MVD Entertainment Group announced this past week
that writer/director Wes Craven’s cult sci-fi/horror classic, Swamp
Thing, will be getting a 4K Ultra HD/Blu-ray Combo
Pack release as part of the company’s popular “Rewind Collection” library on
July 25.
A double-disc Blu-ray edition will also be available
on the same date.
This is a new 4K film restoration from the original
camera negative and this special “collector’s edition” features both the
domestic theatrical presentation as well as the unrated “International” cut of
the film.
By all accounts the production of the film itself
was a real-life adventure for the cast and crew in that they had to cope with
spring-season swarms of insects and numerous encounters with deadly
snakes. Filming took place in and
around Charleston, South Carolina.
Adrienne Barbeau, who plays Alice Cable, had just
come off starring roles in both director John Carpenter’s The Fog and Escape
from New York and you might expect stand-ins
and doubles for her during the filming of her swamp adventures, but she did all
her own stunts.
The film was such a success that it spawned both a
sequel and a television series.
MVD has assembled an impressive selection of bonus
goodies, which include two commentary options.
One with filmmaker Wes Craven who is joined by critic Sean Clark, and
the second with makeup effects artist William Munn, who is moderated by Michael
Felsher.
There are extensive stills, posters and lobby card
galleries, plus five production featurettes — “Tales from the Swamp,” “Hey
Jude,” “That Swamp Thing,” “Swamp Screen: Designing DC’s Main Monster” and “From
Krug to Comics: How the Mainstream Shaped a Radical Genre Voice.”
