Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

HeadlinesExotic Boring

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

paul vincent zecchino This is one of the most beautiful, touching films ever made. The actors strive for dull yet achieve somnolence. The special effects demonstrate how little can be accomplished on a low budget. The dialogue will immediately impress you for its ordinariness and lack of synchronization with the on-screen 'action', to use the word loosely.A drowning man cries for help but his cries don't match his lip movements. The mad scientist looks as if he's trying his hardest to not laugh upon finally seeing the monster at film's end. The actor is supposed to be emoting 'scared, terrified', but his facial expression immediately conveys glee, delight, as if his unspoken words might be, "I can't believe they're paying me for this."The 'monster' is an extra who wears a silly rubber mask with Ping-Pong balls glued on for eyes, and things which resemble pencils stuck in the nostrils, very much in manner that schoolkids stick pencils up their noses.During the last minute, a couple sharp looking private aircraft fly away, one of them carrying John Agar. We don't know where he's going, nor why. The film's auteur wisely leaves this interpretation to his learned audience, as if implying there'll be a sequel.One can only hope. This is one of the biggest piles of dog droppings ever committed to celluloid and as such, a film near and dear to every connoisseur of bad films.Paul Vincent ZecchinoBad Film Gourmand04 June, 2013

wbswetnam What kind of mess do you get when you mix a mad scientist, his dim-witted but beautiful wife, angry local "swamp people" doing a voodoo dance, endless drumming almost throughout the film (the "taka-ta-taka, taka-ta-taka, taka-ta-taka" will drive you nuts), a geologist and some scheming locals, and of course a green bug-eyed monster? Why you wind up with Curse of the Swamp People, that's what! A geologist looking for oil in the swamps somewhere (Louisiana?) joins up with some locals intent on weaseling their way into a cut of the oil profits. They arrange for a guide to take them deep into the swamp where a mad scientist lives in a large house with a beautifully manicured lawn(!?). The mad scientist, Dr. Trent, is creating creatures by making some kind of alligator/fish-men.Unfortunately for him, most of his experiments have ended up in failure, but no problem - he disposes of them in his swimming pool full of hungry alligators.Dr. Trent is close to perfecting his methods when he is unexpectedly visited by the geologist et al. At the same time the locals get fed up with him picking off their neighbors for his experiments, and they resolve to use voodoo and 24-hour drum beats to get their revenge.As is typical for these low-budget creature-feature films of the 50s and 60s, you don't see the creature itself until almost the end of the movie, and it is completely laughable - it looks sort of like a less bulky version of Shrek, with bulging slit eyes.As bad as the film is, I found myself entertained. It's many gaffs are easy and frequently spotted, such as the electric meter on the side of the doctor's house (if he lives so far back in the boonies, then how is it that he is 'on the grid', and why doesn't the meter reader wind up as a part of his monster experiments?). I found it kind of fun to watch, so I felt generous and gave it a 3.

