'Clayface' review: DC embraces body horror amid uneasy future

October 23, 2026 | 3:43pm

MANILA, Philippines — For the most part, DC Studios need not worry what Paramount intends to do with Warner Bros., driving all its focus instead on expanding its new comic universe now with "Clayface," based on the popular Batman villain.

Tom Rhys Harries plays Matt Hagen, a rising actor who gets on the wrong side of a powerful Gotham mob boss, resulting his face getting disfigured and his stardom practically finished.

He desperately approaches doctor Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie) willing to volunteer as a human test subject for her nanite treatment capable of healing damaged tissue and nerves.

The treatment begins well but when things go awry, Hagen injects himself with more nanites which on the surface heals him from any injury, but in reality also gives him the ability to alter his physical and vocal appearance.

Revenge seeps into the fallen actor's mind against all who turned on him, risking the trust of an engaged Corr who he finds himself falling for.

Body horror is a big swing for any studio, whether for a franchise or a standalone film. Fortunately for DC and Warner Bros., the backstory for Clayface in the comics offers so much promise beyond laying the groundwork for who will be this universe's long-term Batman.

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"Clayface" is R-18 but some unnecessary edits can slim it down to R-16, but it still doesn't take away how effective director James Watkins — his past horror outings including "The Woman in Black" and "Speak No Evil" — applies the gore for the shape-shifting villain.

Visual effects and prosthetic makeup do well to render the melting skin and abnormal changes of Rhys Harries' Hagen, a face almost a canvas for transformation.

From a filmmaking standpoint though, the movie comes up short, bearing too much similarity to Sam Raimi's "Darkman" from 1990 or body horror classic "The Fly" by the master himself David Cronenberg.

With respect to Watkins, there is the hovering question of how different the film would be if Mike Flanagan had stayed on board to see the project through, or even if his original script was kept rather than overhauled by fellow scribe Hossein Amini.

"Clayface" hit the key notes with the right tune but missed out on others than make the full melody, which DC may still view as a victory given the collision it came to with "Supergirl".

Hope remains for the studio following the success of "Lanterns", but there is still so much ground to make up before it can embrace a true appearance.

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