It pains me to say it, but DC Studios’ Clayface just wasn’t for me.
Directed by James Watkins, the third film in the cinematic DC Universe that started with James Gunn’s Superman and continued with Craig Gillespie’s Supergirl is, strangely enough, a body-horror flick that isn’t superheroic at all. In it, actor Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) gets his moneymaker mauled by the mob and requires an experimental treatment from a doctor in need of a win (Naomi Ackie) to restore his mangled face. The treatment has some unexpected side effects, turning his movie-star mug to mud—or clay, as it were—which, though terrifying for him at first, gives him the ability to become anyone he wants, transform his limbs into powerful weapons, and settle the score with everyone who has wronged him. Much like Todd Phillips’ Joker, this is a revenge film starring a Batman villain with no Dark Knight to put him in his place. But at least Joker had Joaquin Phoenix dancing down those stairs.
Clayface isn’t all bad. Even though Batman is nowhere in sight during this flick, we get a great glimpse of the DCU’s Gotham City, which we will hopefully revisit whenever this universe’s Batman rears his cowled, pointy-eared head. I also really enjoyed the practical effects in this movie—from Matt’s stomach-churning facial surgeries to some of the more gruesome kills. There’s an inventiveness to many of the film’s grotesque visuals that I couldn’t help but appreciate. The CGI in Clayface, though, leaves a lot to be desired, especially when Matt shapeshifts into other people and when he assumes his goopy final form near the end of the film.
Save for some gross body-horror moments, there wasn’t a whole lot that stood out to me about Clayface, which feels remarkably like one of Sony’s Spider-Man-adjacent villain flicks, such as Venom, Morbius, or Kraven the Hunter. I don’t need every one of these movies to be ultra-connected to a wider cinematic universe, but this film was so stuck between being a comic book adaptation and a genuine horror film that it succeeded at neither.
I still have faith in the DCU—Man of Tomorrow can’t come soon enough—but Clayface is a miss for me. Check out Batman: The Animated Series’ excellent two-parter “Feat of Clay” for a much better origin story for this character.
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