It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This is one of the most beautiful, touching films ever made. The actors strive for dull yet achieve somnolence. The special effects demonstrate how little can be accomplished on a low budget. The dialogue will immediately impress you for its ordinariness and lack of synchronization with the on-screen 'action', to use the word loosely.A drowning man cries for help but his cries don't match his lip movements. The mad scientist looks as if he's trying his hardest to not laugh upon finally seeing the monster at film's end. The actor is supposed to be emoting 'scared, terrified', but his facial expression immediately conveys glee, delight, as if his unspoken words might be, "I can't believe they're paying me for this."The 'monster' is an extra who wears a silly rubber mask with Ping-Pong balls glued on for eyes, and things which resemble pencils stuck in the nostrils, very much in manner that schoolkids stick pencils up their noses.During the last minute, a couple sharp looking private aircraft fly away, one of them carrying John Agar. We don't know where he's going, nor why. The film's auteur wisely leaves this interpretation to his learned audience, as if implying there'll be a sequel.One can only hope. This is one of the biggest piles of dog droppings ever committed to celluloid and as such, a film near and dear to every connoisseur of bad films.Paul Vincent ZecchinoBad Film Gourmand04 June, 2013

I don't know where to begin with this monstrosity of a movie. The title, and the TV guide synopsis caught my eye. What I watched instead was a horror of a film that brought horrible acting, awful camera work, cheesy dialog, awful editing and dubbing, and a (merciful) all too brief glimpse of the cheapest monster ever to grace B movies. From the house that looks like it was in some subdivision ( complete with electric meter even though the mad Dr mentions the house is powered by it's own generator since there is no electricity for miles) that was passed off as being in the depths of a remote swamp; to the crystal clear pool water in the alligator pit in some shots that magically transforms into muddy water stock shots of alligators. To think that John Agar, who 15 years prior to this was acting alongside John Wayne, Henry Fonda, and other great actors, and was directed by John Ford, being reduced to this schlock is mind boggling. There was one scene where the mad Dr is on the gator pool diving board talking to his assistant, and then a second later the assistant is gone. No mention if he went in the pool, went back to the house, or just quit the film in disgust, although he did reappear later in the film. The karate chop by the older, smaller henchman to the huge other henchman, which appears to be about as powerful as a gnat landing on you, knocks out the huge guy. The Dr overacts so severely that calling him a ham would be a disservice to all hams. I can't imagine the budget for this thing reaching four figures, and that would be generous. I think the reason the monster did her ( or him) self in at the end was that she ( or he) realized just how awful the mask and the entire movie was. I can honestly say that this movie is without a doubt the worst movie I have ever watched. I would give it a zero, but unfortunately 1 is the lowest rating we can give on here.

1966's "Curse of the Swamp Creature" was John Agar's second of three titles for notorious Texas filmmaker Larry Buchanan, and a comedown even after "Zontar the Thing from Venus" (1968's "Hell Raiders" was the last, a WW2 feature!). He proved to be a very active scientist running and bicycling around in "Zontar," while here he gets to relax and do a great deal of smoking, as do most of the other characters (surely an easy paycheck that any actor wouldn't mind!). Not a prolific genre actress (apart from 1965's "Space Monster"), the lovely Francine York does what she can as the imprisoned spouse of crazed scientist Jeff Alexander, also from "Zontar," who easily dominates the film in an over-the-top performance that simply no actor could have avoided (granted, there was no competition). Were it not for Alexander, conducting evolution experiments to turn mammals into reptiles, things would have been even worse than they already are, chewing the scenery in similar fashion as the wicked janitor in 1973's "Horror High" (aka "Twisted Brain"). One very busy actor is Buchanan regular Bill Thurman, doing double duty as the murdered oil man and as the so-called Swamp Creature; it's difficult to accept the scrawny Cal Duggan getting the upper hand over the burly, imposing Thurman, who incredibly, has even less to do as the "fish man" (the doctor's description). The same green mask with ping pong ball eyes would later pop up in both 1967's "Creature of Destruction" (played by Byron Lord) and 1969's "It's Alive!" (played by Thurman again). Say what you want about director Larry Buchanan, his 8 Azalea films (five of which were remade from old AIP scripts he received to shoot in color) have a distinctive look that defines them, using a stock company of local performers and the same recycled Ronald Stein music cues. One is hard pressed to defend them on any level, but they are certainly unique; just try to explain that to someone too young to have seen them on late night broadcasts such as Pittsburgh's Chiller Theater, which aired the film four times from 1968-72. While not officially a remake of an earlier AIP 50s title, the 'original' Tony Houston screenplay is an almost exact replica of the 1956 Alex Gordon production "Voodoo Woman," which also featured a mad scientist (Tom Conway rather than Jeff Alexander), his imprisoned wife (Mary Ellen Kaye rather than Francine York), and a party searching for wealth in the jungle, led by a scheming seductress (Marla English rather than Shirley McLine) and a no nonsense guide (Mike Connors rather than John Agar). Quite a wonderful lady, the still breathtaking Francine was recently seen in fine form in a May 2012 episode of HOT IN CLEVELAND.

"To create life, to move it up and down the evolutionary path...that's something. Something I don't think you quite appreciate, Tom."It only took me a few seconds of watching the preview of Curse of the Swamp Monster to know that this was going to be must-see, comic gold. And it was. It's hard to believe that something this terrible was made intentionally, but against all reason, logic, and common sense, it was.The only possible point to watching this would be to laugh. The absurdly unintentional humor of it all is its only merit. If you want to start your own personal Mystery Science Theater party, this is a great movie to get you going. Awful acting. A nonsensical plot. No production values whatsoever. Everything about it is laughable, right down to the sinister, talkative scientist with his comically large dark glasses and his borderline retarded plan to do...something or other. I was never quite sure. It involved evolution, swamps, tubes, and turtle snacks, that's for certain.  The absolute best part about this monster movie, is that the titular swamp monster only shows up for about 3 minutes at the very end. Which is fortunate, in a way, because the monster's "costume" is one of the stupidest and least threatening "designs" that I've ever seen in my life.  And no explanation is ever made about what happens to it, we're just given a quick and tidy ending that completely ignored most of the plot threads that preceded it. Brilliant!