Another underground horror hit from the Bubonic Films stable featuring a yet untested star-cast both of whom turn in sterling debut performances. Seasoned veteran Lawrence (Larry) Patiala is in the title role of a man who has been shipwrecked and abandoned by his colleagues and left to die on a craggy island off the English coast. In the opening scene we can faintly make out his corpse lying motionless in a filthy swamp….yet there is a hint of something stirring within.

Years later, the next scene is a point of view shot of a heavy breathing creature dripping vile sea weed like muck at every step, emerging from his steaming, bubbling bog. We see the foul creature extend a limb which is a sickening turd-like entity with sharp claws and a clump of greasy black hair! The swamp monster lurches forward and closes in on a quaint looking countryside cottage where it quietly slips through the back door. Inside Frankie, a prominent pop musician who is taking a break from work enjoying a snack of some crunchy jalebi's as he listens to his music through his headphones totally oblivious to the dark clump of hair and claw menacing him from behind. As Frankie crunches down on his third jalebi the revolting limb lunges down onto him, savaging him in just a few seconds leaving his face horribly mangled and lacerated. Then in the ultimate humiliation - The Swamp Monster returns to stomp on the dying Frankie's face in a display of demented, murderous gloating.

The family Frankie had been visiting return to find some blood stains but no sign of Frankie - the stains are normal for a man so devoted to his coke, so the couple aren't unduly alarmed. "Oh Dear, Frankie's had another one of his nosebleeds" remarks the sultry Filomina. "He's the most awful drip" comes the acid reply from Pedro Pirzada (in a double role), clearly sensing that his wife might have a soft corner for Frankie. Esmy, their young daughter is threatened by her crotchety father and appears depressed and listless - clearly the victim of rampant child abuse at the hands of her warped parents. Pedro saunters off in pursuit of his daughter, threatening to administer her an almighty thrashing when he is intercepted by a ghastly masked hairy beast that proceeds to drag him down to his death, snapping his neck in the process. Then the Swamp Monster turns its attention to the shapely Filomina. In a terrifying climax to the film, the filthy creature mounts a murderous attack on her, but finds that his victim suddenly snaps out of her pathetic whining inertia and decides to take the fight to her assailant. Now a terrifying game of cat and mouse gets underway.

The film is an outright monster movie with no other pretensions and is very light on logic and plot, yet it manages to entertain due to the strong performances and the menacing atmosphere that is conjured up in the opening scenes. If anything the film is way too short and doesn't allow enough time to develop characters which appear to be most interesting in the short time that we watch them on screen. Pedro Pirzada displays remarkable confidence in his debut role and clearly could have emerged as a major star had he not cut short his acting career to take up a career in the murky world of finance. Filomina is a touch self conscious but what she lacks for in talent, she more than makes up for with her smouldering allure. Larry Patiala does a fine job as the Swamp Monster under Chaudhary Malik Butt Tondwallah's astute horror direction. Its not one of the most taxing films intellectually, nor the most horrifying that the Bubonic Stable has produced, yet it remains one of their most endearing and entertaining efforts.