'Swamp Thing' Trailer: There's Something In The Water In The DC Universe

The comic book character Swamp Thing hasn't appeared in film or television in a significant way since the 1990s, but that's about to change when he gets his own live-action series on the DC Universe streaming service this summer.

We caught a quick glimpse of the character in a brief teaser last week, but now there's a full trailer for the upcoming show that leans into the horror angle and capitalizes on the fact that James Wan (The Conjuring, Insidious) is executive producing the series. Check it out below.

Maybe it's the bad press the show has received recently, but aside from Swamp Thing himself, who looks fine in the couple of shots we see here, this show seems...very cheap. Maybe it's the fact that a lot of superhero TV shows seem to use the same bland lighting techniques and this one seems no different. Maybe it's the boring-looking sets, or the fact that they seem to be relying on jump scares to sell the style of the show. Maybe it's fact that there aren't any lines of dialogue in this trailer (which, cynically, makes me wonder if DC Universe is trying to hide some iffy performances or lines that they don't want people dunking on). There's something...off about this whole thing.

It's been a rocky road for Swamp Thing lately. The production shut down early, suddenly reducing its first season from a planned thirteen episodes down to only ten, even though DC Universe itself appears to be doing just fine. We're not even sure that the show will continue into a second season. Those aren't the best circumstances for a new series to debut, but I suppose there's still a chance that Swamp Thing turns out well enough. Maybe this is just a bad trailer. Maybe Len Wiseman (Underworld, the Total Recall remake) will somehow exceed expectations.

Or maybe I need to stop getting my hopes up and start making peace with the fact that this is probably going to be very, very bad. Hey, low expectations never hurt anybody!

Here's the official synopsis:

SWAMP THING follows Abby Arcane as she investigates what seems to be a deadly swamp-born virus in a small town in Louisiana but soon discovers that the swamp holds mystical and terrifying secrets. When unexplainable and chilling horrors emerge from the murky marsh, no one is safe.

Swamp Thing arrives exclusively on the DC Universe streaming platform on May 31, 2019.