SWAMP THING (1982)

Wes Craven continued his gradual rise through major studio associations with Swamp Thing in 1982. By now, he should have been enjoying the greater resources that such an alliance could offer, yet the relative generosity of a $3m budget was still much less than this project needed, and he was continually penny-pinched and second-guessed by his producers to the film's detriment - yet it does have an offbeat appeal.
The DC comic book of Swamp Thing was the brainchild of writer Len Wein and the artist Bernie Wrightson, and was conceived at a time when the vogue was for darker, horror influenced comics - other popular titles of that era were Morbius the Living Vampire and Tomb of Dracula for example.
Craven's film based on his script was as faithful as he could be to the comic book tone, creating a tragic hero in Dr Alec Holland, a research scientist whose bio-engineered formula is targeted for possible weaponisation by evil paramilitary leader Anton Arcane. Holland's southern swamp base is attacked, causing him to be doused by his own formula and transformed essentially into the Hulk in appearance but retaining both conscience and Holland's intelligence. He hides out in the swamp, only surfacing to protect government worker Alice Cable whom he had fallen in love with; (one of the changes by Craven as the original Cable was male).
The tone of the movie iteration pays homage to comic book style by using bright primary colours and iris wipes of different shapes to separate scenes - a technique that may also have been inspired by Spielberg and Lucas's roaring success  with 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark. It also has the oddball campy feel of The Toxic Avenger reinforced by the green creature suit and Holland's soulful gravity inside it. Dick Durock inhabits the Swamp Thing in monster form, after being played with sincerity and a twinkle of ladies' man charm by Ray Wise in the first act - best known as the oily Leland Palmer in TV's Twin Peaks and equally memorably in Tim Robbins' Republican satire Bob Roberts (1991).
Also commendably straight-faced is Louis Jordan as Arcane (a strikingly elegant Gallic Count Dracula burnt into my childhood memory from the 1997 BBC TV production). From Craven's past repertory company comes David Last House on the Left Hess, here morphing his hideous Krug from that film into one of the decidely PG-rated bumbling, paintball-style revolutionaries under Arcane.
As the love interest, horror fans and indeed anyone will welcome the curvy and talented Adrienne Barbeau, who as an ex-Broadway star (Rizzo in the original cast of Grease) became a horror icon from 1980's The Fog onwards. She is not just an interesting figure physically but stands out within the genre as one of the few female actors who could gamely show off her body without compromising her streetwise and feisty portrayals of modern women.
Unlike Barbeau, Swamp Thing does become a victim both to an unevenness of tone - one or two deaths are oddly graphic for the intended rating - and also a third act whose pace and ambition seriously plummets. Craven blamed this on the budget running out, which is a shame as the first two acts give us helicopter entrances and boat explosions to lift it above the usual exploitation fare, coupled with Harry Manfredini's  excellent score.
Sadly, in spite of grandiose talk of tie-in merchandising to rival Tim Burton's later Batman (1989) in scope (t-shirts that changed colour from the wearer's body heat for example), the film failed to catch fire. Amazon Prime recently re-energised the name's following with its 2019 series (and an episode guest role for Barbeau), but this of course was far too late to help Craven's career that was now forced to take a hideous retrograde step into his back catalogue to make ends meet...