Clayface trailer leans into the body horror

The San Diego Comic-Con kicks off tomorrow, and DC Studios and Warner Brothers are setting the stage by dropping the first full trailer for Clayface , part of the DC Universe's "Gods and Monsters" arc. The film started out as a Mike Flanagan project (he's the horror master who brought us The Haunting of Hill House, The Fall of the House of Usher, Midnight Mass , and Doctor Sleep , among other creepy delights). Flanagan said he was inspired by the 1992 "Feat of Clay" episode in Batman: The Animated Series , aspiring to create a film that combined body horror with a tragic thriller.

DC Studios CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran loved Flanagan's pitch and brought the movie into their rebooted DCU. Alas, Flanagan had to bow out of the project due to scheduling conflicts—he's a busy man these days—and James Watkins stepped in as director. But Gunn has said the final script retained Flanagan's original story, with Hossein Amini doing some rewrites.

The film will feature the origin story of the Matt Hagen incarnation of Clayface, introduced to the DCU in the animated Creature Commandos series (Alan Tudyk voiced the character).