Mania Grade: C+
Disc Grade: A
Reviewed Format: DVD
Rated: Not Rated
Stars: SWAMP GIRL - Ferlin Husky, Claude King, Steve Drexel; SWAMP COUNTRY - Rex Allen, Sue Casey, Baker Knight
Writers: SWAMP GIRL - Jay Kulp; SWAMP COUNTRY - David DaLie
Directors: SWAMP GIRL - Don Davis; SWAMP COUNTRY - Robert Patrick
Distributor: Something Weird Video / Image Entertainment
Original Years of Release: SWAMP GIRL - 1971; SWAMP COUNTRY - 1966
Retail Price: $24.99
Extras: fullscreen and widescreen; shorts; trailers; gallery
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SWAMP GIRL / SWAMP COUNTRY

Swamp life sure ain't easy. Why you done got gators, and skeeters and I reckon a whole lot of other critters that'll just plain eat you down to the bone if'n they get a chance. Yeah the Okefenokee sure ain't for City folk, they just plain get killed. Best them well dressed fellas stay at home where they're safe and if they get a plum fool notion about visiting swamp country, well's best they head out to the local video store and quench that thirst with Something Weird's swamp soaked double feature of SWAMP GIRL and SWAMP COUNTRY. But if they'd rather come down, well I could use some gator bait.

SWAMP GIRL stars old country and western crooner Ferlin Husky as a local swamp ranger who discovers that the legends of a swamp girl living in the Okefenokee are, gasp, true. This mangy swamp girl looks like Marsha Brady and has nary a knot in her hair guess that swamp water is its own shampoo. Well that Ferlin gets a notion to help poor swamp girl out, but it turns out to be one day too late. For entering the swamp that very day is two convicts on the lam and damn if they ain't going to turn swamp girl's life upside down.

Seemingly slapped together in a few days, but featuring a likeable performance from Mr. Husky, SWAMP GIRL is an adequate time killer that would have worked better had swamp girl actually looked like she lived in the swamp. Never you mind that, just sit back and kind of enjoy Ferlin singing the title track, the few twists and turns, the snake pit scene and the shocking ending that is so stupid as to actually make sense.

Print quality is alright, a bit faded and the night scenes are hard to make out. The sound is a bit weak.

SWAMP COUNTRY features the tunes and vocals of one Baker Knight (who plays himself in the film?!) and a moderately amusing story involving the mob and a survivalist falsely accused of a crime. When a mob snitch is murdered at a sleazy hotel the cops attempt to bring the guy who found her body in for questioning. Well, no dice. This guy knocks a cop down and bolts into the Okefenokee where he uses his survival training to ward off the cops and save a young girl. Meanwhile, Baker Knight has fallen in love with the only girl older than her own mother and who is also the sheriff's main squeeze. It's yet another cinematic love triangle.

SWAMP COUNTRY features some damn fine tunes from Baker Knight, who warbles them out in a manner similar to the man in black, Johnny Cash. The film itself works best when it deals with the innocent man running from the law, as the girl with two suitors sub-plot feels so cursory you'll forget it's even there. Some rather good character acting and a rather comical bear attack make this a fun Sunday afternoon film that can be enjoyed by the whole family, honestly.

Print quality is decent, but not without fades and scratches. The film is presented in widescreen (2.35:1). The sound is fine.

As a bonus is a 30-minute short called "Swamp Virgin" and it's a cute little story about two boyhood friends who grow up on separate paths one gets himself an education, the other becomes the best gator hunter in the whole area. Turns out stupid gator boy has a grudge against smart, slick educated boy and there's a shootout of sorts. The swamp virgin turns out to be a peripheral figure, but she sure does look cute in her homemade bathing suit. The film is beneficial for fans of Jerry Reed's immortal classic "Amos Moses" who had wondered what being "gator bait" actually entailed.

Fans of swamp buggy races will be delighted with "Swamp Buggy Race," a faded out, muddled sound presentation of one of the fun types of drag racing. Alas, no Swamp Buggy is violently ejected from the track only to wind up crushing and maiming the local patrons; I guess you really can't have it all.

For fans of trailers, boy are you in for a treat. This disc has got ones for SWAMP GIRL, THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE, ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES, CRYPT OF DARK SECRETS, OKEFENOKEE, SCUM OF THE EARTH, STING OF DEATH and as an Easter egg one for OUR MAN STEEL (which looks totally awesome, to me.)

Wrapping up the disc is a gallery of Amazing Trash-O-Rama Exploitation Art with radio spot rarities.