Before A Nightmare On Elm Street, Wes Craven Directed A Marvel Movie Streaming For Free

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Wes Craven was one of our true masters of horror. From his earliest works like "The Hills Have Eyes," to reinventing the slasher genre in the '90s with his meta classic "Scream," he was unrivaled in his craft. But long before Craven gave us an all-timer slasher with "A Nightmare on Elm Street," he dabbled in the DC universe for a comic book-based creature feature in the form of "Swamp Thing." If that piqued your curiosity, the good news is the movie is currently streaming for free.

Streaming for free now on Tubi, 1982's "Swamp Thing" represents one of the earlier cinematic attempts at a DC Comics adaptation. Happening just three years after Christopher Reeve helped make "Superman: The Movie" a surprise smash hit, this was a decidedly different take on the source material from the comics. Craven, up to that point, had directed largely gruesome and controversial horror pictures, including his feature debut "The Last House on the Left." He was going to bring at least some of that sensibility to the character created by writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson in 1971.

The film centers on scientist, Dr. Alec Holland (Ray Wise), and government agent Alice Cable (Adrienne Barbeau) who have developed a secret formula that could end world hunger. Their arch nemesis, Arcane (Louis Jourdan), plots to steal the serum. Upon looting their lab, Arcane douses Holland with chemicals and leaves him for dead in the swamp. He is then mutated by becoming a half-human/half-plant superhero who must rescue Cable from Arcane's clutches.

It was a modestly budgeted affair, costing just $2.5 million. It was also a modest success in theaters at the time, with box office figures not officially available. But it later became a hit on home video during the height of the VHS era, back when video stores ruled the world.

This movie came about at an interesting time. In 2025, comic book movies are still big business, with "Thunderbolts," "Superman," and "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" all released this year. But in 1982, "Superman: The Movie" was largely viewed as a singular hit that spawned a singular franchise. That success wouldn't truly be emulated again until Tim Burton's "Batman" became a smash hit in 1989. Marvel would experience mainstream success at the box office with "Blade" in 1998.

Hollywood didn't take superheroes or comic books particularly seriously at this time. So, a guy like Craven could take that material and try to do something with it, assuming he could do so within certain budgetary constraints. In a 2013 interview with Daily Dead, character co-creator and comic book legend Len Wein explained that he wasn't consulted at all on the movie. He did visit the set, but he laid out how studios viewed people such as himself in those days:

"I spent a couple days watching them shoot and that was essentially it. Those were the days before the people they actually wanted were the creators. In those days, most film people always felt that the creators of the material would be too bound to the original concept to allow them make changes they needed to make it work on film."

For what it's worth, "Swamp Thing" is reasonably well regarded, holding a 62% on Rotten Tomatoes. It also got a sequel, "The Return of Swamp Thing," in 1989, directed by Jim Wynorski. A TV series based on the character also aired in 1990 on USA Network, lasting for three seasons, with Dick Durock reprising his role as the title monster.

More recently, a live-action "Swamp Thing" TV show was canceled after one season in 2019, after being created for the DC Universe. As for the future, James Mangold ("Logan") is set to direct a movie based on the character for the new DC Universe at Warner Bros., but there are no details on the release timeline as of this writing.

You can also grab 1982's "Swamp Thing" on Blu-ray from Amazon.