SWAMP DEVIL is a B-movie that commits the cardinal sin of being boring. This clichéd, unoriginal film follows a well-ploughed route and barely justifies the running time with a threadbare plot that bears little resemblance to reality. Once again there's a rarely seen monster out in the woods that kills a handful of people in campy death scenes, until the main characters finally team up to tackle it. Aside from a few cool moments of not-bad monster action at the climax, this is boring stuff indeed.
It doesn't help that the CGI effects used to animate the vine-man are pretty diabolical; they reminded me of something you might see in a superhero flick and the analogy is made clear when a central character reveals his ability to transform into said creature. This blows away any vestiges of credibility and it doesn't help that the guy playing the monster is an absolutely terrible actor. With the opening scene of a scantily-clad blonde being pursued through the woods at night by an unseen predator, I thought this might be mildly entertaining, but I was mistaken. A lame twist ending and barely any bloodshed to speak of work against this one as well. I did like the idea of the monster not being able to leave the town boundaries but I'm sure that's been ripped off from a previous movie as well.
Sci-Fi Original movies seem to be a hit and miss affair, usually miss though. The only one I can say I've really enjoyed has been AZTEC REX, but stuff like IN THE SPIDER'S WEB and VIPERS are bottom of the barrel, just like this film – but I think SWAMP DEVIL is even worse than those two movies. The old-timer in the cast is Bruce Dern, who you have to feel sorry for, although lead actress Cindy Sampson manages to portray an inner integrity which makes her more than appealing. Otherwise SWAMP DEVIL is barely worth your time.
It doesn't help that the CGI effects used to animate the vine-man are pretty diabolical; they reminded me of something you might see in a superhero flick and the analogy is made clear when a central character reveals his ability to transform into said creature. This blows away any vestiges of credibility and it doesn't help that the guy playing the monster is an absolutely terrible actor. With the opening scene of a scantily-clad blonde being pursued through the woods at night by an unseen predator, I thought this might be mildly entertaining, but I was mistaken. A lame twist ending and barely any bloodshed to speak of work against this one as well. I did like the idea of the monster not being able to leave the town boundaries but I'm sure that's been ripped off from a previous movie as well.
Sci-Fi Original movies seem to be a hit and miss affair, usually miss though. The only one I can say I've really enjoyed has been AZTEC REX, but stuff like IN THE SPIDER'S WEB and VIPERS are bottom of the barrel, just like this film – but I think SWAMP DEVIL is even worse than those two movies. The old-timer in the cast is Bruce Dern, who you have to feel sorry for, although lead actress Cindy Sampson manages to portray an inner integrity which makes her more than appealing. Otherwise SWAMP DEVIL is barely worth your time.