What do 1) Zaat!, 2) The Bloodwaters of Dr. Z and 3) Attack of the Swamp Creature share in common?

They are different releases of the same film!

It is said that a Rose by any other name would smell the same... the exact same thing is true for this stinker!

Low Budget Thriller

The budget was so low...

How low was it? Somebody did ask!

It was so low that the Mad Scientist had a laboratory but no castle!

That should have been a clue, but I was only 14 when I saw this movie! For as awful as it was, it's left a permanent mark etched in my mind

Must have been the gorgeous damsels-in-distress that the monster kidnapped!

The Plot (Or in this case, what passed as one...)

A scientist (they all think they are just scientist, even the mad ones) is working on a formula that will create a super-ecological-soldier that can survive in the polluted waters and literally clean toxins out of the water as it breathes in and out. An amphibious creature, it would then move from polluted water body to polluted water body... atoning for what man had done to the environment!

Funding is an issue and the formula has not been successful tried on a living being. The scientist decides that he will be his own test subject... and it works...

Sort of

A Monster is Born

Needless to say, the mad-scientist only gets madder when his serum works but he is no longer human! He is, for lack of a better description, a giant walking catfish... and now he's pis-ed-off!

His fellow scientists... the ones who mocked him... are targeted and tracked down and slaughtered for the audacity they showed in not respecting his supposed genius!

And then his enemies are no more...

Bride of the Monster?

The scientist himself had not been exactly a babe-magnet, imagine the trouble he was now having! Imagine this poor, self-sacrificing man-monster who had given everything... EVERYTHING to the betterment of mankind... and now he can't even score... er, spawn... uh, whatever it is that a Catfish-Man does...

Oh, the indignity of it all... Oh, the loneliness as he swims about cleaning up our natural resources for us...

Oh, will you look at that gorgeous blonde in the yellow bikini...

There IS hope after all! There IS going to be a Mrs. Catfish-Man... even if it means taking this blonde-babe against her will!

The obligatory perfect-woman is doing some water testing and is camped out at the shore of the river. The Monster is peering at her with his head out of the water. The woman goes into her tent, and the amphibious Fish-Man leaves the water and captures her... finally carrying her unconscious into the water... and swimming with her back to his laboratory...

Til Death Do Us Part

He has chosen his mate, but like many humans, he isn't satisfied. He has to change her. Make her more like him! So he straps her to the laboratory table... every laboratory has at least one... and injects her with a special potion. It had turned him into a fish-man, but it has different results on the girl. It kills her.

So despairingly, the fish-man disposes of her body in some kind of decomposition tank... probably how they make fish emulsion fertilizer for any horticulturists out there...

Here Come the Cops

You know... the cops that inhabit every low budget horror movie... the cops that don't know their badge from their nightstick... yeah, but problem was in this low budget horror movie they used the ones who weren't smart enough to be on the force in those other low budget horror movies!

The monster has been sighted. They know it's a killer. They have been tracking him. They had shot every kind of weapon they have at him. SO... when the monster is stalking the next bride-to-be; who is the heroine of the movie; the sheriff tries to shoot him again... when bullets fail to slow the monster, the sheriff begins to beat the monster with his gun!

Guess what? IT DIDN'T WORK EITHER! But the monsters claw-like hands did make short work of the sheriff.

(A side note; since I grew up in Florida and this was filmed in Florida, it was big local news... the premiere happened and the guy who played the sheriff was so embarrassed that rumor is he got up and walked out of the premiere... thereby setting the stage for movie-goers everywhere!)

The Next Potential Victim

Yeah, the next babe is the heroine of the movie. You know that she's the heroine because she's a) a sexy marine bioligist and b) she's gotten romantic with the only sheriff's deputy with anything that resembles intelligence!

It's her that figures out what little that is figured out about the fish man, and the fish man likes that in a woman... that and beauty! (of course the beauty could not be his attraction since he wants to turn her into a fish... shades of The Incredible Mr. Limpett!)

So the monster is stalking her... and finally makes his move!

Grand Finale

Alone in her home, deep in the woods, our damsel is showering after a long day of being smart and beautiful... it's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it... and the creature enters her house.

She comes out of the shower, hair still moist from being towel dried... a definite turn on for a fish-man... and dressed in a simple short set. She looks up, sees the fish man, screams, and faints... and the fish man carries her over his shoulder through the dense forest... and back to his hideout.

But his hideout is in danger of being invaded. He has to work fast... so he quickly injects our damsel-in-distress... and then it happens!

The authorities mount their last assault on the poor fish-creature! He is so misunderstood, he's only lookin' for love... in all the wrong places... and the fire-power of the authorities drive the creature into retreat... and he flees for the ocean...

Our heroine has come to and freed herself from captivity and walks to the beach as her beau and the calvary discuss their supposed victory over the fish-man... but she's not there to talk... she continues on, oblivious to her boy friend and others... and walks into the surf until she disappears from view...

The End... and we assume the fish-man and the babe live happily ever after, spawning lot's of mermaids... or something!

OK... that's pretty much it, except to say that for being one of the hokiest movies I've ever seen, I'd love to see it again... if I ever find it... because I need to see, if 25+ years later... was that movie as bad as I remember?

Footnote: I saw this movie as Zaat! back in 73 or so... it was re-released as The Bloodwaters of Dr. Z! a couple of years later... and has been knows as Attack of the Swamp Creature (and it is rumored several other names...) on video releases! It was a low-budget stinker... that to date has possibly still not made money!

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Hope you enjoyed this review; stay tuned for more!

Joe

Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12
Special Effects: Well at least you can't see the strings