MartinHafer When I looked at the DVD, there were two strong indicators that the film would be of the absolute worst quality. First, it was made in the 1960s and starred John Agar. In the 60s, Agar had slid from appearing in A-films and was appearing in a steady stream of z-grade films. Second, the film was made by one of the most inept directors in history--Larry Buchanan. Other Buchanan 'masterpieces' include the horrendous MARS NEEDS WOMEN, ZONTAR: THE THING FROM VENUS as well as IN THE YEAR 2889--films that even Ed Wood would have been embarrassed to have made!! And, while it did turn out that CURSE OF THE SWAMP CREATURE is a horrible film in almost every way, it still is better than these three other films!! The film begins with an oil prospector being murdered by staff at a sleazy hotel near the bayou. When another man from the same oil company (John Agar) comes to this tiny town looking for the dead man, the idiots who killed the guy decide to have on of them (a lady) pose as the dead man's wife--and say that she, too, is a scientist and will be carrying out her husband's work, as he's "unable to be here". This story makes no sense at all and why they would concoct such a tale is never all that clear, though at one point they say that they want to get Agar to show they where the oil is so they can claim it for themselves. Now considering that they would have to kill two oil company workers and then claim to have found the oil themselves makes it seem 100% certain that they would get caught.At the same time, in a separate story, an insane researcher is kidnapping folks and doing experiments to turn them into swamp monsters. When the experiments fail, he tosses the victims into a swimming pool filled with gators. Eventually Agar and his group meet up with the insane scientist in the swamp. Not surprisingly, bad things soon begin to happen! At many points in the film, the sound effects are either missing or badly mistimed. In one case, a guy is supposed to receive a phone call but the phone never rings...and then he picks it up anyway! Another time, the doctor's wife yells but the scream and the mouth opening and closing for the scream are several seconds out of synchronization! At other points, stock footage (particularly of the alligators) is terribly integrated into the film--and the gators make absolutely no sounds at all--even as they thrash about in the water. It's also funny, because they supposedly live in this small swimming pool but some of the clips show it is a larger sized lake filled with dirty brown water.As for the acting, it's bad but I've seen a lot worse. The only seriously bad actor is the doctor--he over-annunciates and over-acts throughout. Perhaps Jeff Alexander improved in later years, but here he is the worst of the main characters--though none of them could be confused for real actors. Amazingly, the acting might just be the strongest feature in this film! The direction is lackluster and often seemingly non-existent. Some of the shots are poorly framed and look more like home movies than something anyone would actually pay to see. I am not sure if Buchanan is also responsible for how grainy the film looks--this could just be due to the ravages of time and a bad DVD print. But, considering his other films I'm inclined to assume the worst as far as his directorial skills are concerned.By the way, the swamp creature of the title only begins to make its first appearance at the 74 minute mark--and then only a brief glimpse of its eyes. The actual creature in all its glory appears only in the final four minutes of the movie--and then mostly in distant shots or for a second or two at a time! With the words 'swamp creature' in the title, I sure was expecting to see a heck of a lot more!! However, I must honestly add that for a grade-z level swamp monster, there are actually one or two I've seen that wear much, much worse costumes (such as in THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH and its swamp man who has a bunch of hot dogs sticking out of its mouth).By the way, I watched an Ed Wood film earlier the same evening that I saw this. The Ed Wood film (THE VIOLENT YEARS) was 1000 times better...and yet, it too, also sucked! Overall, for technical merit, story, direction and acting, this one earns a 1 but it is strangely watchable for bad movie buffs. It is simply so bad that it's funny--as are all the Buchanan films that I have seen.

David Michael O'Rorey (retromaster2000) I saw this movie on AMC's Monsterfest in Oct. of 2003 it was on at 3 or 4am I had my tape ready & all to record. But the movie wasn't what I expected. I was use to seeing good monster suits like in Octaman & Zaat both from 1972. But over time since 2004 I have grew to like & appreciate Buchanan's stuff. Zontar, The Thing From Venus, was the first I saw. Then The Eye Creatures & so on. So Swamp Creature is a direct remake of Voodoo Woman (1956) it's about this mad scientist named Simon Trent who is trying to make land creatures into sea creatures his several failed experiments with his human subjects ended up in the gator pool. He even ends up using one of his assistants played by Tony Houston. John Agar stars & plays Barry Rogers a Geologist that falls into a plot for money dealing with finding oil. The local Snake Worshiping Natives are restless & know the doctor's evil experiments. Agar & the rest eventually get to their destination & meet the doctor & his charming sexy wife played by Francine York, which looks so gorgeously hot in the red dinner dress if u don't like these movies then at least watch it for her. So the doctor eventually succeeds in creating his fish swamp monster by using the chick posing as Mrs. West. Of course u know it's not going to work with Pat (Francine York) taunting her to show her how Simon ruined her beauty she throws him into the gator pool. This movie isn't for you unless u like B & Z Grade Sci-Fi & Horror Flicks. If u guys like 60's glamor watch it for Francine York at least. She looks stunning in this movie. I think this is Buchanan's best 60's Made For T.V. remake besides Creature Of Destruction from 1967.