Clayface review

CLAYFACE: 

DC SCULPTS ONE HELL OF A CREEPY BATMAN VILLAIN ORIGIN STORY! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

DC STUDIOS (WARNER BROS. PICTURES)

Tom Rhys Harries in Clayface

 

            One of the Caped Crusader’s most terrifying foes gets an equally terrifying origin in Clayface, the new film from director James Watkins (The Woman in Black, Black Mirror, Speak No Evil (2024)) and the third film in the new DC Universe based on the Batman character of the same name from DC Comics. I should make this clear: I know very little about Clayface as a character, so I’m going into this somewhat blindly. 

            The movie looked fascinating when I first heard about it: a comic book movie version of a body-horror film à la The Substance and following in the footsteps of the billion-dollar-grossing, R-rated Joker movie and its…less-than-stellar follow-up from 2024. Well, after seeing this for myself, I can say, man, Sony dropped the fucking ball with the Venom movies because THIS is what those films should have been. 

            I’ll go on record and say this is not a perfect film, and I personally didn’t think it was as impactful as the first Joker, but this is a well-crafted and genuinely gnarly supervillain origin story that pushes the envelope of what people expect out of a comic book movie. Just don’t make a jukebox musical-style sequel to this, though admittedly that would be interesting to see. 

            The film follows Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries-Jekyll and Hyde, Slaughterhouse Rulez, The Gentlemen), a prominent young actor with a bright future who has just been nominated for an Academy Award. But after an encounter with a ruthless mob boss who disfigures his face, Matt turns to scientist Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie-I Wanna Dance with Somebody, Blink Twice, Mickey 17), who has created a breakthrough nanite treatment that rapidly repairs damaged tissue and skin to restore his former look…with horrific side effects he soon finds out as he goes on a revenge path to take down the mob. 

            The film also stars David Dencik (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, A Royal Affair, No Time to Die) as Markos Szabo, Max Minghella (Syriana, The Social Network, The Ides of March) as John Borrelli, and Eddie Marsan (V for Vendetta, Happy-Go-Lucky, Deadpool 2) as Frank Fitzpatrick. 

            Overall, Clayface gives the Batman villain a disturbing and grotesque origin story that’s as engaging as it is gory. This is an R-rated movie, and it more than earns it, lots of blood and grisly sequences whether we’re talking clay or flesh. 

            Characters are getting sliced, cut, and smashed open left and right, and the hits are satisfying and meaty. Honestly, the most unnerving scenes in the movie are when Clayface is doing stuff like using a pair of scissors to cut his eyelids open that are stuck shut or cutting his face only to be instantly healed; I was legitimately squirming in my seat a few times during the film. 

            The effects are amazing, though it is all CGI instead of practical makeup, animatronics, and prosthetics, but because this is a significantly smaller-scale comic book movie compared to others, none of it looks cheap, and I was both amazed and disgusted seeing the CG clay skin interact with Tom Rhys Harries’ face. It’s not on par with the stretchy cartoony effects Jim Carrey had in The Mask, but the visual effects on Clayface look good, and that’s what matters. 

            Where Sony’s Venom movies took what could have been a dark and fascinating character study with heavy psychological themes and turned it into a goofy buddy comedy, Clayface actually delivers what that first Venom film initially promised. This movie is a deep and haunting character study about a man who’s slowly losing his sanity as he’s being corrupted by this entity inside him and transforming more and more into a monster. 

            It especially helps when the protagonist is portrayed as pretty likable, given that Matt Hagen is an actor in Hollywood; they could have easily made him an egotistical fuckwad who gets what he deserves, but I’m grateful they didn’t go that route. I legit cared for him even before the horrific transformation, and Tom Rhys Harries gives a very endearing and tragic performance as Matt. 

            I will admit, even though David Dencik gives a solid performance as the mob boss who scarred Matt’s face, I found the character to be rather underwhelming,g especially compared to Clayface himself. He is threatening,g and someone you do want to see Clayface rip apart or smash his head in, but he just seemed like a generic mob boss you’d see in any other movie and is nowhere near as memorable as the gang from The Crow or even Ed Skrein’s Francis from the first Deadpool. You want an equally despicable monster for the literal monster to just completely destroy by the end, and I didn’t really get that out of Szabo, unfortunately. 

            Clayface probably won’t become a phenomenon like Joker was in 2019, but it’s a damn impressive Batman villain origin story that subverts audiences’ expectations of what a comic book movie can be. It’s gross, demented, and gory as fuck, but also engaging and fascinating;g, it’s Halloween body-horror goodness…that also happens to be a DC Comics movie. If you’re looking for the DC equivalent of The Fly, The Substance, and Darkman, you've got some clay to play with here. 

            Oh, and Mike Flanagan (Oculus, Doctor Sleep, The Life of Chuck) helped write the screenplay for this…that is awesome!