By Richard Winters
My Rating: 3 out of 10
4-Word Review: Scientist transforms into creature.
Alice (Adrienne Barbeau), a federal agent, is sent to the bayou regions in order to investigate the disappearance of another agent who’d been working at a top-secret facility. It is there that she meets researchers Linda (Nannette Brown) and Alec (Ray Wise) who are brother and sister and working on a chemical that can rapidly regrow plant life. Anton Arcane (Louis Jourdan) is after this formula and raids the facility in order to get his hands on it, but Alec manages to swipe it away just in time only to trip and fall causing him to spill it over himself and getting set on fire. In order to extinguish the flames, he jumps into the swamp but is presumed dead. Alice is able to escape, but Arcane’s henchmen (David Hess, Nicholas Worth) spot her the next day and attempt to drown her, which is when a strange green creature jumps out of the water to save her. Alice is at first unsure of where this creature came from but slowly begins to suspect it may be connected to Alec.
The film is based on the comic book of the same name where the creature first appeared in July of 1971. While I liked the on-location shooting done at the Cypress Gardens in South Carolina the movie otherwise falls precariously flat. I suspect the cause of this comes from the tight budget where the emphasis was for everything to come in on time and limit costs. There’s adequate action, which almost all done on the water, but it eventually gets formulaic. There had been plans to shoot a chase underwater, but this got scrapped and there’s just so many shots of a speed boat one can take before it becomes monotonous. It’s not clear either whether this was to be played up for camp, or not. Some knowing humor could’ve given it an added dimension, but as it is the only real amusing moment is when Alice ‘shoos’ away the giant creature with her hand treating him like he was nothing more than a rodent.
Casting wise it has an appeal. Barbeau was already hitting 40 and it’s refreshing having a female protagonist not having to be youthful and hip, but instead grounded and straightforward. Jourdan is equally enjoyable, and his crusted, stern look and terse delivery makes him sufficiently menacing. I also enjoyed Hess and Worth better known for playing prominent psychos in other films but coming off as sort of klutzy and over their heads here. Out of everyone though I really like Reggie Batts. He was a young black kid that lived in the region but had no other acting experience and was never in another movie but is quite amiable with his humorous observations and his presence gives the movie some earthy balance.
While Wise does well as the main character the fact that when he turns into the creature it gets played by somebody else, in this case stuntman Dick Durock, doesn’t really work. Initially Wise was supposed to play both roles and Durock would only put on the creature outfit when there needed to be stunts done, but his body build was so different from Wise’s that it was determined to just use him as it would be too obvious otherwise. The biggest mistake though, and I haven’t read the comic, so it may be true there as well, is that I didn’t like him speaking. Having the creature be this murky anomaly gave him an aire of mystery, which gets ruined when he starts talking. He becomes like just another character only in a body suit, and outside of super strength and being able to regrow his limbs, isn’t all that interesting.
Spoiler Alert!
The concept where ingesting the formula will bring out the person’s ‘true essence’ of who they really are was cool but unfortunately gets badly botched. When Worth’s character takes it, he shrinks in size and thus showing that he’s timid inside, which is fine. However, his clothes shrink with the body, but the chemical never got on them, so they should’ve remained normal sized and just his body gotten smaller.
When Arcane drinks it he becomes a hairy monster, but it comes off looking like a guy in a Halloween costume, which cheapens the effects. It might’ve cost more, but doing the transformation via makeup, similar to The Planet of the Apes, would’ve been more impressive and authentic looking.
My Rating: 3 out of 10
Released: February 19, 1982
Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes
Rated PG
Director: Wes Craven
Studio: United Artists
Available: DVD, Blu-ray, Amazon Video, Plex, Roku Channel, Tubi, YouTube
Scopophilia 