“Clayface”, which is the third product from DC Universe (DCU), is a run-of-the-mill villain origin story about which I cannot care that much. It apparently tries to follow the footsteps of not only Todd Phillips’ “Joker” (2019) but also a number of body horror films ranging from David Cronenberg’s “The Fly” (1986) to Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance” (2024), but the result is too amorphous and mediocre on the whole, and we are merely disturbed by a number of gory and violent moments in the film.
At the beginning, we are introduced to Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries), a handsome movie actor who is about to have another high point in his very successful career. Besides being the lead actor of some big movie, he also gets Oscar-nominated, and that certainly boosts his fame and popularity more. As a part of his following Oscar campaign, he drops by his hometown Gotham City for appearing in a TV show, and then he goes to a big local nightclub for some fun and excitement.
And that is where a very unfortunate incident happens upon him. When he is seduced by a sexy young lady, Hagan does not reject this at all, but she turns out to be the mistress of the boss of a powerful local criminal organization. Needless to say, the boss is not so amused by what subsequently occurs between his mistress and Hagan, and we soon get a graphically gruesome moment of facial mutilation.
Hagan survives this horrible moment, but his face is now irreversibly disfigured, and, not so surprisingly, his world is swiftly collapsed within a short period of time. Mainly due to his disfigured face, he comes to lose every privilege he has enjoyed as a hot movie star, and everyone around him simply walks away from him without any hesitation.
Quite penniless and hopeless, Hagan become desperate for any possible option for reconstructing his face, and then he comes across a seemingly good one via an article on Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie), a scientist who has tried to develop an experimental therapeutic technology which may help Hagan in getting his desperate wish. Although she is reluctant to use Hagan for her ongoing research, she eventually changes her mind because 1) he looks so desperate and 2) his result may give her research some breakthrough.
After several weeks of gradual process, both Hagan and Dr. Corr are amazed by how his face is completely restored, but, of course, there soon come several symptoms of serious side effects. While struggling with these side effects, Hagan discovers that he can change his appearance at his will, and, not so surprisingly, this eventually puts him onto the road to vengeance.
As its anti-hero character gets more accustomed to his disturbing ability, the movie often jolts us with more blood and goriness to decorate the screen. No matter how much Dr. Corr tries to stop what is irreversibly happening to him, Hagan cannot help but driven more by his dark power, and his consequent killing spree soon attracts the attention of Detective John Borrelli (Max Minghella), who is incidentally Dr. Corr’s fiancé.
While we are supposed to care more about what is going on in the story, the screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, which is developed from Flanagan’s story, does not have much depth or substance to hold our attention. Hagan’s struggle and conflict along the story feels contrived and superficial as the story merely pushes him toward the expected ending, and his increasingly strained relationship with Dr. Corr lacks enough emotional ground for generating any poignancy or gravitas.
Furthermore, the movie is seriously deficient in terms of mood and style. Compared to how it is stylishly presented in “Joker” or Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” (2022), Gotham City in “Clayface” feels quite bland and anonymous to say the least, and many of its main characters do not have much personality to observe. As a result, several good performers including Eddie Marsan and David Dencik are criminally under-utilized in the film, and Max Minghella is probably the most unfortunate one, considering his utterly thankless supporting role.
In case of Tom Rhys Harries, I must say that I did not notice him much even though he appeared in several recent notable films including Uberto Pasolini’s “The Return” (2024). As far as I can observe from “Clayface”, he is a fairly good actor, but he is sadly hindered by weak storytelling and thin characterization, and he also does not generate much chemistry with his co-star. Naomi Ackie, who previously appeared in Eva Victor’s “Sorry, Baby” (2025) and Bong Joon-ho’s “Mickey 17” (2025), brings some tenderness to her several key scenes, but she does not have anything else to do except looking concerned, and that is another big disappointment for me.
In conclusion, “Clayface”, directed by James Watkins, is another misfire from DCU after “Supergirl” (2026), which is relatively a bit better for some interesting potential at least. It must have been like a good idea to mix some body horror into a comic book story, but the overall result is too mushy to entertain us, and its failure reminds me more of my growing fatigue from numerous comic book hero/villain movies during last several decades. No, I am not against the genre itself at all, but, for Christ’s sake, is there anything really new or fresh out there?
