James Gunn's Disturbing Clayface Sneak Peek Promises A Much Darker Side Of The DCU
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James Gunn offers a terrifying look at the upcoming DCU film Clayface.
Clayface is diving even deeper into its horror roots. Gunn recently unveiled a beautifully disturbing Japanese poster on his official X account. The detailed artwork makes the upcoming DC Studios movie look less like a traditional comic book adaptation and more like body horror, in the best way possible.
The promo puts Matt Hagen’s transformation front and center. It shows the titular character upside down as his hand pulls and stretches the skin on his face. The poster has a rough, grainy quality, while red and white Japanese text runs down the poster. Rather than using typical comic book movie imagery, the design focuses almost entirely on the tragic transformation that will unfold on screen.
The text on the poster also goes more in-depth about what audiences can expect to see in the upcoming adaptation. Roughly translated, the red words on the right state, "He lost his fame, his beauty, everything.” The white text down his face reads, “A star in despair. A forbidden treatment. A monster is born.”
Underneath the story section, the summary reveals more about Clayface's journey both physically and psychologically throughout the film. "A promising Hollywood star loses his beautiful face in an accident. Desperate to step into the spotlight once again, he reaches for a forbidden treatment. His body and even his mind begin transforming into a monster."
The unsettling close-up and vertical text very closely resemble posters associated with several iconic Japanese horror films, such as Ringu, Audition, and Kairo. Those movies are all arguably pretty different from one another, but thepromotional artwork for all three brings a sense of dread and the feeling that something horrifying is lurking right around the corner.
That makes the overall appearance of the new preview appropriate for Clayface. DC Studios has advertised the upcoming movie as more horror-driven rather than another supervillain origin story. However, the trailer for the film implies that the project falls more under the psychological thriller genre than traditional horror.
Clayface will star Tom Rhys Harries as the titular villain. The film is directed by James Watkins, who has helmed several popular scary movies, such as The Woman in Black and the 2024 remake of Speak No Evil. The screenplay is written by Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House and Doctor Sleep) and Hossein Amini (Drive).
Clayface will be released in U.S. theaters on October 23, 2026.
- Release Date
- October 23, 2026
- Director
- James Watkins
- Writers
- Mike Flanagan, Hossein Amini, Bill Finger, Bob Kane
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Tom Rhys Harries
Matt Hagen / Clayface
-
Naomi Ackie
Dr. Caitlin Bates
-
David Dencik
-
Max Minghella
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.