The Return of Swamp Thing (1989)

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING is a sequel to the Wes Craven original, directed by Jim Wynorski this time around. Given that Wynorski has never made a decent movie, the odds are stacked against this one too, and so it proves. This is silly, campy film throughout, one which is bogged down by awful overacting from the supporting players and a general lack of coherence.The story sees the titular character returning to fight villain Louis Jourdan once more, after he somehow survived at the end of the last picture. There's some rubbery action and lots of posing from starlet Heather Locklear, but the whole thing's a cheese fest along the lines of the TROLL movies. I always found Swamp Thing one of the silliest comic book heroes (sillier even than the Toxic Avenger) and so it proves here.

Evil Dr. Anton Arcane (Louis Jourdan) returns with a new lab and a new crew. Dr. Lana Zurrell (Sarah Douglas) and Dr. Rochelle are working on mutating their human subjects with plants, animals, and insects of the swamp. Anton's goons are murdering any trespassers. There is a monster on the loose. Abby Arcane (Heather Locklear) arrives to confront her stepfather. When she's attacked by local moonshiners, Swamp Thing comes to her rescue. Anton kidnaps her to experiment.This is intentionally made into a campier sequel to Swamp Thing (82). It's not actually funny. One can't blame the Razzie win on Heather Locklear. She's doing a deliberate bad acting job to fit into the campy style. It may work better if they commit harder to make it campier. This style is unlikely to work.

Much like its title hero, "The Return of Swamp Thing" is a hybrid creature: it tries to do many different genres - horror, comedy, action, romance - and, as it usually happens in these cases, does none of them completely satisfyingly. What keeps it watchable is its cast: Heather Locklear is a beautiful and engaging heroine (her spectacular cleavage doesn't hurt either), and nobody can play a suave, sophisticated, cultured villain quite like Louis Jourdan (it's ironic that his character in the film is trying to find a formula to reverse the aging process, because Jourdan himself seems to have already discovered that formula; he was 70 years old when this film was made but he looks about 50!). The witty and classy Sarah Douglas plays his assistant, and Dick Durock does a fine (physical as well as emotional) job as the Swamp Thing. And the final bonus: a GORGEOUS red-haired Monique Gabrielle as an armed security guard - YES!!! (**)

The first Swamp Thing was a great cult-classic. It had everything, drama, action, and adventure. They turned the second one into an absurd comedy. The second one shouldn't even be linked to the first one it's so bad. The first Swamp Thing was a great cult-classic. It had everything, drama, action, and adventure. They turned the second one into an absurd comedy. The second one shouldn't even be linked to the first one it's so bad. The first Swamp Thing was a great cult-classic. It had everything, drama, action, and adventure. They turned the second one into an absurd comedy. The second one shouldn't even be linked to the first one it's so bad.