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[Blu-ray Review] ‘The Return of Swamp Thing’ is Horror Fun with a Green Thumb

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All things Swamp Thing-related have blended together in my mind. As a child, I was certainly familiar with Swamp Thing and enjoyed him on my television set many times. A lot of that, I’m sure, was from the TV show because I watched wrestling all the time so my TV was basically on USA Network nonstop. As far as the two films are concerned I’m not certain if I watched them or not. My guess is I did, but I really don’t know. I decided to put an end to that confusion recently my watching the second film, The Return of Swamp Thing, courtesy of MVD Rewind Collection’s recent Blu-ray release.

The film picks up shortly after the events from the first movie — I actually don’t know if that’s true because like I said I can’t remember if I’ve seen the movies but I’m taking an educated guess — with Abigail Arcane (Heather Locklear) heading to the swamps of Florida to face off with her evil stepfather, Dr. Arcane (Louis Jourdan). The mad doctor is the middle of working on an experiment to prevent aging with the assistance of Dr. Lana Zurrell (Sarah Douglas) when Abigail arrives. While Dr. Arcane is caught off guard by this surprise visit, he views it as a positive because he can now use Abigail in his experiments. Unfortunately for the doctor, Swamp Thing (Dick Durock) is on hand to save the day.

It’s a pretty straightforward plot — girl gets captured and Swamp Thing is there to rescue her. What makes the film interesting are some of the subplots mixed in throughout. Two little boys encounter Swamp Thing when another swamp creature bursts through their trailer park. They then spend the rest of the movie plotting to take a picture of Swamp Thing in order to sell it to tabloids for lots of money. Then there are plenty of weird relationships going on. You’ve got Lana and Dr. Arcane, Swamp Thing and Abigail and two of Arcane’s lead goons. Plenty of romance in this schlocky bit of science-fiction fun.

The film is very campy, which leads me to believe I did not see this film as a child because I don’t remember it being campy at all. Of course, it could also mean that as a kid I didn’t really grasp the concept of camp and just associated all monsters with “scary.” Either way, watching the film now it sort of feels like a slightly less low brow version of The Toxic Crusader. All of this makes sense because it’s a Jim Wynorski movie.

A major player in the film’s camp is the use of silly practical effects. Everything looks obviously fake, but that’s okay because it fits the fun vibe and clearly winks at the audience. It’s a movie that gets by on its charm, purposely being goofy and silly while tossing in a little message on why we should take care of the environment.

The Return of Swamp Thing doesn’t take itself too seriously. The goal here is to have fun and entertain and in that respect, it more than succeeds.

Special Features

The MVD Rewind Collection Blu-ray release features a brand-new 2K HD transfer that looks incredible. It’s a pristine looking transfer with plenty of detail, especially in the lab scene. It’s impressive work, particularly when you factor in the silliness of the film and its low budget.

The bonus content is pretty stacked with interviews with Wynorski, Arnie Holland, editor Leslie Rosenthal and composer Chuck Cirino. A lot of fun tidbits here on the making of the film. Additional features include behind the scenes slideshow, 2 TV spots (I love old TV spots!), 6 promotional TV clips (love these too!), promotional reel, brand-new commentary with Wynorski, Rosenthal and Cirino and old commentary with just Wynorski.

The crown jewel of bonus content resides with a pair of public service announcements. Swamp Thing partnered with Greenpeace to promote the importance of keeping Mother Nature clean. Below I’ve included one of those glorious promos — somewhat related, local Portland pizza chain Sizzle Pie uses Swamp Thing to promote their vegan pizza.

The Return of Swamp Thing is campy good fun that MVD Rewind has treated with great care in order to release this fabulous Blu-ray. Fans of the film are going to want to snag a copy.

Chris Coffel is originally from Phoenix, AZ and now resides in Portland, OR. He once scored 26 goals in a game of FIFA. He likes the Phoenix Suns, Paul Simon and 'The 'Burbs.' Oh and cats. He also likes cats.

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‘Herencia Diabólica’ – 1993’s “Mexican Child’s Play” Finally Has a Blu-ray Release [Review]

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Did you know that there is a Child’s Play-inspired film from Mexico? If you didn’t, you can thank Vinegar Syndrome’s new label Degausser Video for making 1993’s Herencia Diabólica available for the masses to watch. Or at least for the VS hardcore fanbase, Chucky completists and anyone else who needs something like this in their lives.

Director Alfredo Salazar, known for his writing connection to the 70s Santo film series, also serves as the writer here to bring us a film seemingly inspired from the Child’s Play franchise. While it has been recently labeled as the “Mexican Child’s Play” (there’s a special feature on the disc with that very title), the killer doll concept is where the comparison should start and end. Despite having some seeds planted by that franchise, Salazar delivers a story that blossoms into something unique.

