The film side of the DCU has had an up-and-down ride so far. 2025’s Superman performed decently, critically and commercially, whereas 2026’s Supergirl did less so. We’re only two films in, so it’s hard to predict where the next few slated films will take the DCU, but now we have Clayface to add to the roster of releases, a big step away from where you might think James Gunn and Peter Safran may have taken us next. Not exactly a hero and not exactly a cut-and-dry villain, Clayface usually comes up against Batman, but he also has one or two redeeming qualities in some comic storylines, and it’s entirely thanks to horror writer/director extraordinaire Mike Flanagan and his vision for Clayface that we even have a film featuring a relatively obscure character from DC, and a horror film no less. Was it worth taking the DCU in this direction for its next outing, risking it on a lesser-known character and a new genre for them (though horror has been doing exceedingly well in cinema of late), or should the horror of Clayface have remained in the dark?

Director: James Watkins
Writers: Mike Flanagan, Hossein Amini, based on characters from DC
Cast: Tom Rhys Harries, Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella, Eddie Marsan

Successful actor Matt Hagen (Rhys Harries) has it all: the career, the looks, the money, the award nominations. He’s on top of the world, until he gets mixed up with the wrong girl, pisses off her mafia boyfriend, and has his money-making face completely cut up. In despair and abandoned by just about every person who hung on to him for his fame, he searches for anything to fix his face and anyone who can help him get his life back. He soon meets experimental scientist Caitlyn Corr (Ackie), who has developed microscopic nanites that can repair bodily damage and then be ordered to destroy themselves. Although not approved yet for human trials, Matt puts himself forward as a guinea pig, but both he and Caitlyn soon come to realise that the nanites are capable of a whole lot more than anticipated, allowing Matt to mould his body to look like other people, and Matt starts to develop a taste for revenge.

I am a self-confessed fan of the horror genre (check out Terror Tapes for proof!), especially body horror. There’s something so disconcerting yet darkly entertaining and thoughtful about bodily transformation. So, I was very excited for Clayface on two counts: the first being the body horror aspect, the second that it was written by Mike Flanagan, who has proven his horror mettle numerous times over in the past couple of decades, at least. And I’m very happy to report that, for me, this film was a raging success in its genre, execution and connection to the DCU (Clayface has already appeared in Creature Commandos, but this is his origin story). Granted, I can’t really comment too much on how it compares to the comics as I’ve only read a handful that feature Clayface, but it is fantastic as a standalone body horror. Writer Hossein Amini apparently made some changes, and what those were exactly and how much of Flanagan’s original script was left intact is unknown to me at this point, but any Flana-fan™ will detect his fingerprints in much of the darker and thematic aspects of the film.

There are many Frankensteinian (is that a word??) elements to the story, making Matt something of a sympathetic and tragic character, at least earlier on, giving him and the story depth that was necessary in order for the audience to connect. It managed to actually surprise me in some scenes; I didn’t really grow wise until about the final 20 minutes regarding the extent of Matt’s growing mental instability and thirst for revenge, such was the fantastic writing, Tom Rhys Harries’s performance and James Watkins’s direction and execution of the screenplay. I did however feel that the beginning was a little rushed, particularly the incident that caused Matt’s disfigurement, and as his actions became more and more horrendous, there could have been more anger and despair on Caitlyn’s part, the regretful Victor Frankenstein to Matt’s increasingly vengeful Creature.

Being a body horror, of course a lot went into the practical effects, make up and prosthetics (elements of the film I would like to see award-nominated – life literally imitating art), and it was all designed very intricately with a great eye (iykyk!) for detail. Matt’s facial wounds, scars and eventual “clayformation”, while probably improved with CGI, looked genuinely gory and shocking, with one particular airplane-set scene forcing me behind my hands (something I rarely feel the need to do in horror anymore). There was definite clear inspiration taken from numerous classic body horror films, making those scenes feel fresh yet familiar. There was also never any doubt that the film was set in Gotham, with its signature dark and sinister atmosphere providing the backdrop to Matt’s unravelling sanity and desperate attempts to claw back what he once had, at any cost.

Tom Rhys Harries was so charismatic and terrifying as Matt Hagen, his performance becoming more and more impressive as the film progressed. He also had an excellent American accent, though Rob Brydon, as fun as he was in his role as an English talk show host, could not hide his Welsh accent. I was actually gobsmacked to discover that none of the main cast are American, the majority being British, and I could not tell with any of them, their accents were that good (to my ears, anyway). Naomi Ackie was a very convincing Dr. Caitlyn and had great chemistry with Rhys Harries and Max Minghella, who played Caitlyn’s righteous cop (can those words go together in Gotham?) fiancé John, perhaps the only legitimate ray of light in the cast of characters (and we know what generally happens to people like that in the darker part of any DC media franchise). Also, without spoilers, massive credit goes to the actors who played as “Matt” in one of his many clay-forms.

I sat through this film enjoying how good it was getting while also awaiting the ending with trepidation, knowing it could make or break the film. The big smile on my face at the final shot told me everything I needed to know about how I felt, about the ending and the film as a whole, and I had that extremely rare (for me) feeling of genuinely wanting to watch it again immediately. Clayface is consistent with its story and pacing while building toward some truly deliciously entertaining and frightening body horror and action, and then they stuck the landing and I came away suitably satisfied with it as both a horror and an independent entry into the DCU. I am now really hoping this much care and attention goes into Swamp Thing, which is slated to be a ‘Gothic horror’ and is currently in development as of writing, right behind Man of Tomorrow and The Brave and the Bold, the latter of which should introduce the DCU’s Batman/Bruce Wayne. If Clayface is anything to go by, we still have so much to look forward to from the DCU.