Clayface (2026) Review 🩸

A Face Only a Mother Could Love… And Even That’s Questionable!

Well, folks, here we are with another DC movie, and this time we’re doing something a little different. Instead of another Batman movie, we’re getting a standalone R-rated horror film centered around one of his most recognizable villains, Clayface. And as someone who’s a massive Batman fan and also happens to love horror, you can imagine how interested I was in this one. Especially when I learned that Mike Flanagan had taken inspiration from the two-part Batman: The Animated Series episode, Feat of Clay, which remains one of my favorite interpretations of the character.

Now, before anyone gets confused, this is NOT a Batman movie. Batman doesn’t appear, and his name isn’t even mentioned. This is entirely Matt Hagen’s story, and honestly, I appreciate that. Not every DC villain needs Batman standing around in the background to justify having their own movie.

So, did I enjoy Clayface? Oh, absolutely! In fact, I was genuinely surprised by just how much I enjoyed it. This movie goes to some seriously disturbing places, and I mean that in the best possible way. However, before anyone thinks I’m about to call it a masterpiece, hold your horses. As much as I loved this movie, there are some noticeable problems with the screenplay, particularly its dialogue, pacing in certain areas, and some rather cartoonish supporting characters.

But before we get into all that, I want to talk about a couple of things I saw at the theater.

A Few Surprises at the Movie Theater

One thing I’ve always appreciated about going to the movies is that the experience isn’t limited to whatever you’re watching on the big screen. Sometimes it’s the little things you encounter before the movie that make the trip memorable.

For example, while I was over at the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines, guess who I saw staring back at me? None other than Rhett and Link from Good Mythical Morning! Apparently, they’ve partnered with Coca-Cola for something called Good Mythical Mixes, featuring their own custom soda combinations, including a Sprite drink called Mythical’s Berry-Nilla Blast.

Well, that’s certainly something I wasn’t expecting to see!

And I want to take a moment to say that I absolutely love Good Mythical Morning. Rhett and Link have built such an entertaining channel over the years, and their chemistry, humor, and willingness to try some of the most ridiculous food combinations imaginable are what make their videos so enjoyable. So seeing those two pop up on a soda machine at my local movie theater genuinely put a smile on my face. Congratulations to them on the collaboration!

That wasn’t the only interesting thing I spotted, either. The theater also had an enormous promotional display for Avengers: Doomsday, featuring Doctor Doom sitting menacingly on his throne, surrounded by green imagery, with the words “12.18.26 IS DOOMSDAY” displayed underneath.

Now, if you’ve been following my thoughts on the MCU, you already know I’m not exactly jumping for joy over Avengers: Doomsday, especially with Robert Downey Jr. playing Doctor Doom. I’ve made my concerns about that movie pretty clear. However, credit where credit is due, that was one impressive-looking promotional display. I might be skeptical about the movie itself, but I can still appreciate a cool piece of theater marketing.

So, there you go. I went to see a DC horror movie, found Rhett and Link selling soda, and came face-to-face with Doctor Doom sitting on his throne.

Not a bad trip to the movies!

Anyway, enough about soda and Marvel. Let’s get back to the horribly disfigured actor who slowly turns into a living nightmare.

Let’s Start by Showing Y’all the Trailers Shall We?

 

 

⚠️ CONTENT WARNING: EXTREME BODY HORROR — NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH!

Before we get into this review, I want to make something VERY clear. Clayface is NOT your typical DC comic-book movie. This is a full-blown, R-rated BODY HORROR film, and GOOD LORD, does it earn that rating!

I’m talking about extremely graphic facial mutilation, disturbing surgical procedures, flesh being sliced open, skin stretching and deforming in unnatural ways, body parts twisting into horrifying shapes, and some absolutely gruesome deaths. There are scenes involving eyes, mouths, teeth, blood, and human anatomy doing things that the human body should NEVER be capable of doing. And believe me, the camera isn’t always kind enough to look away!

This movie doesn’t simply show someone turning into a monster. It makes you WATCH the horrifying process of that transformation, sometimes in excruciating detail. There were moments where I was genuinely recoiling in my seat, and I’m someone who LOVES horror movies!

The film also contains strong violence, disturbing psychological themes, obsessive behavior, and brief explicit nudity.

So please, DO NOT go into Clayface expecting a fun Batman villain adventure. Batman isn’t even in the movie! This is a disturbing story about a human being physically and psychologically falling apart, and the filmmakers absolutely take advantage of that premise.

If you’re sensitive to graphic injuries, medical procedures, facial disfigurement, or extreme body horror, I would seriously recommend reconsidering whether this is something you want to watch.

You’ve been warned, folks. This movie is NOT for the faint of heart!

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Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

This movie wears its inspiration on its sleeves, taking inspiration from specific media such as The Feat Of Clay and The Fly.

Clayface follows Matt Hagen, played by Tom Rhys Harries, a successful actor whose life takes a horrifying turn after an encounter with a woman connected to Gotham City’s criminal underworld. Matt ends up on the receiving end of a brutal attack that leaves his face permanently disfigured, destroying not only his appearance but also his career, reputation, and personal life.

Desperate to reclaim what he’s lost, Matt eventually crosses paths with Dr. Caitlyn Corr, played by Naomi Ackie, a scientist working on an experimental medical treatment involving nanotechnology. Her research offers Matt something he thought he’d never have again: the possibility of restoring his face.

Unfortunately, as you can probably imagine, things don’t exactly go according to plan.

What begins as an attempt to heal a horribly injured man gradually becomes something far more disturbing as Matt discovers that the treatment is changing his body in ways neither he nor Caitlyn fully understands.

And that’s about all I’m going to say regarding the story without getting into spoilers.

What I appreciate about the premise is that this isn’t your typical comic-book villain origin story. There’s no Batman showing up to punch the bad guy, no massive superhero team-up, and no need to constantly remind the audience that we’re watching something connected to DC Comics.

Instead, the movie focuses on Matt Hagen’s personal tragedy, his desperation, and his gradual transformation into something monstrous.

And believe me, when I say monstrous, I mean MONSTROUS.

Character Rundown

Matt Hagen / Clayface — Tom Rhys Harries

Matt Hagen is easily the strongest aspect of the film, and Tom Rhys Harries does an excellent job portraying him. What I particularly enjoyed was watching Matt gradually change from a successful, somewhat arrogant actor into a desperate man whose entire world has collapsed.