Tony (Roberto Guinar) receives a letter informing him that his aunt has died, and he has inherited her estate in Mexico. He quits his job and uproots his life in New York with his wife Annie (Holda Ramírez) to relocate south of the border and move into his new crib. Now I know what you’re thinking, what person just quits their job and drags their wife to another country without having reliable monetary income? Tony does, everyone, Tony does.

And what’s the first thing they do once they arrive in Mexico and check out the estate? They hit the bedroom, naturally. We are treated to a sex scene with an erotica song that feels like a knockoff of “Sadness” by Enigma (remember them?). Sounds fun and all, but the scene takes place completely in the dark and we see absolutely nothing. Maybe that’s why the sexy-time tune was pumping, so we could know what was exactly going down.

While Tony goes on a job interview, Annie explores the estate’s grounds in a tedious chore to experience, going room by room, plodding along. But it does lead us to her discovery of our antagonist—the evil clown doll, Payasito! Of all the things in the house, she decides to bring this monstrosity down to show Tony when he gets home. What an exciting way to celebrate (sic)! Then out of nowhere, she spouts off some exposition about rumors that Tony’s aunt dabbled in the dark arts and now we know where our title Diabolical Inheritance (the English translation for Herencia Diabólica) originates. For those of you who keep score for things like that.

Before proceeding with this review, you really need to visualize what Payasito looks like to truly embrace the rest of the film’s shenanigans. While Chucky resembles a cute ginger child, Payasito resembles a small clown that is much larger in stature than Chucky. That’s because Payasito is performed by an actor (Margarito Esparaza) in clown cosplay whenever he’s on the move (like Mannequin 2), and makes some really horrible facial expressions. Chucky dresses in “Good Guys” overalls and a striped shirt, but Payasito wears a new wave Santa hat while sporting a Sgt. Pepper jacket and Peter Pan tights. As you can now tell, he is quite beautiful.

Back to our story, Payasito begins to spook Annie cerebrally until she becomes unnerved to the point of having a complete mental break down, making her easy prey to eliminate. She dies but the unborn child survives, with Tony believing that her death was caused by her mental instability. Fast forward some years later and the couple’s surviving spawn has grown into child Roy (Alan Fernando), who at this point has already bonded with Payasito to help him over the loss of his mother. Dun-dun-duuunnn!

Meanwhile wealthy Tony remains single, still grieving his late wife, until his blonde assistant Doris encourages him to move on with his life and start seeing other people. And by other people, she naturally means herself. As the old Kanye West song lyric goes, “I ain’t saying she’s a gold digger…”, and it seems that she might be until we learn more about her character. Doris is played by the stunning Lorena Hererra who has an extremely extensive resume in Mexico, and she carries most of the film quite well during the feature’s second half. The singer and former Playboy centerfold for their Mexico edition is by far the most recognizable face in the cast.

Doris and Tony do indeed hookup and she moves into La casa de Herencia, where she does her best to impress Roy and lessen his obsession with the doll. There is a scene where they go to a nearby park without Payasito that is filled with famous fairytale figures, such as Pinocchio, Cinderella and King Kong! What, you didn’t know King Kong is a fairytale? Me neither. But Roy continues to be obsessed with Payasito after their trip, much to Doris’ chagrin.

Her actions to separate him from Roy gets Payasito angry, setting up the film’s most memorable scene. We already know that Payasito is a devil doll like Chucky, but now we learn he also has the power to invade people’s dreams like Freddy Krueger! Does Payasito enter the dream world and concoct a creative way to kill Doris in her sleep? No, he harnesses his power to sexually assault her instead. Yes that actually happens. After she awakens, Doris grabs the doll and tosses him into a lake, only to find him waiting for her by the time she gets back to the house. So now we know he also maintains the ability to “transport” like Jason Voorhees too. This doll is the total package!

More insanity happens before we close out the film with the longest victim chase sequence ever. It makes the previously mentioned painful house search scene seem like an eyeblink. It feels like it’s the film’s entire third act, filled with so much padding that you could soundproof an entire three-story house.

So how’s the transfer? Considering it was created using a mix of VHS and film source elements from 1993, they did one heck of a job! The work they put into it is especially noticeable in the dream invasion sequence, with the pulsing multi-colored psychedelic visuals. Super trippy stuff. Even the film’s score provides a pretty chill vibe, during the times when Payasito isn’t on the prowl.

If anything you read has piqued your interest in the very least, you should give it a shot. But if not, it is best to leave this doll on the shelf.

Herencia Diabólica is now available to purchase at VinegarSyndrome.com.

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