To create life. To move it at will up and down the evolutionary path, that’s something.
Driscoll West is a geologist at the “Fly-N-Fish” lodge waiting for Barry Rogers (John Agar). They are oil surveyors looking for oil in the rural swamps of Texas. Brenda (Shirley McLine), Frenchie (Roger Ready) and Ritchie (Cal Duggan) have a plan to find where the oil is and stake a claim on it. By mistake Ritchie kills Mr. West. Brenda pretends she is Mrs. West and when Rogers gets to the Fly-N-Fish lodge she cons Rogers into believing she is Mrs. West and they go off on an expedition into the swamp. In their party are Brenda, Ritchie, Roger and their guide Rabbit (Charles McLine).
Meantime, deep in the swamp is Dr. Simond Trent (Jeff Alexander). He is a mad scientist who is trying to turn people into swamp creatures. Usually mad scientists at least think they are sane. Trent is happy to be an over the top mad scientist. He lives in your typical suburban home in the middle of a swamp. Complete with lovely yard and screen enclosed built-in swimming pool in which he keeps his pet alligators. Convenient for when he needs to dispose of failed experiments and nosy trespassers.
Trent is looking for the secret to reversing evolution by trying to create swamp monsters. He is using the voodoo worshiping natives. The natives are not happy. They are tired of being guinea pigs.
When he hears that the party of oil surveyors is in his area of the swamp he invites them in to stay the night. When his last creation is sabotaged by his abused wife Pat (Francine York), Trent decides to turn the fake Mrs. West into his next creature. This time he succeeds and Mrs. West is now Fish Man.
“Curse of the Swamp Creature” is actually a TV movie made in 1966 and stars John Agar. He seems to have come a long way from his 1955 hit “Tarantula”. A long way down that is. The acting is pretty bad for the most part. Agar is the best of the bunch. The special effects are… you’re kidding right? Special effects consist of a Halloween mask, webbed hands, blue make-up and dry ice. And the stunt person that is in the swamp creature mask is not Brenda AKA Mrs. West, it is a dude. Bill Thurman the guy that plays Driscoll West also plays the swamp creature. The creature appears in the last 5 minutes of the movie. Unless you count the webbed hands that are seen from time to time rising out of a vat of dry ice fog. Note that the final creature does not have webbed hands.
There seem to be two thoughts on this movie. Either it is so bad it’s good, or it’s just so bad. Either one works for me. What I learned from this movie; there are over 200 swamps in Texas. The movie was filmed in Uncertain, Texas. The population as of 2010 was 94. There really is a Fly-N-Fish Lodge and Airport in Uncertain. It is located on the Caddo Lake. They may not have a swamp creature but they have a Bigfoot.