And here’s something important: Matt isn’t necessarily a particularly good person even before everything goes wrong. He’s reckless, makes questionable decisions, and has a habit of ignoring warnings whenever something he wants is involved. In fact, if there’s one lesson Matt desperately needs to learn, it’s to stop letting his lower half make decisions for the rest of his body.

But once his life falls apart, you do feel sorry for him. His face is destroyed, his career disappears, and the people who once celebrated his success suddenly want nothing to do with him.

However, the movie also understands that being a victim doesn’t automatically make someone innocent of everything they do afterward. Matt’s desperation gradually becomes something much uglier, and Harries handles that transition very well.

What makes Clayface such a compelling villain is that his tragedy isn’t simply about losing his appearance. It’s about losing his identity, and this movie understands that.

Dr. Caitlyn Corr — Naomi Ackie

Caitlyn is the scientist responsible for the experimental treatment that gives Matt his extraordinary abilities. Naomi Ackie does a good job portraying someone who genuinely wants to help but increasingly realizes she’s involved in something far beyond her control.

I particularly enjoyed the scenes where Caitlyn tries to understand Matt’s changing biology, because those moments give the film a fascinating science-fiction horror element.

However, I wasn’t entirely sold on every direction the screenplay takes their relationship. Without spoiling anything, there are moments where Matt places an enormous emotional burden on Caitlyn, and I found myself thinking that this poor woman has enough problems without being expected to serve as his personal emotional support system.

Their relationship does eventually become important to the film’s larger themes, but I still think some of the romantic developments are rather predictable.

Detective John Borrelli — Max Minghella

Borrelli is one of the more decent members of the Gotham City Police Department, which, considering we’re talking about the GCPD, already makes him something of a rarity.

I liked that the movie acknowledges Gotham’s institutional corruption without needing Batman or Commissioner Gordon to explain it. Borrelli is genuinely trying to do his job in a city where powerful criminals seem to have far too much influence.

However, there is one scene where he decides to provoke a dangerous crime boss, and I was sitting there thinking, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

My guy, you’re a detective. Surely you understand that antagonizing someone with a history of horrific violence might not be the smartest decision.

Markos Szabo — David Dencik

Markos is the crime boss whose actions set Matt’s nightmare into motion, and David Dencik certainly makes him a thoroughly unpleasant individual.

This is a man who has enough influence to manipulate the justice system, intimidate people, and destroy someone’s life without seemingly worrying about the consequences.

However, while I found Markos himself intimidating, I wasn’t particularly impressed with some of the dialogue written for him. There are moments where he sounds less like a contemporary organized crime boss and more like someone delivering stereotypical gangster lines.

And that problem becomes considerably more noticeable when we get to his henchmen.

Frank Fitzpatrick — Eddie Marsan

First of all, it was nice seeing Eddie Marsan here. I recognized him from Sherlock Holmes, where he played Inspector Lestrade, and The Gentlemen, where he played Big Dave.

Frank serves as Matt’s manager, and he’s one of those characters whose behavior says a lot about how disposable people can become in the entertainment industry once they stop being profitable.

Marsan is effective in the role, even if some of Frank’s decisions are fairly easy to anticipate.

Corey Bowery — Joshua James

Corey is Matt’s best friend and fellow actor, and their friendship is important to establishing Matt’s life before everything falls apart.

I won’t spoil the direction their relationship takes here, but I will say that I found certain developments rather predictable. That said, some of the later scenes involving Corey are genuinely upsetting, and they contribute significantly to Matt’s transformation.

Pacing / Episode Flow

At approximately 1 hour and 48 minutes, I honestly think Clayface is the perfect length.

This is something I want to emphasize because I’ve complained about plenty of movies that drag themselves out far longer than necessary. Clayface doesn’t do that. It tells its story, delivers the horror, and gets out before overstaying its welcome.

However, just because I think the overall runtime is appropriate doesn’t mean every part of the movie is paced perfectly.

My biggest issue is the opening.

The film wastes very little time establishing how wonderful Matt Hagen’s life supposedly is. He’s successful, celebrated, receiving major recognition for his acting, enjoying the benefits of fame, and generally having everything go his way.

And I was sitting there thinking, “Oh, everything’s going so wonderfully for him! What could POSSIBLY go wrong?”

Wink, wink.

The problem is that the film makes it painfully obvious that Matt is about to lose everything, and then proceeds to take it all away in rather rapid succession.

I understand why the filmmakers wanted to get to the central premise quickly, but I wish we’d spent a little more time understanding Matt’s life before it completely collapsed.

Fortunately, once the experimental treatment enters the picture, I think the pacing improves considerably. The movie becomes increasingly disturbing as Matt discovers what his body can do, and the horror escalates in some genuinely imaginative ways.

The third act in particular has some excellent sequences, and I appreciate that the film doesn’t simply end once the initial revenge storyline reaches its conclusion.

Pros

The Body Horror

Oh boy, where do I even begin?

If you’re someone who enjoys disturbing body horror, this movie has plenty to offer. And I’m not talking about the occasional gross-looking wound or a little blood here and there.

I’m talking about facial mutilation, surgical procedures that made me physically uncomfortable, skin behaving in ways skin absolutely should NOT behave, and transformations that look like something straight out of a nightmare.

There were moments where I genuinely found myself recoiling at what I was watching.

And what I particularly appreciate is that the horror isn’t simply there for shock value. Matt’s physical transformation reflects what’s happening to him psychologically.

Tom Rhys Harries’ Performance

Harries does a fantastic job carrying the film. He makes Matt sympathetic without pretending he’s always a good person, and his performance becomes increasingly unsettling as the story progresses.

The movie depends on the audience believing that Matt Hagen is both a tragic figure and someone capable of becoming genuinely monstrous, and I think Harries delivers.

The Clayface Design

I absolutely love what they’ve done with Clayface’s appearance.

Rather than immediately turning Matt into the familiar enormous clay monster, the film gradually distorts his body. His facial features become uneven, his skin deteriorates, and his anatomy begins behaving in increasingly unnatural ways.

And when we finally get to see the full transformation? GOOD LORD.

The design is absolutely horrifying, and I mean that as a compliment.

