I think Clayface might be one of the best comic book adaptations I have ever seen.
I won’t lie, I’m definitely biased. I’ve always enjoyed comic book movies and to say I didn’t go into the theater excited would be a big lie. But what this movie does is cure the general watcher of the dreaded “CBM fatigue.”
After Endgame, both Marvel and DC have been out of their prime. It’s clear neither company has the same hold on theaters that it once did. Clayface takes a step away from the typical CBM, and it works amazingly.
It’s a body horror movie and it fully commits. I felt squeamish the entire time I was watching. Tom Rhys Harries plays Matt Hagen, a struggling actor whose face is cut up and ruined by a gangster and watching him go from Hollywood’s brightest new star to something dim and monstrous makes you uncomfortable in the best way. It’s a movie about losing your face, your body and yourself. I think it helps that there are no true morally good characters either.
What surprised me most is that half the time I forgot I was watching a DC movie. It feels like a horror movie that happens to live in the DCU, not the other way around. A small detail in the dialogue would remind me that it’s set in Gotham.
It helps that the people behind it are familiar with horror. James Watkins, the director of Speak No Evil (2024), directed it and Mike Flanagan, the director of Doctor Sleep (2019), wrote the script. James Gunn, co-CEO of DC Studios, has said it was one of the best scripts DC had read, even though the studio originally had no plans for a Clayface movie.
I know the reviews have been mixed. Some people called it messy and some have even compared it to Morbius. I heavily disagree and in my own opinion, a lot of the pile-on happens because it isn’t the Snyderverse. I also think a lot of people are heavy critics of James Gunn just because. The same thing happened with Supergirl. People said it was awful and while it wasn’t the best movie in the world, I didn’t think it deserved the hefty criticism. Not every movie has to be a critically acclaimed masterpiece to be worth watching.
What I love most is that Clayface doesn’t feel like a copy-paste cash grab. Even though Clayface is part of Batman’s rogues gallery, Batman never shows up, so the movie has to rely on its own well-constructed story.
Gunn has said DC doesn’t have a “company style” and this movie is definitely proof of that. It’s gnarly, it’s gross and it’s genuinely scary.
So if you’re looking for something to watch this Halloween weekend, I would give Clayface a shot.
Just maybe don’t eat while you watch it.
