‘Evil lies beneath the surface. It has risen for revenge.’
Swamp Devil is a 2008 Canadian supernatural horror film directed by David Winning (Are You Afraid of the Dark? [TV series]; Black Swarm; Mutant World) from a screenplay by Gary Dauberman (Blood Monkey; Annabelle and sequel; It) and Ethlie Ann Vare. It is the thirteenth film in the Maneater Series.
Main cast:
Bruce Dern (The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant; Twixt; Coffin Baby), Cindy Sampson (High Plains Invaders; The Shrine; Supernatural), Nicolas Wright and Robert Higden.
Plot:
Melanie Blaine returns to her small backwoods country hometown of Gibbington to check on her estranged ex-sheriff father Howard, who’s the primary suspect in a series of grisly murders. Nice guy local Jimmy Fuller helps Melanie out and she eventually finds her dad and discovers that something not human and much more sinister than a mere mortal man is responsible for the killings…
Reviews:
“… despite a silly concept and even sillier-looking villain, the content is treated with a straight face that’s oddly admirable. The cast commits fully, and Bruce Dern’s veteran presence anchors the film. The pace is thankfully brisk, elevating it to the level of benign background filler rather than irritating, change-the-channel garbage.” About.com
” … the strength of David Winning’s work is evidenced whenever it relies on mood, mystery, and evolving character backstories as opposed to when we see the initially Harry and the Hendersons meets Bigfoot meets The Incredible Hulk-like CGI Swamp Devil… ” Film Intuition
“The first third of Swamp Devil is rather anemic. A lot of talk and little action is all that greets the viewer. The last hour or so, however, is much more fun as the swamp devil starts to terrorize characters on screen in the woods. It’s all fairly routine, but if you’re into this cheap monster genre, then you should be reasonably diverted by this low budget runaround.” DVD Talk
Buy: Amazon.com
” … what makes this one work is an emphasis on characters (there’s only like 10 people in the movie) and an actual motive for the monster. Usually these things are unleashed and just kill whoever they come across; not that there’s anything wrong with that, but they all start to blur together after awhile.” Horror Movie a Day
Cast and characters:
- Bruce Dern as Howard Blame
- Cindy Sampson as Melanie Blame
- Nicolas Wright as Jimmy Fuller
- Robert Higden as Jones
- Allison Graham as Deputy Jolene Harris
- James Kidnie as Sheriff Nelson Bois
- Bronwen Mantel as Shelly
- Kwasi Songui as Bigg
- Mari-Pier Gaudet as Lisa Jones
- Jenna Wheeler-Hughes as Young Dream Girl
- Marc V. Denis as Young Howard
Buy: Amazon.com
Filming locations:
Montréal, Québec, Canada
Fun facts:
Actor Bruce Dern broke his leg on camera running in the woods, one week into the shoot. He finished the film on crutches with various photo doubles and camera tricks employed to complete production.
Related:
Trailer:
