SWAMP THING is one of those guilty pleasures from childhood. One of my few memories of back then consists of watching this movie almost religiously whenever it came on HBO. A PG-Rated film based on a comic book series, such a movie would not get a PG-Rating today with it's scenes of breasts, beasts and the occasional bit of blood. It was also one of the earlier works of director Wes Craven, who has since become a big sell-out and presently works for Disney because no one else wants to hire him. And, if I'm not mistaken, Wes himself appears as a soldier/servant of Louis Jourdan who (poorly) delivers the classic line "...it's every man for himself and God against all."
The story concerns Alice Cable (Adrienne Barbeau) arriving at a government-sponsored scientific installation somewhere in the swamps. There, Dr. Alec Holland (Ray Wise) is working on a combination of plant and animal. When the naughty henchmen of Dr. Anton Arcane (the great Louis Jourdan) arrive to steal and kill, they throw his own formula on him and he jumps into the swamp.
Surviving, Alice runs from the henchmen and eventually befriends the Swamp Thing, who is actually Dr. Holland after his formula has consumed him. Things go from bad to worse and Alice and Swamp Thing are captured by Arcane and taken to his mansion where, after re-creating Holland's formula, transforms into a creature himself and the final battle between good and evil is on.
Well, leave it to MGM to come out with another minor DVD. Sure, it's the best looking copy we've seen in ages (it's also the ONLY copy we've seen in ages), but MGM can do better than this. A special edition will probably see the light of day in a year or two--just after we've all purchased this standard edition.
The disc contains both the (non 16x9) widescreen 1.85:1 presentation on one side and a full-frame 1.33:1 version on the other for those fools who haven't quite figured the whole 'widescreen' thing out yet. Audio-wise, we have English and Spanish Mono (oh, wow). Spanish and French subtitles, a theatrical trailer (back in the days when the studios didn't know how to make a trailer) and a "collectible booklet" are also included. That's it... nothing more. Thanks, MGM, I didn't want any special features or commentaries anyway.
Either way, this is at long last available again so it's good to have it--even if it is a bare DVD, but I'd suggest renting and waiting for a Special Edition before buying it (or don't spend Retail on it if you do decide to purchase it).
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