DirtyHARRY said:
Cronenberg is an interesting choice. Sure would be enough to make me toss down the bucks to see what he'd do with the character. I know it'd be a trip. That much is a no-brainer.
I think the original ST movie by Wes Craven was really good. At least the elements with Holland and Swamp Thing. The parts with the commandos needed a re-write. I think if they'd just had the ST suit from the sequel, and more (and better-looking) monsters to fight, it would have been a classic. Sure the writing is a little stilted and hammy at times, but it did capture the spirit of the original and didn't bastardize it and go in the wrong direction. If Craven tweaked his original script and had a decent budget, it would be a great-if pointless-remake. But you know how non-fan studio execs love to "re-imagine" the character 'for today's sophisticated young audiences.' Ugh.
Anyone except Joel Schockmaker! I don't need to see Swamp Thing's nipples.
Speaking of nipples... BE WARNED!!! The recent DVD re-release of Swamp Thing has almost ALL of Adrienne Barbeau's nude scenes chopped!!!!! Aggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!! That's one of the main reasons I bought the dang thing! Yes, it was a cool movie that I remember fondly from my mid-teens that treated a superhero decently, but... dammit... I wanted to re-visit those stunning, wobbly, soft, big hooters on Ms. Barbeau again!!! As a 16 year old kid, I had no idea that scene was going to be in it when I first saw it. It/they took my breath away, and surely put a big smile on the face of every male at the drive-in.
Shame on WB/MGM/Sony for chopping that scene out! Why? It wasn't anything even remotely approaching pornographic. And it wasn't like we got to see the full monty; it was just her big ol' boobs. I can't understand why they would step in and arbitrarily trim a scene like that. To make it more kid-friendly? It had a PG rating. Would in-yer-face hoots for 20-some seconds mandate a rating change to PG-13 on a film that's almost 25 years old??? Give me a break! While I'm venting - they also should have used the artwork from the original release poster that graced the backs of all the comics around that time. It was creepy and cool. The new cover art is dorky at best. Sheesh.
Okay, end of rant.
I'd like to see Swamp Thing done to its fullest potential. Keep Swampy just a suit and contain the CGI to some of the powers he has. I haven't seen any of the 'new' ST stuff. My knowledge is just contained to the original Wein/Wrightson version and the Alan Moore/80's take. There is definitly a big load of horror to mine from this property - if it's handled properly. It has the potential to be a quiet hit and perhaps a franchise, but only in the right hands.
Anyhow, my $.02
Cronenberg would be interesting with Swamp Thing. I just dont want some crazy Monster fest though. I want a dark, scary film. I wouldnt mind seeing a trilogy, maybe 3 hours each, based on the American Gothic storyline by Alan Moore. They'd have to drastically change all the background about Constantine, but it could be good.
The first film deals with his origins, him trying to be human again, only finding out he's all plant and have Swampy take on The Floronic Man. These events attract the attention of John Constantine, who realizes something wrong with the balance of good and evil and needs the help of the Swamp Thing, which leads into the next 2 movies.
i had a really cool dream about a Swamp Thing movie. Swamp Thing just happened to be in it. It's kind of a blend between the early Wein/Wrightson story in Swamp Thing#8, with that weird blob of evil in the cave. In this strange town in a desert, A bunch of kids find it, and it takes over one of them, and all this crazy **** happens. They're some corrupt Government agents in there trying to kill the kids and get the blob thing and they become possesse, and 3 witches are there too. They're good witches though. Swamp Thing has to save the world from this evil thing and dies in the process. But the witches find swamp thing's remains and make it into a snake arrow(like in Conan The Barbarian) and shoot it into the sky. Then the ground starts to rumble and all these trees start growing out of the dry sandy ground and everything is happy and Swamp Thing comes back and it's all like "YAY!" i dont know, it was a dream. How it all fits together is beyond me, but the whole arrow thing looked really cool in my dream. It was weird.
the current DVD is the theatrical cut. The original DVD release had all the boob shots in it. But when that came out, supposedly(i read this in some review of the original DVD), a mother rented it for her kid at blockbuster, seeing how it looked interesting, and the rating was PG. She brings it home, and gets digusted over the rating(PG) and gets pissed at BlockBuster. She sues Blockbuster, wins and Blockbusters all across the US have to remove the DVD. and eventually, MGM stopped making the DVD.
this new DVD is the cut version. Whether or not that story is true, i dont know. Probably an urban legend of some sort.
the Alan Moore stuff is in my opinion the best comic book run EVER. It's just such a great story. 6 volumes long, it feels like it's the only run of the book ever. And when it ends, it feels like it was the very end of the comic line. It was perfect. It was scary, sad, romantic...it had everything. the Wein/Wrightson stuff was really good too.
i dont like the new Swamp Thing. it misses the eloquence that Wein and Moore had. It's all "**** you damnit! I'll kill you, *****!". It isnt very good. The story concepts are pretty cool, but the dialog is absolutely horrible and generic.