The Inspiration from Batman: The Animated Series

As a massive Batman fan, this was particularly important to me.

Mike Flanagan’s inspiration from Feat of Clay is apparent in the film’s central tragedy. Matt is an actor who becomes desperate to reclaim his appearance and career, only for the treatment intended to save him to transform him into something monstrous.

The movie doesn’t copy the animated episode scene for scene, nor should it have to. Instead, it takes the central idea and reimagines it through a much more disturbing horror perspective.

And I think that approach works extremely well.

The Creative Use of Shapeshifting

I loved seeing how the movie incorporates Matt’s abilities into both its horror sequences and its crime storyline.

The shapeshifting isn’t simply used for action scenes. It becomes a means of deception, manipulation, and psychological terror.

Some of the most effective moments involve the frightening implications of someone being able to perfectly imitate another human being.

The Ending

Without spoiling anything here, I thought the ending was excellent.

It’s disturbing, tragic, and perfectly suited to the character. More importantly, it doesn’t attempt to turn Matt into some misunderstood hero who deserves to be forgiven for everything.

There’s a genuine sense of horror in what he’s become, and the final moments really stuck with me.

Cons

The Opening Is Too Rushed

As I mentioned earlier, I think the film rushes through Matt’s successful life and subsequent downfall.

It feels like the screenplay is checking off a series of necessary events rather than allowing them to develop naturally.

And because the setup is so obvious, I found myself anticipating practically every bad thing that was about to happen to him.

Some of the Dialogue Is Painfully On the Nose

GOOD LORD, this movie really wants you to understand that Matt Hagen has an identity crisis.

Characters repeatedly make comments about his many faces, finding the real Matt, and other variations of the same idea.

And I’m sitting there thinking, YES, MOVIE, I GET IT! HE’S LOSING HIS IDENTITY!

You don’t need to keep explaining the metaphor.

The visuals already communicate it perfectly well.

Sometimes a movie needs to trust its audience to understand what it’s showing them without having characters repeatedly spell it out.

The Mobsters Are Walking Caricatures

Now THIS is something I have to talk about.

I watched Double Toasted’s review of Clayface, and Korey and Martin brought up something I wholeheartedly agree with: some of Markos’s henchmen look and behave like characters straight out of Dick Tracy.

Korey even joked that some of them looked like they could be named Stretch or Greasy.

And after seeing characters like Bones with his bizarre hairstyle, I completely understand the comparison.

These guys are supposed to be members of a genuinely dangerous criminal organization. We’re talking about men who participate in horrific acts of violence, including the mutilation of Matt’s face.

Yet some of them behave like stereotypical mobsters from a cartoon.

You’ve got dialogue along the lines of, “Hey, Sal! Where you been?” “Ah, you son of a bitch!” “EYYYY!”

And don’t even get me started on the classic “Right, boys?” “Yeah, boss!” routine.

I half expected these guys to start wearing tracksuits, gold chains, and pinky rings while shouting, “Forget about it!”

What makes this especially strange is that Markos himself generally comes across as a modern-day organized crime boss, while his henchmen sometimes feel like they’ve wandered in from a completely different era.

Now, Gotham City has always had eccentric criminals, and I’m perfectly fine with that. But the problem here is the tonal inconsistency.

You can’t establish a criminal organization as genuinely sadistic and terrifying, then have half its members behaving like exaggerated gangster stereotypes without risking undermining that menace.

It’s not that caricatured mobsters can’t work. They absolutely can, as Dick Tracy demonstrates. But that movie deliberately embraces its comic-strip aesthetic.

Clayface is a serious, gruesome psychological horror movie, and sometimes those exaggerated gangsters simply don’t fit.

Predictable Story Developments

There are a few twists and betrayals that I saw coming well before the movie revealed them.

I won’t spoil them here, but there were definitely moments where I was thinking, “Oh, I wonder where THIS is going.”

The film sometimes mistakes obvious setup for clever foreshadowing.

Fortunately, even when the revelations themselves are predictable, their consequences can still be genuinely disturbing.

The Romantic Subplot

I wasn’t particularly impressed with the initial romantic developments between Matt and Caitlyn.

The troubled man becoming emotionally dependent on the compassionate woman helping him is hardly a new storytelling idea.

And there are moments where Matt essentially places responsibility for his emotional stability on Caitlyn, which I found rather unfair.

However, I will give the movie credit for eventually taking that relationship in a much darker and more interesting direction.

Final Thoughts

I went into Clayface hoping for a disturbing horror movie centered around one of Batman’s most fascinating villains, and I walked away genuinely impressed.

Is it perfect? Absolutely not.

The screenplay has noticeable problems. The opening is rushed, some of the dialogue is painfully obvious, several developments are predictable, and the mobsters occasionally feel like they belong in a gangster parody rather than a psychological horror movie.

But despite all those complaints, I still loved it.

The body horror is excellent, Tom Rhys Harries delivers a strong performance, the shapeshifting is used in creative and disturbing ways, and the movie understands the fundamental tragedy of Matt Hagen.

What I especially appreciate is that the filmmakers weren’t afraid to make their protagonist genuinely monstrous.

Matt is a victim of terrible circumstances, but that doesn’t excuse everything he does afterward. The film gradually transforms him into a villain, not simply through his appearance but through his decisions.

And that, to me, is what makes this adaptation work.

I’m also glad that the movie stands entirely on its own. No Batman appearance, no Batman name-drop, and no need to interrupt Matt’s story with unnecessary superhero connections.

It’s a standalone DC horror film, and it commits to that identity.

For anyone who loves Batman’s rogues gallery, Batman: The Animated Series, or genuinely disturbing body horror, I think Clayface is well worth checking out.

Just be warned: this movie is NOT for the squeamish.

And if the Joker ever asks whether you want to know how he got his scars, take Korey’s advice from Double Toasted.

YOU DON’T. YOU REALLY, REALLY DON’T.

Rating

8/10

A genuinely disturbing and surprisingly effective DC horror film with excellent body horror, a strong lead performance, and a tragic interpretation of Clayface. Its screenplay isn’t without problems, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

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SPOILER WARNING!

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

From this point onward, I’ll be discussing the film’s major plot developments, character deaths, transformations, and ending in full detail.

