Film

The Return of the Swamp Thing (1989)

Director: Jim Wynorski

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

Having accidentally created his own arch-enemy in Wes Craven's 1982 Swamp Thing, Dr Arcane (Jourdan) is now perfecting an immortality serum, in which his late wife's rare blood group was to be a vital ingredient. Enter estranged daughter Abigail (Locklear), full of questions about mother, and, more importantly, full of the requisite red stuff. Soon the only thing standing between dad and daughter's main artery is the vegetating form of Dr Alec Holland (Durock), victim of a 'bio-restorative' chemical accident which turned his body into Hampstead Heath on legs. 'You're a plant, aren't you?' Abigail observes astutely as she's whisked to safety by the he-man hedgerow, with whom she soon falls in love. Apprenticed under Corman, Wynorski is well-versed in double-bluffing his audience, denying them the chance of balking at dreadful special effects by implying that the ineptitude is deliberate. He opts for cheap nostalgic laughs and camp '50s sci-fi scenery; depending on whether you find this funny, you'll either smile knowingly or gasp in disbelief.

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