MAN-THING

A misty swamp at night. An American-Indian voice narrates, telling how the swamp and it's remote natural surroundings have been ruined by man building upon them, destroying the greenery and polluting the air with their oil factories. But, the narrator warns, greed has become man's greatest enemy and nature is about to claim retribution ...

The first victims of this are a group of stock teens drinking and flirting on the banks of the swamp one evening. A girl, Sarah (Imogen Bailey), runs into the woodlands, begging chase from young Phillip. They start making out on a canoe as it floats out along the swamp. And for a while Phillip - and us - are treated to the sight of a fine, ample pair of breasts ... until something grabs him from behind and the hapless Sarah winds up with tits caked in his splatter.

The following morning, Kyle (Matthew Le Nevez, FEED) arrives at the sleepy swampside village of Bywater. He makes his way to the sheriff's office where he introduces himself to deputy Frasier (Alex O'Loughlin, THE INVISIBLE) as the new sheriff. The bumbling Frasier shows Kyle around his new workplace, and Kyle is immediately struck by the large number of photographs devoted to missing people in the area. He remarks that there are a lot of missing persons for such a small place.

As if by magic, a call from the coroner interrupts their conversation with news that a missing boy's body has turned up. The lawmen race to examine the corpse, Kyle ultimately demanding a full autopsy to glean more info on those "strange" wounds ...

Mid-autopsy, Kyle's day just gets busier as he's called away to attend a protest outside the local oil factory. From hereon in we meet a cluster of conventional character including the despicable wealthy owner of the oil plant, pretty young protestor Terri (Rachael Taylor, TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE) who inevitably catches Kyle's eye then heart, and the loner who eschews civilization ... therefore becoming the small-minded villagers' prime suspect behind the increasing killings.

MAN-THING is based upon a comic book character that originally appeared in Marvel's 'Savage Tales' in 1971. So it's taken time to finally get greenlit for the big screen treatment.

It is, it must be said, a very well-shot film. Each scene is colourful, well framed and slick in it's look. It's easily as attractive to look at as any sun-hued episode of THE O.C. The careful casting of good-looking actors helps the appearance of the film. Furthermore, they're all proficient.

The production values are better than average for this type of fare, with some half-decent CGI FX cropping up in-between the many scenes of gorgeous sun-drenched style. Sets are admittedly basic, but the swamp and surrounding woodlands offer good scope for director Brett Leonard (FEED) and his keen eye for well-lit flair.

The film's also more violent than you would expect from a Marvel-produced movie (Stan Lee is executive producer), with a few well-designed cadavers to boast of, and minor gore here and there. Okay, it's only Certificate 15 stuff ... but there was a time not so long ago when the opening "blood-on-breasts" gambit would have incensed the BBFC!

Having said all that, MAN-THING is corny as Hell and entirely predictable. It all feels tongue-in-cheek, akin to something like LAKE PLACID, so it gets away with this to some extent. It's just ... unremarkable.

Also, I must say the film peters out drastically after the first hour and stumbles along despite having run out of ideas. Leonard cannot maintain the initial quick pacing, and the eventual finale is disappointingly obvious. And flat.

It's better than Wes Craven's SWAMP THING ... read into that what you will!

The disc presents the film in an excellent 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer. The quality of the picture is flawless. The English audio (in both 2.0 and 5.1 mixes) is similarly pleasing.

Static menus include a scene-selection menu offering access to the main feature via 12 chapters.

Extras are minimal. Aside from a 90-second trailer, we get trailers for SWITCHBLADE ROMANCE, DEAD MAN'S SHOES and CRONOS. Ironically, all three are far superior films to the main attraction.

MAN-THING is essentially a fun, cheap, moderately enjoyable cheese-fest that will be best suited to late night viewing on Sky Movies.

Review by Stu Willis