When a scientific experiment to create an oversized nutria goes awry, a mutant creature is born.

What’s a nutria?

According to Wikipedia, it’s “a herbivorous, semiaquatic rodent from South America. The nutria lives in burrows alongside stretches of water and feeds on the stems of river plants. Originally native to subtropical and temperate South America, it was introduced to North America, Europe and Asia, primarily by fur farmers. Although it is still hunted and trapped for its fur in some regions, its destructive burrowing and feeding habits often bring it into conflict with humans, and it is considered an invasive species in the United States.”

Why would they want to make a giant nutria? To help the fur industry.

Oh. Yeah.

Now there’s a Nutria-man on the loose in Louisiana’s Copsaw Swamp, killing everyone he meets. What this ends up being is a Bigfoot movie, but you know, with a giant rat that has orange teeth. That makes sense, more than the original title,  Nutriaman: The Copasaw Creature. More people are going to see Terror In the Swamp.

This was directed by Joe Catalanotto, who worked on every movie that came to New Orleans, like Live and Let Die and Mandingo. According to this incredible interview with his daughter, he met Charles Pierce and became his right-hand man. That influence is all over this movie. His credits are fantastic, by the way: key grip on Bootleggers and Winterhawk, gaffer and special effects on The Town That Dreaded Sundown, gaffer on The Beyond, camera loader on Avenging Force, an electrician on The Unholy, special effects on The Shadow of the Hawk, even acting in Pretty Baby. He also directed French Quarter Undercover, also known as Anti-Terror-Force, which was released on video in the UK by Cannon.

Game wardens, rednecks, a military expert — they’re all after the nutria. You know, I’m on the side of the nutria, if only because they never get into movies. At once a regional movie, a Bigfoot-ish film, and rednecksploitation, this is what I was looking for on my first day back to work. A film that took me away from all this and threw me ass-first into a menacing swamp.

You can watch this on YouTube.