Brace yourself. DC Studios has released the first trailer for body horror pic Clayface, a week after the footage was shown in-the-room only at CinemaCon.
The clip opens with the character Matt Hagen, played by Tom Rhys Harries, bandaged and bloody, lying in a hospital bed. The footage then cuts to the character in various stages of mutilation, pre- and post a violent attack. Harries’ visage then morphs rapidly like putty, without eyes, nose or mouth, in the final shot as he drags his hand down his face.
Clayface is the shape-shifting villain in the Batman comics and got his introduction as part of Detective Comics #40 in June 1940. The original Clayface was a fairly successful actor who adopted the identity of a character he’d portrayed in a horror pic after turning to crime. Clayface has a body seemingly made out of clay and has appeared over the years in various films, series, animated works, video games and other forms of media.
The DC character also wears a mask and molts in various rapid snapshots of the trailer. It looks like something is being injected into his face as his blood is gathered for testing. Intercut with mutilation shots and moments where his mouth or eyes morph to be covered by the stretchy skin are flashbacks to the handsome actor, face totally intact.
Directed by James Watkins, Clayface marks the next big project for James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios after next summer’s Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which hits theaters June 26. Clayface was originally set to hit theaters in early September but as of now has a release date of October 23.
Naomi Ackie stars alongside Harries, with David Dencik, Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan rounding out the cast. Ackie can be spotted int he trailer alone and sitting opposite Clayface.
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Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini penned the script for the pic, produced by The Batman writer-director Matt Reeves, Lynn Harris, and DC Studios’ James Gunn and Safran. Executive producers are Michael E. Uslan, Chantal Nong Vo, Lars P. Winther, Rafi Crohn, and Paul Richie.