Clayface Movie Review: DC Has Fun

While not without flaws, Clayface is the first success for the DC Universe on the big screen, largely because it has fun with its body-horror concept.

Director James Watkins fills in the gaps in the story of Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys-Harries), first introduced in the DCU in Creature Commandos as the shapeshifting antagonist known as Clayface. Anyone who hasn’t watched the series won’t be lost, as this film is the origin story of how an Academy Award-nominated actor descended into the depths of a literal and figurative Hell after being disfigured by mob boss Markos Szabo (David Dencik) during a brutal altercation in Gotham. 

Reconstructive facial surgeries don’t work and actively worsen the problem. Moreover, many negative testimonials about Hagen circulate on social media, permanently tarnishing his career. After stumbling upon the controversial work of Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie) online, Matt turns to her in desperation, seeking to be a test subject for her latest AI-powered reconstructive therapy. He will do anything to restore his face, and while the first stage of the treatment promises improvement, things quickly go (very) wrong. 

That’s when Clayface starts to really get good, even if it takes time to find its footing. The first half-hour or so of the film is terrible. Full stop. For some reason, Watkins rushes through what could’ve been a really intriguing part of the story for the audience to form a tangible connection with Hagen before the incident occurs. Jon Harris’ editing is clunky and far too fast for us to understand who he is as an individual beyond the glitz and glamour of the City of Angels, and large chunks of dialogue seemed to have been dubbed over in post-production. It’s hard to even fathom why DC would go this route, given that its screenplay was written by Mike Flanagan, a genre auteur who, in my book, has only missed once. 

Flanagan couldn’t direct the movie himself because of his commitments to Carrie and The Exorcist: Martyrs, which led DC to turn to Watkins. He’s not a bad filmmaker, but one wonders why Hossein Amini needed to take another pass at Flanagan’s screenplay, because some scenes don’t feel like they were written by the man who gave us Midnight Mass at all. Such rushed character work likely wouldn’t have passed with Flanagan, who probably would’ve drawn way more from Hagen’s personality beyond his broad strokes before staging one of the cruelest attacks ever seen in a comic book movie. 

That said, when the attack happens, Clayface slows down and finally gives us something to chew on. We primarily understand that Matt Hagen is not a good person and has never really cared about anyone but himself, before and after the unthinkable happens. For some audience members, that can be especially off-putting, but the emotional journey we go through with him is thoughtfully developed and superbly performed. Rhys-Harries portrays the character with an internal and external anguish we can feel, even beyond the body horror. He’s always been in pain, and this incident has only furthered how he feels inside. There are sequences in the film that might make you uncomfortable, not because of the on-screen gore, but because of how Hagen behaves towards the people around him – his friends, his manager (Eddie Marsan), and women. 

The film explores a palpable sense of alchemy between Matt and Caitlyn, but it’s not necessarily a healthy relationship, given that Matt wants control over a life Dr. Corr can’t promise. Ackie gives the film’s most emotive performance, especially in a sequence told entirely through her face, which makes it clear this project might not have been a good idea after all. Through Volker Bertelmann’s string-heavy music dictating how Caitlyn’s emotions should be read, Clayface operates more as a tragedy than anything resembling a full-on body horror movie, and that could perhaps be its biggest strength. 

It’s probably the best depiction of a villain we’ve gotten in these antagonist-centered comic-book films, because Watkins doesn’t shy away from his disdain for the character he’s filming, using a striking ultra-wide 2.76:1 aspect ratio that forces the audience to stay close to him at every turn. Without a doubt, Clayface is the DCU’s best-looking film, which is insane considering it was shot by Rob Hardy, the same cinematographer of Craig Gillespie’s dreadful-looking Supergirl. Watkins has a vision and knows how to create effective images with an aspect ratio that feels unconventional for comic-book cinema. 

In any case, it lets Watkins create ingenious sequences of body horror that could be on the tamer side of Brian Yuzna, but are still terrifically effective. One such scene had the entire audience on edge, as Matt attempts to cut bits of skin from his eye while on a moving airplane going through intense turbulence. It’s the kind of generic pleasures that are seldom offered within the prism of comic book storytelling, and the fact that James Gunn and Peter Safran said yes to a body horror film in the DC universe, likely knowing that it won’t turn a mega profit, speaks to their willingness to shake the very foundations of a genre that has populated our screens for almost twenty years and is in desperate need of reinvention. 

Clayface doesn’t much reinvent anything we don’t know about comic book cinema, but it’s having loads of fun, particularly during its centerpiece, a nightclub confrontation between an ever-shapeshifting Hagen and Markos’ crew. This is the stuff we want to see more from DC, and less of the grey-sludged unmoving compositions of Supergirl, which was hopefully a minor setback into what could be a highly promising shared universe. I won’t lie; it still feels weird that we don’t have a caped crusader in Gunn’s mainline world, or that there was no mention of his existence given that the film is set in Gotham, but maybe that’s what we need – less of referential stories, and more of things we haven’t seen before. 

Another Batman movie is slated to come out in 2028. Why doesn’t DC try something different for a change? Maybe it’s not going to work and people won’t see it, but at least it’s worth the risk, right?

Clayface will be released in US theaters, in UK & Irish cinemas and globally in theatres on October 23, 2026.