‘Clayface’ Trailer Teases Full-Blown Body Horror Nightmare
James Gunn’s creative DNA has always been steeped in horror, and now, at the helm of the DC Universe, he’s finally letting that influence run wild.
Warner Bros.’ DC comic book adaptation, Clayface, was announced as a straight-up body-horror film starring Tom Rhys Harries as a B-movie actor who drinks a substance meant to boost his career, only to be left made entirely of clay.
The teaser is phenomenal, playing like a wordless descent into body horror. It opens on Matt Hagen (Rhys Harries), barely recognizable beneath blood-soaked bandages in a Gotham hospital, his red eyes staring through the wrappings.
Rapid, fragmented flashes hint at the trauma that led him here – surgical lights, a mask, glimpses of his face warping and deteriorating. As the montage intensifies, his body appears unstable, almost melting, his features shifting like soft clay.
The final moments linger: in a quiet, clinical space, he drags his hand across his face, wiping it clean… only to reveal something far more unsettling beneath, a smooth, blank void where his identity used to be.
Here’s the official synopsis: “Clayface tells the terrifying descent into hell of a promising Hollywood actor who has become a monster driven by revenge. An intense story that explores the loss of identity and humanity, the ravages of toxic love, and the dark side of scientific ambition.”
Clayface calls to mind both David Cronenberg’s The Fly and Death Becomes Her, only without the comedy. It looks chilling, haunting, and darker than pretty much any DC film.
James Watkins (The Woman in Black, Speak No Evil) directed from a screenplay by horror maestro Mike Flanagan (The Exorcist, The Haunting of Hill House, Doctor Sleep) and Hossein Amini (Drive). Max Minghella (Spiral: From the Book of Saw) and Naomi Ackie (Blink Twice) also star.
Clayface opens in theaters everywhere on October 23, 2026, right in the heart of the Halloween season.
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