THE RETURN OF SWAMP THING (1989)
35th Anniversary 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray
Label: Lightyear Entertainment
Region Code: Region-Free
Duration: 88 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Video: 2160p Ultra HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Audio: English DTS-HD MA English 5.1 Surround, English 2.0 Stereo with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Jim Wynorski
Cast: Heather Locklear, Louis Jourdan, Dick Durock, Sarah Douglas
Believe it or not The Return of Swamp Thing was produced by the same guys whom have produced all the Batman movies since Tim Burton's 1989 film, even stranger these guys chose b-movie schlockmeister Jim Wynorski (Chopping Mall) to direct this DC comic property, a sequel that came seven years after the Wes Craven original. The movie resurrects the evildoer Anton Arcane (Louis Jourdan, Octopussy) from the first film - which if you saw the first film is quite a feat! He's once again is hanging out in the swamps of Georgia doing evil stuff, this time creating a race of half-human, half-animal hybrids called "un-men" - to what end is never quite explained, but it's all very Island of Lost Souls. Arcane's hottie horticulturist stepdaughter Abigail (80's babe Heather Locklear, TV's Melrose Place) comes to visit her estranged stepfather in the swamps hoping to reconcile with him after her mother mysterious death at Arcane's swamp-set plantation mansion.
Arcane still has an army of mercenaries working for him, in addition to science typess; we have the albuterol-sucking Dr. Rochelle (Ace Mask, Not of this Earth) and Lana Zurrell (Sarah Douglas, Superman II), who oversee the creation of his genetically modified un-men. These mutant monstrosities include animal/human hybrids of an elephant, a leech, a cockroach, and what looks to be an armadillo, and a guy who looks a bit like the cannibalistic fetus-eating madman from Anthropophagus (1980), I am almost certain that it's an homage to that character. When the film opens we catch-up with a group of DEA agents looking for illicit moonshine stills in the swamps, but the only thing they find, unfortunately for them, is the aforementioned leech-man. This is where we're re-introduced to the titular returning Swamp Thing (Dick Durock, Raw Deal), who shows up just in time to save at least one of the agents. The film has it's share of cheesy effects but I was blown away by the design of the Swamp zoning suit, created by Academy Award nominee, Carl Fullerton (The Silence of the Lambs), which looks much closer to comic creator Bernie Wrightson's design from the comics, it's a vast improvement over the man in glorified garbage bag from Wes Craven's film. The suit this time out is nicely molded with roots and vegetation that are deeply detailed, the face is really what sells it though, the character can emote quite well through the ribber - but despite this awesome design I couldn't help but laugh a bit when the character spoke - gone is the original voice of Dick Durock, and what we get in it's place is sort of funny sounding charmer of a voice, it's seems a strange choice and took a moment to get used to. Not that strange choices are rare commodity in this film, there's plenty of WTF-ery throughout, but I like the direction of it. Wynorski is going for a camped-up comic film with plenty of over-the-top strangeness and and some cool practical make-up appliances for the un-men. The only one to get any real screentime with is the leech-man, who battles our out swampy hero twice.
Another fun cheese-factor is the inclusion of a pair of completely unnecessary adolescent kids hellbent on getting a picture of Swamp Thing to sell to the tabloids, they seem like they're rejects from Hal Roach's Our Gang (The Little Rascals) shorts, the freckled ginger kid particularly. While they're not necessary characters I never once regretted seeing them onscreen, they add a fun element to it and it suits the campy tone of it all. Then we have two mercenaries working for Arcane by way of Miss Poinsettia (Monique Gabrielle, Penthouse Pet December '82) and Gunn (Joey Sagal, (Barb Wire), the latter is the brother of the more famous Katie Sagal (Married With Children). They're two of the more significant of the baddies and get a bit more screentime, at one point comparing scars, you know, like in Jaws, with wounds ranging from fighting in Nicaragua to a bite mark from a Motley Crue concert, just silly stuff like that.
Back to the main characters I have to say I think Louis Jourdan is really awful, he gives the strangest performance with a mix of odd expressions and what looks to be boredom - the guy doesn't seem to want to be there, and who can blame him, he probably loathed that this is where he was at in this point and time in his career, this being his second to last film appearance. To that point there's a humorous anecdote on the extras wherein director Wynorsky points out that Jourdan refused to say a characters nickname as it referenced breasts, and the director retorted with "weren't you just in a film called Octopussy?", causing the aging star to storm off the set, so that could not have helped I guess. Then there's Heather Locklear, a bonafide 80's babe for sure, but she is playing this for laughs with some quippy/pun-laden dialogue that seems like a different film altogether, but it made me laugh and groan in equal measure, You gotta love that her character is a vegetarian and somehow that should make us believe she would somehow fall in love with ol' swampy. I mean, I like cantalope a bunch, but I'm not gonna fuck it. Anyway, this subplot allows for a weird oral-sex joke and some hallucinogenic dream-sex, I shit you not.
The Return of Swamp Thing is just a fun film, it's super-corny and comic book-y, but not in the Alan Moore sort of way, which I would love to see actually filmed. The Alan Moore run on Swamp Thing is epic and would make for a fucked-up and gorgeous film, which they sort of did that with the short lived DC TV series, but definitely not with the this sequel or even the Wes Craven original.
