Origin:

This film is not nearly as intellectual or sharp as the Len Wein or Alan Moore authored comics. But this film has its share of touching Frankenstein inspired moments. Roger Ebert was one of the film's few defenders.

Swamp Thing first appeared in 1972, but had roots in a story published a year earlier. DC Comics' House of Secrets #92 contained a story by writer Len Weinand and artist Berni Wrightson , about a man murdered and dumped in a swamp, whose body metamorphosed into a muck monster that rose from the mire to wreak vengeance upon his killer.

Synopis:

Director Wes Craven, who went on to fame as the force behind blockbuster horror films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street, departed from his favorite genre to film this unique cult classic -- a spoof on the mad scientist movies of the 1950s. Adrienne Barbeau stars as Alice Cable, a government agent sent to replace a man who has disappeared while guarding a secret experimental lab in the middle of the Louisiana bayous. Dressed in heels and a skirt, Cable professes unease at her strange new surroundings, but she is soon wooed by Dr. Alec Holland (Ray Wise). Holland is working on a concoction that combines plant and animal cells. Arcane (Louis Jourdan) is the criminal mastermind who is trying to steal the secret recipe for the potion. When Arcane and his mercenaries break into the government camp, they kill Holland's sister Linda (Nannette Brown) and the scientist is accidentally doused with his own formula and bursts into flames, then dives into the swamp. Arcane's men pursue Cable, but she is rescued by a mysterious green man. It takes several rescues for her to understand that the Swamp Thing (Dick Durock) is Dr. Holland, transformed by his own formula.

© Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

Prequels, Sequels and Follow-ons:

The Return of the Swamp Thing (1989) Directed by: Jim Wynorski. Starring: Sarah Douglas, Dick Durock, Louis Jourdan, Heather Locklear, Ace Mask, Joey Sagal