Things sure are looking Flanagan out there. Not only does horror filmmaker Mike Flanagan have Carrie coming out, along with a new Exorcist movie, he also came up with the idea and wrote the first script for DC’s upcoming film, Clayface. It wasn’t a movie DC Studios president James Gunn was going to make, but after he read the script, he knew he had to.
Why is that, exactly? Well, with the movie in theaters on October 23, a new video gets into it. Basically, while most people think of DC as the home of heroes like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, Clayface is taking a whole new angle. It’s a body horror film about revenge with a character who fans just happen to know as an adversary of the Caped Crusader. But there are no Bats in sight here. Just some gruesome special effects. Check it out.
While earlier trailers have largely tiptoed around some of the more gruesome horror elements of the film, this one ups the ante. That last shot in particular of Clayface almost ingesting the other person is pretty gross and excellent. And, of course, we’re expecting the final film to have much, much more.
Clayface is a big film for DC Studios because, though the financial risk isn’t as large as something like Superman or Supergirl, it shows that it’s willing to take big swings. If this superhero-adjacent horror film is a swing and miss, we probably won’t see more like it. But if it’s a hit, even a moderate one, it feels like it opens the DC Universe up to so many possibilities.
Directed by James Watkins, from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, Clayface stars Tom Rhys Harries, Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan. It opens on October 23 and, as the new clip says, tickets are on sale now.
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