Audio/Video: To commemorate it's 35th anniversary The Return of Swamp Thing (1989) arrives on 4K Ultra HD in 2160p UHD widescreen (1.85:1), advertised as a new 4K restoration from the original interpositive with Dolby Vision HDR mastering. Grain is nicely managed, and the source looks flawless, there's no print damage I can see aside from some minor white speckling. Colors are well saturated though the source has some inherent softness, the greens of the swamp and the mucky hero really shine with the Dolby Vision HDR pass, it's not overbaked and looks natural, just re-invigorated by the wider color gamut capabilities. Additionally blacks are deeper and truer, though some slight compression issues to bleed into some if the darker scenes. When comparing the 2018 MVD Blu-ray to the new 2023 Blu-ray disc from Lightyear Entertainment the framing and SDR color-grading look identical to me, but the new 4K scan offers tighter grain resolution with more refined details and and a slight uptick in clarity, but the differences are not as evident as comparing the Blu-ray to the 4K UHD with the benefit of Dolby Vision HDR.
No Dolby Atmos upgrade for this release, but we do get uncompressed English DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround and English 2.0 Stereo with optional English subtitles. The stereo track is well-balanced and is still my preferred viewing option but the surround track sounds great, especially during the opening credits scene with Creedence Clearwater Revivals "Born on the Bayou" comes blasting along. The Chuck Cirino score also sounds quite nice in the mix.
On the 4K UHD disc we get the feature film in 2160p UHD and a pair of new bonus features, first up is the 32-min Reflection on Swamp Thing 35 Years Later with Producer Michael E. Uslan, plus a new 3-min RiffTrax Music Video "Your Ever-Lovin’ Swamp Thing". The 4K also offersthe original DVD Audio Commentary with Jim Wynorski , plus a newer Audio Commentary from Director Jim Wynorski, Composer Chuck Cirino and Editor Leslie Rosenthal that was recorded for the 2018 MVD Rewind Collection Blu-ray.
On the Blu-ray disc we get the feature film in 1080p HD plus archival extras. We get the same archival commentaries, plus the 40-min worth of archival interviews that were produced for the 2018 release. We get Interviews with Director Jim Wynorski (17 min), Editor Leslie Rosenthal (9 min), Composer Chuck Cirino (7 min), and Lightyear Entertainment Executive Arnie Holland (5 min). Additionally we have a series of TV Spots, two Greenpeace Public Service Announcements featuring Swamp Thing and the two kids from the film, which notably features Dick Durock's real voice. There's also a 5-min 1989 Promo Reel, 8-min of TV promotional Clips, and a Theatrical Trailer, an Photo Gallery.
The 2-disc UHD/BD release arrives in a black keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the same key artwork as the previous 2018 Blu-ray with different lettering/font that is truer to the comic origin. The same artwork is featured on the slipcover, inside the UHD disc bares that same artwork and the accompanying Blu-ray has a cool illustration of Swamp Thing's face.
Special Features:
Disc One: 4K Ultra HD (Feautre + Extras)
- Audio Commentary from director Jim Wynorski, composer Chuck Cirino and editor Leslie Rosenthal (2018)
- Audio Commentary from director Jim Wynorski (2003)
- Audio Commentary from director Jim Wynorski (2003)
- NEW! Reflection on Swamp Thing 35 Years Later with Producer Michael E. Uslan (32 min)
- NEW! RiffTrax Music Video Your Ever-Lovin’ Swamp Thing (3 min)
Disc Two: Blu-ray (Feature + Extras) - Audio Commentary from director Jim Wynorski, composer Chuck Cirino and editor Leslie Rosenthal (2018)
- Audio Commentary from director Jim Wynorski (2003)
- Interview with director Jim Wynorski (17 min)
- Audio Commentary from director Jim Wynorski (2003)
- Interview with director Jim Wynorski (17 min)
- Interview with Editor Leslie Rosenthal (9 min)
- Interview with Composer Chuck Cirino (7 min)
- Interview with Lightyear Entertainment executive Arnie Holland (5 min)
- Original Trailer (1 min)
- 6 Promotional TV Clips (8 min)
- 2 TV Spots
- 2 Greenpeace Public Service Announcements (2 min)
- 1989 Promo Reel (5 min)
- Photo Gallery (accompanied by Chuck Cirino’s film score) (2 min)
The Return of Swamp Thing (1989) is a fun, trashy super-hero flick, and b-movie superman Jim Wynorski being the connoisseur of cheese that he is makes sure this swamapadilla is stuffed with as much tasty cinema fromage as he can within a PG-13 rated film. While the film is a far cry from the Alan Moore run from the comics I'll definitely revisit this long before I revisit the over-serious original film. If you're a fan there's a lot here to love, and if you're not fan, well I don't think we can be friends - I know it ain't good, but it's awesome! I was quite impressed with the previous Blu-ray edition from MVD Rewind Collection and this UHD is an improvement on that with the 4K resolution and the HDR Dolby Vision color-grading re-invigorating the color spectrum and deepening the blacks, plus we get a solid slate of new and archival extras.
- 6 Promotional TV Clips (8 min)
- 2 TV Spots
- 2 Greenpeace Public Service Announcements (2 min)
- 1989 Promo Reel (5 min)
- Photo Gallery (accompanied by Chuck Cirino’s film score) (2 min)
The Return of Swamp Thing (1989) is a fun, trashy super-hero flick, and b-movie superman Jim Wynorski being the connoisseur of cheese that he is makes sure this swamapadilla is stuffed with as much tasty cinema fromage as he can within a PG-13 rated film. While the film is a far cry from the Alan Moore run from the comics I'll definitely revisit this long before I revisit the over-serious original film. If you're a fan there's a lot here to love, and if you're not fan, well I don't think we can be friends - I know it ain't good, but it's awesome! I was quite impressed with the previous Blu-ray edition from MVD Rewind Collection and this UHD is an improvement on that with the 4K resolution and the HDR Dolby Vision color-grading re-invigorating the color spectrum and deepening the blacks, plus we get a solid slate of new and archival extras.
Blu-ray Screenshot Comparison:
Top: 2018 Blu-ray (MVD Rewind Collection)
Bottom: 2023 Blu-ray (Lightyear Entertainment)