And let me emphasize that this movie contains some extremely graphic material, including facial mutilation, disturbing surgical procedures, severe bodily deformation, gruesome deaths, and psychological horror. There’s also an attempted forced kiss and scenes involving obsessive, controlling behavior.

If you’re sensitive to body horror, this is definitely one to approach with caution.

You’ve been warned!

Spoilers

Matt Hagen’s Downfall

The film begins by establishing Matt Hagen as a successful actor whose career is going wonderfully. He’s receiving major recognition, enjoying the benefits of fame, and celebrating with his best friend Corey.

Then he meets Theresa at a nightclub.

Corey warns Matt that she’s involved with a dangerous crime boss named Markos Szabo, but Matt dismisses the warning with the wonderfully stupid response, “Not tonight she isn’t.”

Oh, Matt.

My guy.

PLEASE stop letting your dick do the thinking.

Naturally, Matt spends the night with her, and the following morning he awakens to find Markos and his henchmen standing over him.

What follows is one of the most disturbing scenes in the movie.

Markos has his men restrain Matt and proceeds to slash his face, cutting into his cheeks, mouth, eyelids, and nose.

And the camera does NOT shy away from the damage.

It’s absolutely horrifying.

Matt subsequently attempts to pursue justice, but Theresa publicly claims he drugged her and denies witnessing the attack. Markos escapes punishment, and Matt gradually loses his money, home, career, and the support of people who previously benefited from his success.

One thing that bothered me is that Theresa’s involvement remains frustratingly unclear. Was she willingly helping Markos? Was she threatened? How much did she actually know?

The movie never really gives her enough development for me to understand her motivations.

But what disturbed me even more than the original mutilation was Matt’s reconstructive surgery.

There’s a scene where doctors cut open his nose and pull it apart with surgical instruments to examine the damage.

OH, GOOD LORD.

I genuinely found that harder to watch than Markos cutting his face in the first place.

Caitlyn’s Experimental Treatment

Matt eventually discovers Dr. Caitlyn Corr’s research into experimental nanotechnology and convinces her to help restore his face.

The treatment involves injecting AI-powered nanobots into his body, which gradually begin repairing the damage.

And yes, considering how much we’ve discussed AI and its potential problems, I found it rather amusing that artificial intelligence is involved in creating Clayface.

What could possibly go wrong?!

Initially, the treatment seems successful. Matt’s face gradually returns to normal, and he’s so excited about reclaiming his career that he attends a red-carpet premiere despite Caitlyn warning him to wait for further testing.

He even encounters his former agent, who suddenly wants to work with him again now that he’s attractive and potentially profitable.

When Matt asks where she was when he needed her, she essentially brushes it off as something in the past.

OH, HOW CONVENIENT!

But the celebration doesn’t last long.

Matt notices the skin beneath his eye beginning to sag, and Caitlyn has to administer another dose of the treatment.

Then, despite her warnings, Matt secretly injects himself with even more serum.

And that’s when things begin getting seriously weird.

The Regeneration Experiments

One of my favorite sequences involves Matt discovering that his body can regenerate injuries almost instantly.

After accidentally injuring himself while playing basketball, he notices his nose healing on its own.

He begins experimenting further, deliberately cutting himself and watching the injuries repair.

Eventually, he visits Caitlyn and uses a vegetable slicer to remove a piece of skin from his hand.

The detached skin literally returns to his body, and the wound closes.

Even his spilled blood flows back into him!

Matt sees this as a miracle and excitedly suggests that Caitlyn could use the discovery to help countless people.

But Caitlyn warns him about the consequences of revealing such extraordinary abilities to the world. Matt could lose his freedom and spend the rest of his life being experimented on.

And honestly?

She’s not wrong.

What I particularly appreciate about this scene is that it establishes an important rule about Matt’s biology that becomes absolutely horrifying later in the movie.

The Airplane Scene

Oh boy, THIS scene.

Matt is aboard an airplane when he notices a televised interview featuring Markos Szabo, who is apparently trying to involve himself in the film industry.

And who’s standing behind Markos?

FRANK!

Matt’s own manager!

Well, isn’t THAT suspicious?

But before Matt can process everything, his eyelids begin sealing shut.

Yes, you read that correctly.

His eyelids start fusing together.

He rushes into the airplane bathroom while the plane experiences turbulence, and despite everything shaking around him, he attempts to reopen his eyes.

And how does he do that?

WITH SCISSORS.

He literally cuts through the fused skin around his eyelids.

OH, GOOD LORD!

And unlike his earlier experiments, the injuries don’t immediately heal.

This is where Matt realizes that his supposedly miraculous abilities are becoming increasingly unstable.

Frank’s Death

Matt eventually confronts Frank about his involvement with Markos, and Frank admits that he helped undermine Matt’s case.

He also reveals that Corey was involved.

Yes, Matt’s own best friend.

Now, I won’t pretend I was particularly surprised by Frank’s betrayal. The movie had practically been waving a giant sign over his head.

But the confrontation itself takes a rather horrifying turn.

Matt attacks Frank and shoves his fingers into his throat, only for his hand to become stuck.

When Matt tries to pull away, he accidentally rips out Frank’s tongue along with additional internal tissue.

GOOD LORD!

And then, because the movie apparently decided we needed some pitch-black comedy, Frank’s assistant approaches the locked office door.

Matt transforms into Frank to avoid being discovered.

So now we have Matt, disguised as Frank, casually eating Frank’s sandwich while Frank’s actual corpse is hidden beneath the desk.

The assistant asks why he didn’t answer the door.

Matt claims he was eating.

Then he knocks over a smoothie, asks for another, and the assistant points out that she’d already given him one earlier.

Matt’s solution?

“How about I give you the rest of the day off?”

HAHAHAHA!

That’s such a ridiculous situation, and I genuinely enjoyed the dark humor.

But it’s also our first major demonstration of Matt using his shapeshifting to impersonate someone he’s killed.

And things only get worse from here.

Corey’s Betrayal and Death

Matt confronts Corey at his trailer while he’s preparing to film a scene.

Initially, Corey denies betraying him, insisting that they’re best friends.

Matt almost accepts his explanation.

But then he notices Theresa’s name on the script.

UH-OH.

Corey eventually admits that Markos blackmailed him, and Matt realizes that Corey’s involvement also helped him secure an acting opportunity.

Corey insists that he never wanted any of this and that he genuinely loves Matt.

