Fresh and Exciting

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The gifted David Winning directed veteran actor Bruce Dern to one of his finest performances in the deeply effecting horror film Swamp Devil. Dern gives his character a depth and humanity seldom seen in such film and his presence in this motion picture gives a great deal of gravitas. A truly excellent supporting cast also does some outstanding work here and one can sense their devotion to this project. With special effects that astound and make-up artistry of sheer genius. the touch of dedicated craft people can also be clearly viewed. The terror is intense as the director creates an environment of stunning dread and overwhelming fear. With a standout lead performance, unrelenting horror, and superior production values, no one who sees this film can ever deny the crushing horror that is Swamp Devil.

Bad, and not even close to good bad. Bruce Dern, a good actor, is unfortunately trapped in this nonsense of a film. It's as if the entire story was made up by a ten year old. The CGI stick man monster is cartoon-like. All of the actors, including Dern, look embarrassed being involved with such drivel. Worst of all the reason for the stick monster's existence, and his demise, seem to have been given minimal thought, and the result is beyond ridiculous. This is one to be avoided at all costs. To put things in perspective, I would say that "Swamp Devil" is even worse that "Manticore", another preposterous Sci Fi Channel dud. ..... MERK

Bruce Dern (!) gets top billing in this no-budget, made-for-cable clunker about a murderous swamp monster (looking suspiciously at times like Swamp Thing or Man-Thing). A young woman returns to her hometown to find out what happened to her missing dad, a former sheriff suspected in a series of gruesome killings. An odd fellow about her age pops up out of nowhere and befriends her, while the local constabulary and a gun-toting local almost kill her upon her arrival. She eventually finds her dad (Dern) hiding in the woods, and together they fight the creature. The creature is typical SyFy Channel CGI, and not particularly intimidating or scary-looking. The director shows way too much of it, and way too early on. Acting is par for the genre. A snoozer, ideal for those having trouble sleeping.

What do actors do when they get old and they have bills to pay. In Bruce Dern's case, you make Swamp Devil.Dern adds a touch of class to an extremely low budget, low key "horror" movie, filmed in forest-y locations (not the sort of place where you would normally expect to find swamps, I felt), with a cast of several, and special effects which bring a whole new meaning to the word "special." Plotwise there is absolutely nothing exceptional here whatsoever. The very attractive but otherwise underwhelming Cindy Sampson, in the throes of being reconciled with her estranged (and wanted for murder) father Bruce Dern becomes involved with what turns out to be an unpleasant individual which passes itself off as human (and is exactly the person you expected even though you weren't supposed to expect it was him) and, the rest of the time, as a bad CGI-d bloke made of brambles.The horror isn't very horrifying, the suspense isn't very suspenseful, and the whole thing is just about an adequate time passer, but only because of Dern's class and Sampson's status as eye candy.