DC Studios released a bloody and disturbing teaser for “Clayface,” the first horror film from the comic book studio.

Tom Rhys Harries stars as an up-and-coming actor whose face is brutally disfigured in a knife attack. He undergoes an experimental medical procedure to repair his appearance, but soon finds some unexpected and horrific side effects.

The teaser, scored with a slowed-down cover of The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize?,” features Harries in a hospital bed, with his face bandaged. Brief scenes flash by of Harries being injected with the experimental serum, having his face restored and later discovering he has difficulty holding his shape as his features melt, morph and dissolve.

“‘Clayface’ unravels one man’s horrifying descent from rising Hollywood star to revenge-filled monster in a story that explores the loss of one’s identity and humanity, corrosive love and the dark underbelly of scientific ambition,” the official synopsis reads.

The film is directed by James Watkins from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini. Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella, Eddie Marsan, Nancy Carroll and Joshua James also star.

“Clayface” follows the origins of the villain, who first appeared in the comics as an adversary to Batman, but is not the character’s first appearance in James Gunn’s DCU—a version of Clayface previously appeared in Gunn’s 2024 animated series “Creature Commandos,” voiced by Alan Tudyk (who also voiced a more comedic take on the character in the “Harley Quinn” animated series, which is not a part of the DCU).

It has not been confirmed whether the version of Clayface in the film is the same one seen in “Creature Commandos,” as in DC Comics there have been multiple characters to take up the mantle.

The upcoming film is billed as the first foray into horror by DC Studios, and while that is true, it is not the first horror film to be based on a DC Comics character—that distinction belongs to Wes Craven’s 1982 film “Swamp Thing.”

“Clayface” oozes into theaters Oct. 23.

About the writer

Ben Hooper recommends non-comic book readers check out the “Feat of Clay” two-parter from the first season of 1992’s “Batman: The Animated Series” if they want to learn more about Clayface before the new movie. He is also grateful for the opportunity to bring up Swamp Thing, something he is known to do at any opportunity, no matter how tangential.