Swamp Devil is a 2008 Canadian horror film

Horror film

Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...

 directed by David Winning

David Winning

David Winning is a Canadian and American dual Citizen film and television director, screenwriter, producer, editor, and occasional actor. Although Winning has worked in numerous film and TV genres, his name is most commonly associated with science fiction, thrillers and drama.-Biography:Winning...

 and stars Bruce Dern

Bruce Dern

Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...

, Cindy Sampson and Nicolas Wright

Nicolas Wright

Nicolas Wright is a Canadian actor. Wright has performed on stage, television and film. In 2004, he received the "most promising newcomer" award at the Just for Laughs film festival in Montreal for his short film, Toutouffe...

.

Plot

Melanie Blaine returns to their homeland in a small town called Gibbington because here her father, a former sheriff, suspected because of multiple murders is cruel and is untraceable. Jimmy Fuller wants to help her find her father, and it looks as if something incredibly sinister is responsible for the corpses in Gibbington.

Cast

• Bruce Dern
  Bruce Dern
  Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...
  
   as Howard Blaime
• Cindy Sampson as Melanie Blaime
• Nicolas Wright
  Nicolas Wright
  Nicolas Wright is a Canadian actor. Wright has performed on stage, television and film. In 2004, he received the "most promising newcomer" award at the Just for Laughs film festival in Montreal for his short film, Toutouffe...
  
   as Jimmy Fuller
• Robert Higden as Jones
• Allison Graham as Deputy Jolene Harris
• James Kidnie as Sheriff Nelson Bois
• Bronwen Mantel
  Bronwen Mantel
  Bronwen Mantel is a Canadian actress who has appeared in several movies including Secret Window and Gothika, and as a voice actress in the TV series Mega Babies, Adventures of the Little Koala, Arthur, Bobobobs, Tripping the Rift, Sharky and George, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Papa Beaver's...
  
   as Shelly
• Kwasi Songui as Bigg
• Mari-Pier Gaudet as Lisa Jones
• Jenna Wheeler-Hughes as Young Dream Girl
• Marc V. Denis as Young Howard

Production

The film was completely shot in Montréal, Québec and actor Bruce Dern

Bruce Dern

Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...

 broke his leg on camera running in the woods, one week into the three week shoot. He finished the film on crutches and using various photo doubles and camera tricks.

Release

It premiered on April 17, 2008 as part of the Houston Film Festival and was released on DVD by Genius Entertainment on April 7, 2009 with no special features.

Reception

Justin Felix, of DVD Talk, said that if you like your horror cheap and dumb - and don't have access to the Sci-Fi Channel - then this is worth a rental. Michael Simpson, of CinemaSpy, said that the film is a cheesy, predictable but entertaining chiller that isn't likely to scare the pants off anyone in their teens or older and that Winning's direction created enough suspense that such cliches were unnecessary. A Fangoria review says that the film pulls no punches about what it is—a throwaway monster flick that borrows heavily from SWAMP THING and the vine-attack sequence from EVIL DEAD II.