The two embrace.

Matt tells him:

“You broke my heart.”

And then he suffocates Corey by absorbing his face into his own body.

OH, MY GOD.

What makes the scene particularly tragic is that Matt subsequently holds Corey’s lifeless body and cries.

He clearly loved his friend, but he killed him anyway.

And that, to me, is where Matt’s transformation into a genuine villain becomes undeniable.

But we’re not finished!

Someone knocks on the trailer door to tell Corey it’s time for his scene.

So what does Matt do?

He transforms into Corey and goes out to perform the scene himself.

Because apparently murdering your best friend isn’t enough. You might as well steal his acting job while you’re at it!

Matt ends up behaving suspiciously around Theresa, and one of her guards follows him back to the trailer, only to discover Corey’s actual corpse sitting in a chair.

Meanwhile, the police are left with an increasingly bizarre mystery.

The Impossible Murder Timelines

Detective Borrelli begins investigating the murders, but there’s a rather significant problem.

Frank’s estimated time of death is around 1:58, yet he’s apparently seen leaving the building at approximately 2:30.

And Corey has a similar discrepancy.

How can someone be seen alive AFTER they’re already dead?

Well, we know the answer.

MATT HAGEN CAN BECOME ANYONE HE WANTS.

I actually really liked this element of the film. It’s a clever way to incorporate Clayface’s abilities into a murder investigation.

And Caitlyn eventually begins connecting the dots herself.

Matt’s Deterioration and His Feelings for Caitlyn

As the film progresses, Matt’s appearance becomes increasingly grotesque.

He loses his hair, his facial features become horribly distorted, his mouth stretches unnaturally toward his neck, and his teeth become sharp and uneven.

Caitlyn visits him after he repeatedly ignores her calls, and Matt eventually admits that he’s fallen in love with her.

Oh, come on.

I saw that coming!

Caitlyn reminds him that she’s already in a relationship with Detective Borrelli.

Matt asks whether she’s happy with him, promising not to ask again if she is.

They kiss, but Caitlyn quickly pulls away and leaves.

Now, initially, I found this romantic development rather predictable.

And I particularly disliked Matt placing so much responsibility for his emotional stability on Caitlyn.

He essentially treats her as the only person capable of bringing him back to reality.

Matt, my guy, that sounds like a YOU problem.

However, as we’ll discuss later, the film eventually turns this relationship into something considerably more disturbing.

The Nightclub Massacre

Matt notices one of Markos’s men following Caitlyn and decides to intervene.

He transforms into Caitlyn to lure the henchman away.

When the man approaches and says he has a message from Markos, Matt transforms back into himself and replies that he has a message for Markos, too.

And then we see the shadow of Matt’s hand transforming into his iconic enormous mallet before he smashes the man’s head.

YES! THE CLAYFACE MALLET HAND!

Matt subsequently impersonates the henchman and infiltrates Markos’s nightclub.

And this is where the movie becomes an absolutely chaotic showcase of his shapeshifting abilities.

Matt deliberately reveals himself to Theresa, who alerts the guards.

They spot him dancing in the crowd, only for him to change appearances and disappear among the other people.

At one point, he transforms into a woman, grabs a guard, and sends them both tumbling down a staircase.

Matt gets up with his body horribly contorted, while the actual woman whose appearance he copied stares at him in disbelief.

And Matt, still wearing her dress, gives her this ridiculous little smirk.

HAHAHAHA!

I genuinely loved that moment.

It’s a much better example of the movie’s humor working naturally through its premise.

There’s also a particularly nasty moment where Matt grabs one of the henchmen by his private parts, and let’s just say I’m not entirely convinced that man walked away with everything still attached.

GOOD LORD.

Eventually, Matt assumes the appearance of Patches, another member of Markos’s gang, and escorts Theresa into Markos’s private room.

Patches and Theresa

Once Matt reaches Markos, the real Patches unexpectedly enters the room.

Suddenly, Markos is confronted with two identical henchmen.

Fake Patches, who is actually Matt, tells Markos to shoot the other one.

And Markos does exactly that!

Then he essentially justifies it by saying he had to be safe.

MARKOS, YOU IDIOT!

Theresa desperately tries to save Patches, and we’re suddenly informed that he’s about to become a father.

Now, here’s something I didn’t particularly like.

The movie hadn’t previously established that Patches was expecting a child, so revealing it immediately after he’s shot feels like a last-minute attempt to make the situation more emotionally devastating.

We already understand that Markos is a horrible person. We don’t need a sudden pregnancy revelation to make shooting one of his own men seem worse.

But then things take an even more disturbing turn.

Theresa attempts to give Patches mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Except it’s not Patches.

It’s Matt.

He transforms back into himself, and Theresa ends up with clay filling her mouth and nose, suffocating her.

Ohhhhh, Matt.

Maybe that’s taking things a LITTLE too far.

And this is another reason I appreciate that the movie doesn’t try to pretend Matt is still some innocent victim. He’s now using his abilities to commit genuinely horrific acts.

Markos’s Death

And then we reach the confrontation between Matt and the man responsible for destroying his life.

Markos attempts to stab Matt with a blade, threatening to cut upward through his body.

Unfortunately for Markos, the blade becomes stuck inside Matt’s increasingly unnatural flesh.

Matt pins him to the floor.

And what happens next might be the most creative and disturbing death in the entire film.

Matt deliberately slices open his own face, allowing his blood to pour down onto Markos.

Then he explains that his blood is trying to return to his body.

Remember that earlier scene where Matt’s spilled blood flowed back into him?

Well, now he’s using that exact ability as a weapon.

His blood begins tearing its way back through Markos’s body, causing horrific injuries and draining him of blood.

GOOD LORD!

I genuinely loved how the movie brought back that earlier biological detail for the climax.

It’s also a horribly fitting reversal of the opening.

Markos mutilated Matt’s face.

Now Matt uses his own face and blood to kill Markos.

But even after Markos is dead, the movie isn’t finished.

The Murder Investigation

Detective Borrelli visits Matt to ask questions about the recent deaths.

And where is Matt when the detective arrives?

Lying in a bathtub, looking like a horrible, melted mass of flesh.

He wipes his face, transforms back into his normal appearance, and answers the door.

The detective questions him about Markos, Frank, and Corey.

