Clayface's Final Trailer Has Me Convinced DC Is Taking a Smart Swing

The final trailer for Clayface is out, and this is a very different kind of DCU movie, a lower budget horror film that I am genuinely excited about. I want to see what they end up doing with it.

The final trailer delivers some genuinely gross, Darkman style moments

Right away this trailer gives off that Darkman feel, and there are some brutal, gross moments in it. There is a line where the character says "I want my life back," and another exchange that stuck with me: "Are you okay?" followed by "No, it's a disaster." There is also "What's happening to me?" as the procedure causing troubling physical changes starts to take hold.

We get lines about learning to control it being difficult, and a reference to four weeks passing. Then there is the reveal that Matt Hagen can change his face, followed by the question "Is that so bad?" answered simply with "Yeah." You really see him descend to the dark side in this footage, and it is terrifying. There is also a line, "I have no idea who you are anymore," tied to a transformation moment. I think we may have seen a version of that transformation in the last trailer already, though I am not totally sure I remember that correctly.

It is very difficult to make a villain led movie, but smaller budget horror films are the loophole

This kind of goes along with something I always say: it is very difficult to make a full on mainstream feature film starring a villain. I know there are exceptions, but a lot of the time, even when studios make the big budget versions of these movies, they end up changing the villain's origin story. Maleficent is the example that comes to mind immediately, where the take basically becomes she's not really bad, she just had a rough go of it.

The reason smaller budgets work better for this is that you only need to hit a certain demographic that is actually going to show up. That is why horror movies tend to do pretty well even when the ghost or the demon technically wins, because those films are made significantly cheaper. When they make even a modest amount of money, they can turn a real profit. That is what I think DC is smartly trying to do here with Clayface.

This is DC's clever way to build out Clayface's backstory before Batman shows up

This reminds me of how Lanterns brought Guy Gardner into that world, and how they are eventually going to bring John Stewart into Man of Tomorrow. This feels like a cool way to get the backstory of Clayface. Hopefully it does well, and hopefully audiences see the terrible things this guy went through and the terrifying scenarios that shaped why he stayed a villain.

If that groundwork gets laid here, it becomes another reason to be invested when Batman eventually deals with him. I do not know a ton about Brave and the Bold, and I know there is supposed to be some humor in it from what people say, but I want to see a Batman that has to deal with the version of this guy I just watched in this trailer.

Does Clayface fit into the Nolan-verse or the Robert Pattinson Batman?

Based on the tone of this footage, it does seem like this version of the character could fit into something closer to the Nolan-verse or the Robert Pattinson Batman style world, even though he is changing his face throughout. That said, it is not that he could not work in the other DCU version either, because we genuinely do not know what that Batman is going to look like yet. I just like that they are giving us an introduction to him through this smaller horror film first.

The open question is whether this resonates with audiences who do not know or care that it is a DC movie at all. I guess time will tell on that front, but I am really intrigued by this one.

An unknown lead actor could work in Clayface's favor

I do not know the lead actor, who comes from what I'd call a hole in a wall, and that is a great thing for me, because now I am just going to see him as Clayface, especially since he looks great in this footage.

The vain actor theory, and a comparison to a recent body horror film

From what I can tell, and people who know the lore can correct me if I am wrong, it seems like this is a vain actor character who relied heavily on his face, his looks, and his relevance, and then something happened that forced him to do whatever he had to do to stay relevant.

It reminded me of that Demi Moore movie that just came out with Margaret Qualley, whatever the title was, mixed with Darkman and a few other things. And I like it. I like the overall tone and feel of what they are doing here.

Releasing in the Halloween window is a smart swing for DC

I think it is smart to put this out during the Halloween era, and I expect there are going to be a lot of gross moments in the finished film. This feels like a smart play for DC to change things up a bit. Worst case scenario, I think this thing breaks even or loses a little bit of money, but they took a swing, and I like that they are taking a swing.

I just hope people show up to it, especially if it actually delivers, because it always bums me out when a genuinely good movie comes out and nobody goes to check it out or gives it a chance. I hope people give this one a chance. I am certainly going to be giving it a chance.

So will you be giving Clayface a chance, or are you still not that convinced this character needed his own movie?