Swamp Devil Movie Review

This movie was unknown to me before I decided to watch it. I hadn't heard anything about it. It is directed by a guy called David Winning, a Canadian director who has done a lot of TV programmes. I thought that this movie was more like a made for TV movie than anything else. That's not to say that it isn't a good movie. I found it mediocre but I have to say that I liked the Swamp Devil itself. I thought that the special effects were very good, it was more the story that I didn't love.
We are shown a young girl in the town of Gibbington, Vermont. She is in the woods near a swamp when she is grabbed by something or someone and she disappears. We cut to present day where a 17 year old girl is racing through the woods as if being chased by something. She is screaming and terrified. Her dad and some other local folks are racing to find her. They find her, but they are too late. She is floating in the swamp, dead. Of course, the locals think that her killer is an old man called Howard Blaime(Bruce Dern) who is a bit strange and they hunt for him to bring him in and accuse him of the murder(No need for proof so).
Melanie(Cindy Sampson) is in bed at home when she is called by an old friend of hers, Jimmy(Nicolas Wright) who tells her that her dad is very sick and that he is dying. He tells her that she needs to come home to see him. Melanie is reluctant because she doesn't get along with her dad who went funny after her mother's death. She goes back to the town of Gibbington, Vermont where she grew up and lived until she was 12. She meets her old pal Jimmy who gets into her car and she drives into town with him. He tells her that he lied about her dad being sick. She is horrified but he explains to her that her dad, Howard, is being accused of murder and that he needs her at the moment. She decides to stay and try and help her estranged father.

So, she moves into his shack in the woods and she wonders where she can find him. He is living in the woods and trying to stay out of sight as the posse combs the woods looking for him with rifles.Melanie and Jimmy go into the local diner, Shelley's and they meet Jimmy's mom, Shelley. She remembers Melanie from years ago. Melanie thinks that she is a bit strange. Meanwhile, in the woods, one of the posse runs into the Swamp Devil which is thought to be a local legend, but who is very real, and he gets himself killed. Melanie reaches her dad's shack and she is inside when she is confronted by a female cop Jolene(Allison Graham). Then Sheriff Nelson(James Kidnie) shows up and they talk to her about her dad and ask her is she knows something about where he is, but she denies it.
So, she asks Jimmy to stay over as she is nervous on her own and he obliges. She wakes up in the morning and he has gone. She tells the cops about him, but they don't know him. Sheriff Nelson meets Jimmy and he is curious about him. Melanie finds out that her dad has been saying that there is a Swamp Devil and that it is responsible for the deaths in the town, but nobody believes him. Then the female cop shows her a picture of men sitting around a fire. Her dad is in the picture and so is Melanie's dad. The cop tells her that all of the other men met with accidents and that the only one left is her father. The Sheriff meets his end when he comes across the Swamp Devil. Jimmy and Melanie find her dad in the woods and he tells Jimmy to get away from his daughter. Melanie is confused, but Jimmy shows his true colours. HE is the Swamp Devil!!! They run away from it and they hide. Jolene is on the trail also and she discovers the Sheriff in the swamp.

Howard tells Melanie that the Swamp Devil killed her mother and that it left a note for him saying that it would come for him last. His time has come now and the Swamp Devil wants him. They run away from it and discover that it can't come past the city limits. They think that they had outsmarted it but they get too close and it snatches Melanie. Howard goes after it along with Jolene. They try and get Melanie free, but Jimmy is too clever. They try and get away when Melanie gets free and it chases them to the city limits once again. This time Howard hits it with his car and he supposedly kills it. The movie ends with Jimmy's mother at the swamp, witnessing the resurrection of her son/Swamp Devil! So, while I didn't love this movie, it was entertaining so I will be kind and give it a 6/10.