Matt doesn’t pretend to be particularly upset about Markos’s death, which is understandable considering what the man did to him.

But when Corey comes up, Matt calmly claims that he’s devastated because Corey was his friend.

MATT!

YOU KILLED HIM!

Although, technically, Matt might actually be telling the truth about being devastated. We saw him crying while holding Corey’s body.

He’s just conveniently leaving out the fact that he’s responsible for the death.

And once again, I love how the movie uses Matt’s acting abilities as part of his transformation. He spent the beginning of the story desperate to return to acting, and now he’s delivering convincing performances to conceal his crimes.

The Detective’s Death and the Horrifying Reveal

Now THIS is where the movie genuinely surprised me.

Caitlyn returns home and finds Detective Borrelli waiting for her.

She’s finally connected the evidence and admits that Matt is responsible for the murders.

Borrelli points out that the surveillance footage appears to show the victims alive after their estimated times of death.

Caitlyn tells him something that sounds completely ridiculous.

Matt can change his face.

She explains that she has video evidence of his transformations and goes to retrieve it.

And here’s another disturbing detail: during one of Matt’s earlier periods of sleep, Caitlyn recorded him unconsciously transforming into her while apparently thinking about her.

Yeah, that’s extremely uncomfortable.

Anyway, Caitlyn opens the door to retrieve the footage.

And sitting in the corner of the room…

IS BORRELLI’S DEAD BODY.

OH, MY GOD!

Yep.

She’s been talking to Matt this entire time.

Matt murdered her partner and impersonated him.

And when Caitlyn demands to know why he did it, his explanation is genuinely horrifying.

He wanted to see how she looked at Borrelli. How she spoke to him. How she expressed her love.

Because Matt wants Caitlyn to love him that way.

Then he tells her:

“I can be anyone you want. Who do you want me to be?”

GOOD LORD.

Now THAT is psychological horror.

And suddenly, the romantic subplot I initially found predictable becomes something much more interesting.

Matt doesn’t understand love anymore. He’s become so obsessed with Caitlyn that he believes impersonating someone she loves might somehow make her love him.

He can copy someone’s appearance, but he cannot manufacture genuine affection.

And the fact that he murdered one of Gotham’s few decent detectives makes his transformation into a villain even more tragic.

At this point, there is absolutely no pretending Matt Hagen is still a good person.

The Final Transformation

Matt attempts to force a kiss on Caitlyn while pinning her against the wall.

Fortunately, she has a taser and uses it to defend herself.

Matt falls through a window and lands outside in the pouring rain.

And then…

OH BOY.

His body begins transforming into something absolutely monstrous.

His skin starts becoming clay-like, his features distort, and his body grows into a grotesque creature that barely resembles a human being.

Caitlyn has a device capable of terminating the nanobots responsible for his condition, but using it could kill him.

Matt, clearly suffering, begs her to do it.

She activates the termination process, and we watch the system gradually reach completion.

Matt’s body begins melting away until he’s reduced to clay that disappears down a drain.

And for a moment, it seems like Matt Hagen’s nightmare has finally ended.

But come on.

We all know Clayface isn’t going out that easily.

The Ending

The film concludes with Caitlyn walking through Gotham, apparently still suspicious that Matt might be alive.

A homeless man approaches and asks her for a dollar.

She gives him one.

The man eventually returns to a hidden living area and enters a room where he transforms back into Matt Hagen.

And then Caitlyn appears behind him.

She tells him she knew she’d find him, and the two begin talking.

There’s even a moment where they discuss how Matt is being portrayed in the news, and she reassures him that it’s some of his best work.

They embrace.

And for a brief moment, you might think the movie is going to end with some sort of reconciliation.

Except…

THEY BOTH TURN INTO CLAY.

OH, THAT IS DEVASTATING.

Caitlyn isn’t actually there.

Matt has created an imitation of her, imagining the affection and acceptance he desperately wishes she would give him.

He’s essentially acting out his own fantasy of being loved.

And that’s when we finally see Matt Hagen in his full Clayface form.

GOOD LORD, WHAT A DESIGN!

His once recognizable face has become this grotesque, misshapen mass of flesh and clay. He’s completely bald, his skin looks rough, wrinkled, and almost melted, his facial features are horribly uneven, and his mouth has transformed into this enormous, unnatural opening filled with crooked, jagged teeth. His jaw looks like it’s practically stretching beyond what should be physically possible, while his neck and shoulders seem to blend into the rest of his deformed body.

There’s barely anything human left about his appearance, and yet you can still see traces of Matt Hagen underneath all that monstrosity.

But what really sells the ending isn’t simply how horrifying he looks.

It’s his reaction.

Matt looks down at his hand, seemingly realizing what he’s become.

His breathing grows heavier.

And then he lets out this absolutely horrifying scream.

And I LOVE how that scream still sounds human underneath, only horribly distorted by his monstrous body.

It’s not a triumphant monster roar.

It’s the sound of a man who has lost his face, his career, his friends, his humanity, and ultimately himself.

And that’s where the movie ends.

Honestly, I thought that was a fantastic ending.

The tragedy is that Matt Hagen can now become practically anyone he wants, but he can never truly become the person he was before.

And despite possessing the ability to imitate other human beings, he cannot force anyone to genuinely love him.

He’s a monster, but somewhere underneath all that clay is still a man who knows exactly how much he’s lost.

For a film inspired by Batman: The Animated Series’ Feat of Clay, I couldn’t think of a more fitting conclusion.

Final Spoiler Thoughts

And there you have it, folks.

Clayface isn’t a flawless movie, and I stand by every criticism I made regarding its screenplay, predictable developments, and cartoonish mobsters.

But I also think it delivers a genuinely disturbing, tragic, and surprisingly effective interpretation of one of Batman’s most fascinating villains.

I love that the movie allows Matt Hagen to become genuinely evil without completely abandoning the tragedy of his character.

He’s not innocent.

He’s not some misunderstood hero.

He’s a man who suffered horribly, made increasingly monstrous decisions, and ultimately became trapped inside the very nightmare he helped create.

And that final scream?

That’s going to stick with me for a while.

8/10. I loved it.

Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

Clayface follows Matt Hagen, played by Tom Rhys Harries, a successful actor whose life takes a horrifying turn after an encounter with a woman connected to Gotham City’s criminal underworld. Matt ends up on the receiving end of a brutal attack that leaves his face permanently disfigured, destroying not only his appearance but also his career, reputation, and personal life.

