The Trailer for Clayface (2026) is Surprisingly Good. But Does it Matter?

The trailer for Clayface (2026) is surprisingly good. Though I think the poster could use a little work, I like the old-school horror movie tone of the trailer, and I absolutely love the score, sound mixing, and editing. The character design and the prosthetics-makeup-CG combo are intriguing and original. Which feels really important because the sense I’m getting of the setup is very basic: man betrayed, gets seriously hurt and disfigured, but survives, maybe gets powers, goes on a revenge spree. That’s very much Candyman (1992) and The Crow (1994) vibes.

Can you make something original and compelling with that premise now? You can always do the unimaginable with any premise.

But the story really needs to be good, and the characters need to be very compelling. The trailer doesn’t put any energy into convincing me of either.

In particular, the love interest/ female co-lead, whatever she is, delivers lines like she could have used an acting lesson or two before shooting the movie.

A good trailer — and this one is good, not great — in itself is no indication of a good film. Everybody loved the second trailer for Suicide Squad (2016). Some good editing and a good track, and it’s shame on us.

Looking at the broader framework, I’m not a big DCEU fan, because they just don’t make very good movies. They’re mostly good for memes and YouTube gold, and have never reached anywhere near the highs of the MCU.

I’ve seen a few on the big screen, back in the days when one would watch almost every movie that came out, that sounded like it had any potential. But those days are long gone.

I walked out of Man of Steel (2013), didn’t hate Batman V Superman (2016), and was bored to tears by the Whedon cut of The Justice League (2017). I watched Wonder Woman (2017) twice and enjoyed it for the most part, same with Shazam (2019). My favorite is The Suicide Squad (2021). It isn’t a Good movie, per se, but it is both enjoyable and entertaining. All the others, I either despise, didn’t watch, or turned off after ten minutes or less.

Just so you have an idea where I’m coming from.

Regarding this latest project’s trailer, I hadn’t heard of this character until the scheduling announcement for the Gunnverse. The reason I remembered it at all is that it began as a Mike Flanagan project, because, at the very least, he is original.

Now, it appears Flanagan ended up less involved in the production than the initial planning, but despite the new writer and director coming on board, it seems like maybe the story he created originally is very much intact.

Now, Flanagan’s work is not necessarily what you would call consistent, so, of course, it could be very faithful to his vision and still be crap.

There’s really no reason to expect a DCEU project to turn out well, just statistically. Then there’s Gunn’s terrible leadership.

So, I’m not excited. But with how horrible most trailers have been lately, I’ll give this one credit for its artistry.

I know absolutely nothing about the movie. I don’t even know if Clayface is a superhero or a Supervillain, so I’ve got no skin in the game, whether it’s good or bad. Except…I like good movies.

I’m also not entirely disinterested.

I will be waiting to hear if it’s good, but I don’t really think it’ll end up mattering much anyway.