After Wes Craven churned out the DC comic "Swamp Thing" into a 1982 feature length, film-maker Jim Wynorski would couple year's later helm the low-budget sequel "The Return of Swamp Thing" and take it down a totally different path.
Wanting to solve the mystery of her mother's death, horticulturist Abigail Arcane goes to stay with her stepfather Dr. Anton Arcane. However he has plans for her, which involves stealing her DNA to achieve immortality. Finding out she escapes into the swamp where she is rescued by Dr. Alex Holland, who now finds himself half-plant, half-man known as Swamp-Thing.
For better or worse, he camped it up and played it for laughs. However that's not taking anything away from it, while it can get silly. It still was rather enjoyable and the make-up FX (involving the mutants) was very well pulled off. The opening sequences involving comic inserts and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Born in the Bayou" used as its theme song do set the mood. I think it actually starts off rather strongly, then if anything kind of falls away when Swamp Thing and Heather Locklear's character come together (the sweet love-story) mid-way through.
The script is very tongue-in-cheek and the performances are rather self- knowing
even Dick Durock as Swamp Thing. Louis Jourdan returns as Dr. Arcane and does a wonderful job bringing this sly character to life. Locklear is looking great, but her character was somewhat an annoyance. The support fair better with the likes of Sarah Douglas and Ace Mask. Wynorski doesn't hold back as he eccentrically seems to pile on the set- pieces and effects with very little story holding it together, but he sure does make it feel like a live-action comic strip with some imaginative brushes, bang-up action and good use of the atmospheric swamp terrain. The tone did feel uneven as there are kiddy elements mixed with adult themes. Too bad I found the ending to be terribly anticlimactic.
Colourful, if ridiculous sequel.