Desperate to reclaim what he’s lost, Matt eventually crosses paths with Dr. Caitlyn Corr, played by Naomi Ackie, a scientist working on an experimental medical treatment involving nanotechnology. Her research offers Matt something he thought he’d never have again: the possibility of restoring his face.

Unfortunately, as you can probably imagine, things don’t exactly go according to plan.

What begins as an attempt to heal a horribly injured man gradually becomes something far more disturbing as Matt discovers that the treatment is changing his body in ways neither he nor Caitlyn fully understands.

And that’s about all I’m going to say regarding the story without getting into spoilers.

What I appreciate about the premise is that this isn’t your typical comic-book villain origin story. There’s no Batman showing up to punch the bad guy, no massive superhero team-up, and no need to constantly remind the audience that we’re watching something connected to DC Comics.

Instead, the movie focuses on Matt Hagen’s personal tragedy, his desperation, and his gradual transformation into something monstrous.

And believe me, when I say monstrous, I mean MONSTROUS.

Character Rundown

Matt Hagen / Clayface — Tom Rhys Harries

Matt Hagen is easily the strongest aspect of the film, and Tom Rhys Harries does an excellent job portraying him. What I particularly enjoyed was watching Matt gradually change from a successful, somewhat arrogant actor into a desperate man whose entire world has collapsed.

And here’s something important: Matt isn’t necessarily a particularly good person even before everything goes wrong. He’s reckless, makes questionable decisions, and has a habit of ignoring warnings whenever something he wants is involved. In fact, if there’s one lesson Matt desperately needs to learn, it’s to stop letting his lower half make decisions for the rest of his body.

But once his life falls apart, you do feel sorry for him. His face is destroyed, his career disappears, and the people who once celebrated his success suddenly want nothing to do with him.

However, the movie also understands that being a victim doesn’t automatically make someone innocent of everything they do afterward. Matt’s desperation gradually becomes something much uglier, and Harries handles that transition very well.

What makes Clayface such a compelling villain is that his tragedy isn’t simply about losing his appearance. It’s about losing his identity, and this movie understands that.

Dr. Caitlyn Corr — Naomi Ackie

Caitlyn is the scientist responsible for the experimental treatment that gives Matt his extraordinary abilities. Naomi Ackie does a good job portraying someone who genuinely wants to help but increasingly realizes she’s involved in something far beyond her control.

I particularly enjoyed the scenes where Caitlyn tries to understand Matt’s changing biology, because those moments give the film a fascinating science-fiction horror element.

However, I wasn’t entirely sold on every direction the screenplay takes their relationship. Without spoiling anything, there are moments where Matt places an enormous emotional burden on Caitlyn, and I found myself thinking that this poor woman has enough problems without being expected to serve as his personal emotional support system.

Their relationship does eventually become important to the film’s larger themes, but I still think some of the romantic developments are rather predictable.

Detective John Borrelli — Max Minghella

Borrelli is one of the more decent members of the Gotham City Police Department, which, considering we’re talking about the GCPD, already makes him something of a rarity.

I liked that the movie acknowledges Gotham’s institutional corruption without needing Batman or Commissioner Gordon to explain it. Borrelli is genuinely trying to do his job in a city where powerful criminals seem to have far too much influence.

However, there is one scene where he decides to provoke a dangerous crime boss, and I was sitting there thinking, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

My guy, you’re a detective. Surely you understand that antagonizing someone with a history of horrific violence might not be the smartest decision.

Markos Szabo — David Dencik

Markos is the crime boss whose actions set Matt’s nightmare into motion, and David Dencik certainly makes him a thoroughly unpleasant individual.

This is a man who has enough influence to manipulate the justice system, intimidate people, and destroy someone’s life without seemingly worrying about the consequences.

However, while I found Markos himself intimidating, I wasn’t particularly impressed with some of the dialogue written for him. There are moments where he sounds less like a contemporary organized crime boss and more like someone delivering stereotypical gangster lines.

And that problem becomes considerably more noticeable when we get to his henchmen.

Frank Fitzpatrick — Eddie Marsan

First of all, it was nice seeing Eddie Marsan here. I recognized him from Sherlock Holmes, where he played Inspector Lestrade, and The Gentlemen, where he played Big Dave.

Frank serves as Matt’s manager, and he’s one of those characters whose behavior says a lot about how disposable people can become in the entertainment industry once they stop being profitable.

Marsan is effective in the role, even if some of Frank’s decisions are fairly easy to anticipate.

Corey Bowery — Joshua James

Corey is Matt’s best friend and fellow actor, and their friendship is important to establishing Matt’s life before everything falls apart.

I won’t spoil the direction their relationship takes here, but I will say that I found certain developments rather predictable. That said, some of the later scenes involving Corey are genuinely upsetting, and they contribute significantly to Matt’s transformation.

Pacing / Episode Flow

At approximately 1 hour and 48 minutes, I honestly think Clayface is the perfect length.

This is something I want to emphasize because I’ve complained about plenty of movies that drag themselves out far longer than necessary. Clayface doesn’t do that. It tells its story, delivers the horror, and gets out before overstaying its welcome.

However, just because I think the overall runtime is appropriate doesn’t mean every part of the movie is paced perfectly.

My biggest issue is the opening.

The film wastes very little time establishing how wonderful Matt Hagen’s life supposedly is. He’s successful, celebrated, receiving major recognition for his acting, enjoying the benefits of fame, and generally having everything go his way.

And I was sitting there thinking, “Oh, everything’s going so wonderfully for him! What could POSSIBLY go wrong?”

Wink, wink.

The problem is that the film makes it painfully obvious that Matt is about to lose everything, and then proceeds to take it all away in rather rapid succession.

I understand why the filmmakers wanted to get to the central premise quickly, but I wish we’d spent a little more time understanding Matt’s life before it completely collapsed.

Fortunately, once the experimental treatment enters the picture, I think the pacing improves considerably. The movie becomes increasingly disturbing as Matt discovers what his body can do, and the horror escalates in some genuinely imaginative ways.

The third act in particular has some excellent sequences, and I appreciate that the film doesn’t simply end once the initial revenge storyline reaches its conclusion.

