Clayface Review: The DCU Meets Cronenberg in Vicious, Romantic Body Horror Extravaganza
Tom Rhys Harries and Naomi Ackie star in this supervillain origin tale from director James Watkins (Eden Lake) and a story by Mike Flanagan
by Alex Kaan 21 October 2026
Warner Bros.
Despite genre flicks like Brightburn or the unsettling Gothic edge of Tim Burton Batman films, the intersection of superhero movie and horror story has been relatively underexplored. With the third entry in their new DC Universe, CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran are here to compensate with a Batman supervillain origin story that doubles as a full-on body horror film, enlisting Speak No Evil and Eden Lake director James Watkins and screenwriter Hossein Amini (Drive), who worked from a script originally penned by The Haunting of Hill House and Carrie showrunner Mike Flanagan.
A gruesome yet darkly funny update on an old-school comic book thriller, Clayface is a bumpy but fun ride with gnarly body horror set pieces and electric performances from Tom Rhys Harries and Naomi Ackie to even out the kinks in its script. With a sun-soaked Hollywood opening set to the funky groove of David Bowie’s “Golden Years”, we meet Matt Hagen (Harries), a rags-to-riches rising star whose career is about to skyrocket thanks to an Oscar nomination. Returning to his native Gotham City for a late-night show taping, Matt enjoys a drug-fuelled night on the town that ends in a bed with Mia Torrez (Joana Ribeiro). Unfortunately for Matt, he didn’t heed his friend Corey’s (Joshua James) warning that Mia’s boyfriend is notorious mob boss Markos Szabo (David Dencik), who ensures that his money-making “pretty face” is cut up beyond recognition.
Warner Bros.
Disfigured and publicly disgraced after Mia makes a false allegation against him at Szabo’s request, Matt sees the dream life that he took so long to build crumble within a matter of days. In his desperation, he turns to biotech scientist Caitlyn Corr (Ackie), begging her to be a human subject for her experimental AI nanotechnology. While the treatment initially appears to be a success, Matt experiences a series of increasingly disturbing side effects that begin to turn his body into a shapeshifting monster, while Caitlyn’s fiancée (Max Minghella), a good cop in a corrupt police department, tries to solve a string of murders that somehow all tie back to Matt.
Whether it’s Matt cutting his eyelids open on a turbulent plane ride or receiving a nausea-inducing nose job, Clayface excels when it lets director James Watkins (Eden Lake) dial up the horror, or leans into campy elements like a standout dance/fight sequence at a Gotham nightclub. Aside from the grisly and often mean-spirited body horror, the film’s most intriguing element is a dark, tragic romance between Naomi Ackie as the Frankenstein to Tom Rhys Harries’ monster, and it is at its best when pushing this dynamic to increasingly twisted heights.
Warner Bros.
With Matt Hagen under-developed in comparison to previous DCU leads Superman and Supergirl, Clayface occasionally buckles under the weight of a predictable script with a fair share of heavy-handed dialogue. The themes of confused identity (Rob Brydon’s late-night host tells him that, as an actor, it “must be hard finding the real Matt Hagen”) are explored too peripherally, and the tragedy at the heart of the story doesn’t pack the punch it should. The film does leave you wondering how it would look if Mike Flanagan — who specialises in the blend of horror and character-driven drama — had written and directed it as was originally planned. Fortunately, Harries has the requisite star power to rescue the character and push those thoughts away for the most part.
Even if it’s let down by a weak script, Clayface is a full-blown horror thrill ride saved by its genre elements and strong performances.
Clayface is playing in US and UK cinemas from this Friday, October 23rd.