“Clayface” Trailer Breaks the DC Universe Mold by Introducing Horror
Gotham City’s about to get a horrific new makeover.
DC Studios has released the official trailer for director James Watkins’ Clayface, introducing the first full-fledged horror film into the home of Batman, Superman, and more. The film is centered on the twisted fate of Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries), a rising Hollywood star whose destiny as a future matinee idol is molded into something far grimmer. The trailer opens with Hagen sitting before scientist Caitlyn Corr (Naomie Ackie), his face hidden behind a plastic mask. Hagen was the victim of a gruesome crime; his face was mutilated by gangsters. She wants to see what’s become of him. She wants to know what he wants in return for her help, and his answer is simple: he wants his life back. Yet fans of Batman know that he won’t achieve that particular dream, but he will become a nightmare for the Caped Crusader and the citizens of Gotham.
What Caitlyn Corr can offer Hagen is a state-of-the-art, highly dangerous experimental operation that could restore his good looks. Or something else entirely could result, which, sadly for Hagen, is precisely what happens.
Yet at first, the operation seems like a success. Hagen’s movie star looks have been returned, but Corr is clear that she has no idea what comes next. There could be unintended side effects—say, your face becoming grotesquely malleable—to say nothing of the psychological fallout. When Hagen’s face starts to change on a flight, well, what happens next is best left to the viewer to find out. (It’s gross.)
Hagen’s transformation—face, body, and soul—turns him into the vengeance-seeking villain of the film’s title, and given the talent involved, it could be a surprise Halloween hit. Watkins’ body-horror film is based on a script by Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep) and Hossein Amini (Drive), and has been billed by DC Studios co-chief James Gunn as the film he didn’t expect to make, telling reporters back in February of 2025 that DC Studios had no designs on a Clayface movie until Mike Flanagan “turned in a script and it’s one of the best scripts that we’ve read.”
Gunn and DC Studios’ other co-chief, Peter Safran, said that Clayface will exist within the DCU, unlike, say, Matt Reeves’ The Batman or Todd Phillips’ The Joker films, which exist outside of it.
“It was important that Clayface be part of the DCU,” Safran said. “It’s an origin story for a classic Batman villain that we want to have in our world. 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. Gunn added that the film will feel “totally real” and will be “true and psychological and body horror and gross.”
Joining Harries and Ackie in the cast are Eddie Marsan, Max Minghella, David Dencik, Francesca Corney, Ruby Sear, Wil Coban, Joshua James, and Jake Curran.
Watkins’ team behind the camera includes cinematographer Rob Hardy, production designer James Price, editor Jon Harris, visual effects supervisor Angus Bickerton, costume designer Keith Madden, and casting director Lucy Bevan.
Check out the trailer below. Clayface is in theaters on October 23.
Featured image: Caption: TOM RHYS HARRIES as Matt Hagen in DC Studios’ “Clayface,” a Warner Bros. Pictures Release. Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
