James Gunn has been telling us for months that his DC Universe would be different. He promised horror, he promised body horror specifically, and he promised that Clayface would be “pure horror” that feels “totally real” and “true and psychological and body horror and gross.” The first teaser has arrived, and it turns out Gunn was not engaging in the usual Hollywood hyperbole. This thing is genuinely disturbing, and I say that as someone who watched The Substance while eating spaghetti.
The teaser opens on Matt Hagen, played by Tom Rhys Harries, bandaged and bloody in a hospital bed, looking like he lost an argument with a cheese grater. The footage cuts between pre- and post-attack stages of mutilation, showing a face that morphs rapidly like putty, occasionally losing its eyes entirely, occasionally losing its definition entirely, until you’re not sure if you’re looking at a human being or a failed sculpture project. It’s the kind of visual that makes you want to check your own face in the mirror just to confirm you still have one.
The premise takes the classic Batman villain and grounds him in a tragically human origin. Hagen is an up-and-coming actor whose face gets disfigured by a gangster—because apparently show business wasn’t punishing enough already. Desperate, he turns to a scientist played by Naomi Ackie, who transforms his body into clay. What follows is less “superhero origin” and more “David Cronenberg’s acting workshop,” as Hagen discovers that his new form allows shape-shifting but at the cost of his humanity, his sanity, and presumably his ability to get headshots.
James Watkins directs, coming off the critically acclaimed Speak No Evil remake, and he clearly understands that body horror works best when it starts with recognizable human emotion before descending into the grotesque. The script comes from Mike Flanagan, who has made a career out of making audiences afraid of things they didn’t know could be scary—Ouija boards, mirror reflections, the concept of family—and Hossein Amini, who knows a thing or two about moral decay from his work on Drive.
DC Studios co-chief Peter Safran has been hyping this project with the enthusiasm of a man who knows he has something unique. “Clayface might not be as widely known as The Penguin or The Joker, but we really feel that his story is equally resonant, compelling, and in many ways, more terrifying than one of those,” he said, which is either genuine confidence or the kind of marketing speak that precedes a box office disappointment. Given that this is the same team that successfully rebooted Superman last year, I’m inclined to believe the former.
The film carries an R rating, putting it in the same category as Todd Phillips’ Joker but with a crucial difference: Clayface is actually part of the DC Universe, not some self-contained Elseworlds experiment. This means the events of this film will matter going forward, that Matt Hagen could theoretically show up in a Batman movie, that the horror being established here will bleed into the larger superhero sandbox Gunn is building.
The supporting cast includes David Dencik, Max Minghella, and Eddie Marsan, all actors who can do “morally compromised” in their sleep. Matt Reeves produces, bringing his Batman universe’s gritty aesthetic to a project that apparently needed even more grit. The whole thing is scheduled for October 23, because if you’re going to release a movie about a man whose face melts, you might as well do it during spooky season.
What makes the teaser particularly effective is its restraint. It doesn’t show the full Clayface transformation, doesn’t reveal the extent of his powers, doesn’t give away the third-act set pieces. It just establishes the tone—clinical, horrifying, and deeply sad—and trusts the audience to follow it into the dark. By the time the title card appears, you’re already invested in Matt Hagen’s tragedy, already dreading what comes next, already wondering if you’ll be able to sleep without checking under the bed for clay monsters.
Gunn has described the film as “totally real,” which is an interesting choice of words for a movie about a shape-shifting clay monster. But that’s the point—this isn’t a cartoon villain with a silly gimmick. This is a man destroyed by violence, rebuilt by desperation, and consumed by a power he never asked for. The clay isn’t a superpower; it’s a curse, and the trailer makes sure you feel every moment of that curse taking hold.
Look fear in the face—catch Clayface in theaters October 23 and witness DC Studios’ first foray into genuine body horror.
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