Terror in the Swamp

I am loath to give such low marks to a movie but I had to vote "1" on this one. It was just so very lame. The acting was stilted and choppy, the soundtrack was just awful with very sloppy dubbing and randomly-placed music, and above all, there was very little to be seen of Nutriaman, who appeared to be more of a tallish baboon than anything else. I got quite a few laughs out of this one, but not for the reasons the filmmakers might have intended.

Folks in the Louisiana bayou have their hands full after some scientists inject a nutria (basically a swamp rat) with some human hormones which results in Nutriaman, a human sized nutria that likes to kill people. Insert your own "nutria-itious" joke. Somehow I can imagine exactly how this regional oddity came about. Two guys are fishing, one sees a nutria and says, "Dang! Can you imagine if that thing grew to be as big as us?" Tada! This could have been better than it is, but the filmmakers decide to hide the monster and skimp on the exploitation elements, putting it firmly in the company of stuff like DEATH CURSE OF TARTU. The film does a lot of shooting in the swamps but is cheap when we get to land (the sheriff always meets people in the local Ramada Inn dining room!?!). Amazingly, this took two director to make it - Martin Folse, who did nothing else, and Joe Catalanotto, who made something a year later deliciously titled FRENCH QUARTER UNDERCOVER. To the film's credit, it does contain my favorite billing of the year ("And introducing Michael Tedesco as T-Bob"). One also has to appreciate their pimping of the leading man, Billy Holiday, on the VHS cover in an attempt to fool jazz- loving horror fans.

My review was written in July 1985 after watching the movie on New World video cassette.

"Terror in the Swamp" is a tame horror picture available as a video cassette, bypassing domestic theatrical release. Filmed in Houma, Louisiana, in 1983, pic is typical of low-budget, regional horror filmmaking but is rather skimpy in the shocks and violence area.

The late Billy Holliday, who resembles Dabney Coleman on screen, worte and toplines as game warden Frank. He finds a mangled body on the Copasaw (local swamp area), but can't figure out whether a gator or perhaps a bear killed the man. It turns out that local scientists, funded by South American backers, have been experimenting on breeding a larger nutria (a brown-furred, webbed-foot water rodent) to be used in making fur coats. Inadvertently, a mutated nutriaman has been created and is killing local folks.

While the police, Frank and military authorities hunt the critter, good ol' boys such as the very fat T-Bob (Michael Tedesco) and his brother also head toward Poacher's Cove to kill it. An unsatisfying ending has the monster burned up on a boat.

Director Joseph Catalanotto (who reteamed with Holliday on latter's final film, "French Quarter Undercover") wisely shows the nutriaman only in long shots or obscured through bushes, avoiding a revelation of a phony guy in a hairy outfit. Main interest here is the local color and interesting regional accents of the folksy cast.

This gem was shot in the swamps of houma, Louisiana, not even an hour from new Orleans. if you can find this rare horror flick i do suggest giving it a chance. If you are a fan of B horror films then this should do the job. it's about a half man / half nutria that kills people.. thats all i will say about the story.. the acting is awesome.. there is a scientist/doctor? character in the movie that has all of his lines poorly over dubed.. no one else but him received the overdubs. it's pretty funny. and if you pay attention there is a mistake in the editing towards the end of the movie that films are doin now a days to be hip.. but Terror in the Swamp started this trend!! don't be fooled!

This film gets a bad rep because the acting sucks, and, well... it just generally sucks, but people seem to disregard the presence of a miscast Sasquatch. Now the filmmakers would have you believe that this is in fact a giant Nutra (some type of swamp rat), and not a Quatch, but I say OH PLEASE! This is obviously a Bigfoot creature and is reminiscent (the creature, not the film) of the Creature from Black Lake. And besides, who the hell wants to see a film about a giant Nutra? This film needs to be brought to DVD. Come on you rich bastards, some cheap re-shoots, and a bit of creative editing and you have a classic Quath in the swamp stalk N slash. I keep this film amongst my Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti collection. If you have an affinity for the like then you too should peruse this gem.