DC is going outside the box. With Clayface, the studio has officially stepped into horror territory, delivering its first full-blown horror movie, and honestly? I hope this is the beginning of something special. Rather than going bigger, DC scaled down and leaned into a genre. Directed by James Watkins, working from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan, Clayface is a grimy, occasionally gross body horror movie that feels like a genuine swing for the fences in a comic book landscape that desperately needs more of them.
My introduction to Clayface, like many Batman fans, came through Batman: The Animated Series. Ron Perlman’s Matt Hagen was a game-changer, and episodes like “Feat of Clay” and “Mudslide” remain some of the absolute best the series ever produced. They showed just how tragic, disturbing, and downright terrifying this character could be when taken seriously. This movie understands that potential, even if I walked away wanting a little bit more.
Working with a smaller budget, I wasn’t expecting to see Clayface in all his monstrous glory for the entire runtime. What we get makes sense for an origin story, and I still thought the effects and power showcases were cool as hell. But when the movie finally lets loose, particularly during that incredible nightclub sequence near the end, I couldn’t help thinking about how much further they could take this character. Because this is only the tip of the iceberg.
The biggest thing I appreciated about Clayface is that it doesn’t try to turn Matt Hagen into some misunderstood antihero. Matt Hagen is a Batman villain. He’s a bad guy, and the movie isn’t afraid to establish that early on. He’s an actor who’s full of himself, and there are already little warning signs that this isn’t exactly a great dude before everything goes to shit.
In this version, Hagen gets involved with the wrong woman, ends up brutally disfigured by the mob, and turns to a revolutionary experimental serum developed by a scientist played by Naomi Ackie. The serum could potentially treat degenerative diseases, but it hasn’t undergone human trials. Hagen, understandably desperate to fix his face, isn’t exactly interested in waiting for approval. What could possibly go wrong?
From there, the movie becomes a revenge story, with shades of The Fly and Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Hagen’s body begins changing, and as he discovers what he’s capable of, the people around him start paying the price. There’s even a love story woven into the proceedings, although it becomes more of a love triangle as things spiral out of control. But here’s the thing: tragic doesn’t automatically mean good. Batman’s rogues gallery is full of characters who’ve suffered terrible things, but that doesn’t absolve them of what they do afterward. Matt Hagen’s transformation is horrifying, but watching him use his newfound abilities to hurt people makes him a villain worth exploring.
And when the movie leans into that horror, it really works. The body horror is easily one of the highlights. There’s a particularly disgusting sequence aboard an airplane that had me squirming, and I loved seeing the movie explore the actual process of Hagen transforming rather than simply cutting to the finished monster. The animated series could show us Clayface’s monstrous form, but live action allows us to experience the physical nightmare of becoming him.
I do wish the filmmakers had pushed things further, though. This is an R-rated movie, with nudity and plenty of swearing, but when it comes to the kills, I wanted them to go harder. At times, it feels like the movie isn’t entirely sure where the line is. Are we going all the way with the grotesque, over-the-top violence, or are we pulling back just enough to make things more accessible? Pick a lane!
I wanted full-blown, Cronenbergian body horror. Give me that The Fly level of practical, stomach-churning nastiness. The movie occasionally gets close, and the inventive ways Hagen uses his powers are great, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was another level of depravity waiting to be unleashed. That’s a nitpick, though, because I had a damn good time.
Tom Rhys Harries absolutely kills it as Matt Hagen. DC made an interesting choice by putting an up-and-coming actor in the lead role, and it pays off. Harries has the kind of chiseled features and leading-man looks that make Hagen’s status as a rising Gotham actor believable. You can buy that this guy has the face to become a star. And then the movie takes that face away from him.
Harries carries the film, giving Hagen enough arrogance, desperation, and menace to make his transformation compelling. Once he starts realizing that something is seriously wrong with his body, the performance shifts into something increasingly unsettling. He understands that this isn’t simply a guy who’s been given extraordinary powers. This is a man whose body is becoming something he can barely comprehend, and his response is to make everyone else suffer for it. Naomi Ackie is also great, bringing a strong presence to the scientist at the center of the story. Max Minghella is solid, too, but make no mistake: this is Harries’ movie. He owns it.
James Watkins deserves plenty of credit as well. The cinematography looks fantastic, and when this movie is firing on all cylinders, it looks genuinely great. The horror sequences are inventive, the atmosphere works, and the final stretch is where everything really comes together. The last 25 minutes, in particular, are excellent.
I also appreciated the little nods to Clayface’s history. The movie has shades of “Feat of Clay,” including moments that reminded me of the animated series’ interpretation of Matt Hagen, and there’s even an Arkham City Easter egg thrown in for good measure. For a character who has appeared in so many different forms across Batman media, it’s nice to see the filmmakers acknowledge what came before while building something of their own.
And no, there’s no Batman cameo. There’s not even a mention of him. Good. This is Clayface’s origin story. Why would Batman necessarily know who Matt Hagen is at this point? Let the character become the monster first. Let him establish himself as a threat. There’s plenty of time for Batman to get involved later.
Because now that we’ve seen what this character can do in live action, I desperately want to see Clayface go up against the Dark Knight. That’s been on my Batman bucket list for years, and if Harries gets another crack at the role with a bigger budget, the possibilities are incredible.
Clayface isn’t necessarily at the very top of Batman’s rogues gallery, but that’s part of what makes this such an interesting choice. Batman has so many incredible villains that you don’t need to keep going back to the same handful of household names. There’s room to explore the stranger, weirder corners of Gotham, and Clayface makes a convincing case for doing exactly that.
The movie’s revenge plot might not reinvent the wheel, and I can understand some of the criticisms people might have about the supporting antagonists. But I don’t think every comic book movie needs a legendary villain lineup or a universe-shaking plot. Sometimes, a character gets wronged, turns into a monster, and starts making very bad decisions. That’s the movie. And it works.
Honestly, I’d much rather see studios take chances like this than continue churning out the same bloated superhero spectacle we’ve watched hundreds of times. We can already see the machine gearing up for the next massive Avengers event, and those movies are practically guaranteed to make mountains of money regardless of how they turn out.
A movie like Clayface has to earn its audience differently. It takes a recognizable comic book character, strips away the usual superhero spectacle, and turns his story into a horror movie. Sony has tried its hand at building movies around lesser-known comic book characters before, with decidedly mixed results. The difference here is that Clayface actually feels like someone had a clear creative vision for what the movie should be.
It’s not perfect. I wanted more Clayface, more grotesque kills, and a little more commitment to the nastiest aspects of its premise. But those complaints come from wanting more of what the movie does well, not from thinking it failed at what it set out to accomplish.
Ultimately, Clayface is a win for DC. It’s a fun, genuinely effective body horror movie that gives a lesser-known Batman villain the spotlight and proves there’s still plenty of life left in comic book filmmaking when studios are willing to take a chance.
If the movie goes on to make somewhere in the $150–200 million range worldwide, I think that would be a fantastic result. It would show that audiences are willing to show up for something different, even when it doesn’t have a massive ensemble cast or the promise of another world-ending crossover. And if that happens, I hope DC takes the hint.
Give filmmakers room to experiment. Give us different genres. Give us more strange, unsettling stories from the corners of these comic book universes. Because after sitting through hundreds of superhero movies, I’m ready for something that gets a little mud on its hands.
Clayface = 81/100
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