The Return of Swamp Thing (1989) Louis Jourdan, Heather Locklear, Sarah Douglas, Dick Durock, Joey Sagal Movie Review

The Return of Swamp Thing (1989)   2/52/52/52/52/5


Heather Locklear and Dick Durock in The Return of Swamp Thing (1989)

Swamp Camp

Dr. Anton Arcane (Louis Jourdan) is still up to no good with his experiments and when his step-daughter Abby (Heather Locklear) shows up at his swamp side mansion she becomes his obsession as her blood may be the key to restoring his youth. Fortunately for Abby the Swamp Thing (Dick Durock) is on hand to do battle with Arcane's creations, his henchmen and Arcane himself.

I have to say up front that whilst I had heard of Swamp Thing I had never come across him before, not in comic book form or in movie form. Yes that means that I attempted to watch "The Return of Swamp Thing" have not watched "Swamp Thing" from 1982 first. And whilst I am sure seeing the original "Swamp Thing" would make watching this sequel easier to follower I doubt that it could improve it due to its almost tongue in cheek, camp nature which at times made it feel more akin to the Batman movie of the 1960s.

Sarah Douglas and Louis Jourdan in The Return of Swamp Thing (1989)

The thing is that "The Return of Swamp Thing" is not hard to follow as you have a bad guy in Dr. Arcane, a good guy in Swamp Thing and Abby being the focus of both men. As such whilst knowing how Swamp Thing came to be might help you don't need to know it to watch this especially as a lot of movie is taken up by focusing on wild eyed henchman Gunn as he manically tries to kill Swamp Thing. And because Joey Sagal plays Gunn in an entertainingly over the top manner that you do get this tongue in cheek side to this sequel, although at times it ends up a little too cheesy.

Beyond Joey Sagal there is of course Louis Jourdan as Arcane who for me looks like he doesn't want to be in the movie whilst Heather Locklear is there because it was a simple pay check. Thankfully Dick Durock is entertaining as Swamp Thing and delivers plenty of humorous poses as he spits out some cornball dialogue.

What this all boils down to is that "The Return of Swamp Thing" is not a good movie and has a feel that not only was it hacked to death in the editing suite but some of those involved didn't want to be in it. But then you have Dick Durock who kind of saves the day as he delivers an entertaining performance as Swamp Thing.


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