal opinion. At a little over 90 minutes it's relatively short, it moves along like a rocket & I was never bored with it which is always a good thing to be able to say. There are one or two half decent action set-pieces but considering the production team had a budget smaller than the Wes Craven original you could say they worked minor miracles. The character's are fun although not particularly deep, the dialogue is often amusing & packed full of one-liners & doesn't take itself too seriously either with Locklear's character referring to the TV show T.J. Hooker (1982 - 1986) in which she starred. All in all much, much better than I expected & a film that I really liked. Keep watching after the end actor credits as the two kids get an extra little scene.Director Wynorski does a decent job & the film looks reasonably good although you can tell there wasn't much money with which to make it. One very impressive aspect of The Return of Swamp Thing is the special make-up effects which are of a very high standard. The Leechman in particularly looks great although he disappears about halfway through, there's a elaborate Cockroachman & an Elephantman. The Swamp Thing suit is also much better than seen in the original, it's far more leafy & slimy & more representative of a what a half man half Georgia swamp creature may look like. The Dr. Rochelle mutation at the end also looks good but is dispatched too easily by Swamp Thing & doesn't put up much of a fight. There are some good fight scenes as well along with a couple of impressive explosions.Technically the film is good, it's well made with the already mentioned special effects impressing. Shot in Savannah in Georgia. The acting is pretty camp & over-the-top but the material demands it, Louis Jordan is somewhat restrained, Dirk Durock's voice was dubbed in post while Heather Locklear looks nice enough.The Return of Swamp Thing is a film which I admit that I throughly enjoyed, that's my opinion & I am sticking with it. Followed by the made-for-TV live action series Swamp Thing (1990 - 1993) & the short lived made-for-TV animated series Swamp Thing (1991).

handleyr Return of the Swamp Thing takes the best aspect of the original Wes Craven cult classic (its camp value) and also the worst (its discontinuity with the comics) to produce an exceedingly silly and over-the-top film that ranks right up there with Attack of the Killer Tomatoes in terms of sheer comic-bookish hilarity.The casting works surprisingly well, despite the use of B- and C-list actors. Dick Durock, once again, brings far more class to the role of the Swamp Thing than the writing would seem to allow. And Louis Jordan, while completely unlike the Arcane seen in the comics in every way, is deliciously brilliant in every villainous role he's every played (see Octopussy as an example of a brilliant Jordan performance in an otherwise uninspired movie).Plus, what's not to love about Heather Locklear? Sure, she's missing Abby's Transylvanian accent from the comic. Sure, she portrays Abby as far more airheaded than she was in the comic. And sure, she's not wearing comic-book Abby's trademark jean cutoffs and read shirt. But this is Heather Locklear, folks, and she more than makes up for it every time she smiles. (Hey, I'm reviewing a corny movie...what better way to do so than to make corny statements?)Rumors abound that we might someday see a new Swamp Thing film, this time built around the landmark origin story Alan Moore brought to the character. We can only hope. In the meantime, both Swamp Thing films (while hardly high cinema) are still great B-movie fun. Make yourself some popcorn, check 'em both out and be sure to leave your brain in the swamp.Rich Handley Roots of the Swamp Thing http://www.swampthingroots.com