Directed by James Watkins — Screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini.
Clayface isn’t the first film based on, and about, a comic book villain, and I very much doubt it is the last. These villain-centric origin story narratives have arguably been more common with Sony’s Spider-Man spin-off universe of films, like Venom or Morbius, inspired by the aforementioned Marvel Comics hero’s rogues’ gallery. But it is a spin-off or standalone film about a DC Comics villain that has made the biggest cultural footprint, in the form of Todd Phillips’ Joker. Unlike Joker — which exists entirely in its very own version of Gotham City removed from the interconnected stories that modern superhero films are often all about — Clayface, another origin story for a DC Comics villain, very much is set up to be a part of the James Gunn-shepherded DC cinematic universe, even though it looks and feels more like a story spun off from Matt Reeves’ The Batman (both it and Clayface were filmed in Liverpool, England), which, notably, is not a part of the shared universe. While its place in the interconnected universes of DC Comics cinematic storytelling is perhaps still somewhat unclear, the film itself isn’t a headscratcher. Clayface is a thoroughly entertaining body-horror thriller that I liked quite a bit, even though certain characters are particularly thinly drawn.
James Watkins’ Clayface follows Matt Hagen (played by Tom Rhys Harries), an on-the-rise actor who, after receiving his first Academy Award nomination, gets into trouble that seriously derails his life. While out on the town celebrating his nomination, he meets and spends the night with fellow actress Mia Torrez (played by Joana Ribeiro), even though he knows she’s the girlfriend of a prominent mob boss. The next morning, he finds out exactly what that means for him. Torrez’ significant other, crime lord Markos Szabo (played by David Dencik), and his henchmen surround Matt, ambush him, and slice his face open to such an extent that he is badly disfigured. When Matt indicates that he’s willing to fight back legally, Szabo pulls some strings, and suddenly the famous actor has not only lost his visage, but he’s also now battling allegations that leave him a toxic individual in the film industry. Desperate to get his life back, Matt seeks out Caitlyn Corr (played by Naomi Ackie), a scientist who, though she has lost funding, is experimenting with nanocells that may be capable of healing damaged tissue. Though initially reluctant, Caitlyn eventually agrees to let Matt be experimented on. Although the injections help him perfectly heal his face, his lack of patience gets him to go too far, which leads to serious side effects. Before he can reestablish himself as an actor, his desire for revenge leads him down a dark path that he may not be able to return from.
One of the most exciting things about this film is that it represents an opportunity for a superhero-adjacent property to genre experiment in a way that doesn’t fit into the assembly line feel of certain superhero films. Though not an outright ‘scary’ movie (though there is a pretty good jump scare here), this is definitely a body-horror film that reaches for Cronenbergian ideas and images, and that isn’t afraid of not being an all-audience film. Eden Lake director James Watkins’ attempt at a superhero comic book story is, to me, a far more interesting film than his last effort, Speak No Evil (2024), a solid but pointless remake of a great Danish film of the same name released two years earlier. Watkins’ Clayface is, essentially, a blend of a Gotham-set crime film and The Substance, and its body-horror sequences are terrific. Whether it’s the body transforming to different likenesses, being used as a weapon, or sequences of body-horror that will make you want to avert or cover your eyes out of the painful scenario it is building to, there are so many moments of strong body-horror action here.
One of the highlights is a terrifying airplane bathroom sequence where our protagonist opts to use a pair of scissors to open his eyelids, while, it should be said, the plane is going through turbulence. Another is the over-the-top and elaborately designed nightclub sequence where the powers of the central comic book character are let loose with an inventiveness that really livens up the film. There are so many wild transformations here, and it is a real moment for the film to showcase the full potential of what this character can be on the big screen. In truth, I wanted more of this, but what we got here was very exciting. Other than the standout sequences (which also include a night-time transformation), I thought it looked particularly well whenever our main character was struck by someone, and his face was severely dented before his face eventually and smoothly readjusted. What I, however, didn’t always think worked was how seamless and immediate some of the transformations were. There are certain scenes when this makes sense late in the film (when Matt Hagen has mastered his abilities), but there are other earlier moments when he turns into someone else, and it just happens with an uncanny immediacy.
I want to highlight that I thought Naomi Ackie and Tom Rhys Harries’ rapport was strong here. You become easily emotionally invested in their relationship. Now, while Naomi Ackie is quite good here, it is very much Tom Rhys Harries’ film, and the, for most people, relatively unknown actor turns in a performance that could really elevate his career. There’s a well-tuned ambiguity to his portrayal of the central character that really plays well, given the bad press the character gets in the world of the film and the arc he goes on. You see the light and the darkness of him all over his face through this nuanced, contrasting, and complex performance.
Earlier in the review, I mentioned that there are several “thinly drawn” characters. So many of the supporting characters are just one-dimensional stereotypes, and while I, as a Dane, certainly got a kick out of seeing David Dencik play a Gotham-based mob boss, there really is nothing to his character. The same goes for Eddie Marsan’s character and Max Minghella’s dutiful police detective. While I like all three of those actors, and I think their presence adds to the film, their roles’ shallow characterization is one of the reasons why the film can sometimes feel like it lacks freshness. Another reason why is that there’s familiarity to the revenge thriller structure, despite the fact that it has a DC Comics spin on it. At the same time, the film does overcome this sense of conventionality. Another issue that I do have with the film is that I think the first ten-to-twenty minutes feel slightly inelegant, partially due to a rushed opening and the fact that the film’s pacing is, in general, somewhat uneven. It does take some time for the film to get to the more extreme and comic booky over-the-top action, but I will say that I did enjoy the build-up to it, in part because I was really invested in the central character’s journey.
Although this very much feels like the kind of film you would get way down the line of an interconnected universe of comic book films, this third entry in the James Gunn-led DC Universe is a particularly strong detour into a world and genre far away from the Kryptonian-focused events of the first two films. James Watkins’ Clayface is particularly refreshing because we don’t often get to see comic book movies from major studios get to toy around with horror, and the excellent body-horror on display really is what makes this film so thrilling. While there definitely are some issues with pacing and stereotypical characters, those inventive and horrific scenes, as well as the strong performance from Tom Rhys Harries, easily outweigh the film’s imperfections.
7.9 out of 10
– Review written by Jeffrey Rex Bertelsen.