Pros

The Body Horror

Oh boy, where do I even begin?

If you’re someone who enjoys disturbing body horror, this movie has plenty to offer. And I’m not talking about the occasional gross-looking wound or a little blood here and there.

I’m talking about facial mutilation, surgical procedures that made me physically uncomfortable, skin behaving in ways skin absolutely should NOT behave, and transformations that look like something straight out of a nightmare.

There were moments where I genuinely found myself recoiling at what I was watching.

And what I particularly appreciate is that the horror isn’t simply there for shock value. Matt’s physical transformation reflects what’s happening to him psychologically.

Tom Rhys Harries’ Performance

Harries does a fantastic job carrying the film. He makes Matt sympathetic without pretending he’s always a good person, and his performance becomes increasingly unsettling as the story progresses.

The movie depends on the audience believing that Matt Hagen is both a tragic figure and someone capable of becoming genuinely monstrous, and I think Harries delivers.

The Clayface Design

I absolutely love what they’ve done with Clayface’s appearance.

Rather than immediately turning Matt into the familiar enormous clay monster, the film gradually distorts his body. His facial features become uneven, his skin deteriorates, and his anatomy begins behaving in increasingly unnatural ways.

And when we finally get to see the full transformation? GOOD LORD.

The design is absolutely horrifying, and I mean that as a compliment.

The Inspiration from Batman: The Animated Series

As a massive Batman fan, this was particularly important to me.

Mike Flanagan’s inspiration from Feat of Clay is apparent in the film’s central tragedy. Matt is an actor who becomes desperate to reclaim his appearance and career, only for the treatment intended to save him to transform him into something monstrous.

The movie doesn’t copy the animated episode scene for scene, nor should it have to. Instead, it takes the central idea and reimagines it through a much more disturbing horror perspective.

And I think that approach works extremely well.

The Creative Use of Shapeshifting

I loved seeing how the movie incorporates Matt’s abilities into both its horror sequences and its crime storyline.

The shapeshifting isn’t simply used for action scenes. It becomes a means of deception, manipulation, and psychological terror.

Some of the most effective moments involve the frightening implications of someone being able to perfectly imitate another human being.

The Ending

Without spoiling anything here, I thought the ending was excellent.

It’s disturbing, tragic, and perfectly suited to the character. More importantly, it doesn’t attempt to turn Matt into some misunderstood hero who deserves to be forgiven for everything.

There’s a genuine sense of horror in what he’s become, and the final moments really stuck with me.

Cons

The Opening Is Too Rushed

As I mentioned earlier, I think the film rushes through Matt’s successful life and subsequent downfall.

It feels like the screenplay is checking off a series of necessary events rather than allowing them to develop naturally.

And because the setup is so obvious, I found myself anticipating practically every bad thing that was about to happen to him.

Some of the Dialogue Is Painfully On the Nose

GOOD LORD, this movie really wants you to understand that Matt Hagen has an identity crisis.

Characters repeatedly make comments about his many faces, finding the real Matt, and other variations of the same idea.

And I’m sitting there thinking, YES, MOVIE, I GET IT! HE’S LOSING HIS IDENTITY!

You don’t need to keep explaining the metaphor.

The visuals already communicate it perfectly well.

Sometimes a movie needs to trust its audience to understand what it’s showing them without having characters repeatedly spell it out.

The Mobsters Are Walking Caricatures

Now THIS is something I have to talk about.

I watched Double Toasted’s review of Clayface, and Korey and Martin brought up something I wholeheartedly agree with: some of Markos’s henchmen look and behave like characters straight out of Dick Tracy.

Korey even joked that some of them looked like they could be named Stretch or Greasy.

And after seeing characters like Bones with his bizarre hairstyle, I completely understand the comparison.

These guys are supposed to be members of a genuinely dangerous criminal organization. We’re talking about men who participate in horrific acts of violence, including the mutilation of Matt’s face.

Yet some of them behave like stereotypical mobsters from a cartoon.

You’ve got dialogue along the lines of, “Hey, Sal! Where you been?” “Ah, you son of a bitch!” “EYYYY!”

And don’t even get me started on the classic “Right, boys?” “Yeah, boss!” routine.

I half expected these guys to start wearing tracksuits, gold chains, and pinky rings while shouting, “Forget about it!”

What makes this especially strange is that Markos himself generally comes across as a modern-day organized crime boss, while his henchmen sometimes feel like they’ve wandered in from a completely different era.

Now, Gotham City has always had eccentric criminals, and I’m perfectly fine with that. But the problem here is the tonal inconsistency.

You can’t establish a criminal organization as genuinely sadistic and terrifying, then have half its members behaving like exaggerated gangster stereotypes without risking undermining that menace.

It’s not that caricatured mobsters can’t work. They absolutely can, as Dick Tracy demonstrates. But that movie deliberately embraces its comic-strip aesthetic.

Clayface is a serious, gruesome psychological horror movie, and sometimes those exaggerated gangsters simply don’t fit.

Predictable Story Developments

There are a few twists and betrayals that I saw coming well before the movie revealed them.

I won’t spoil them here, but there were definitely moments where I was thinking, “Oh, I wonder where THIS is going.”

The film sometimes mistakes obvious setup for clever foreshadowing.

Fortunately, even when the revelations themselves are predictable, their consequences can still be genuinely disturbing.

The Romantic Subplot

I wasn’t particularly impressed with the initial romantic developments between Matt and Caitlyn.

The troubled man becoming emotionally dependent on the compassionate woman helping him is hardly a new storytelling idea.

And there are moments where Matt essentially places responsibility for his emotional stability on Caitlyn, which I found rather unfair.

However, I will give the movie credit for eventually taking that relationship in a much darker and more interesting direction.

Final Thoughts

I went into Clayface hoping for a disturbing horror movie centered around one of Batman’s most fascinating villains, and I walked away genuinely impressed.

Is it perfect? Absolutely not.

The screenplay has noticeable problems. The opening is rushed, some of the dialogue is painfully obvious, several developments are predictable, and the mobsters occasionally feel like they belong in a gangster parody rather than a psychological horror movie.

But despite all those complaints, I still loved it.

The body horror is excellent, Tom Rhys Harries delivers a strong performance, the shapeshifting is used in creative and disturbing ways, and the movie understands the fundamental tragedy of Matt Hagen.

What I especially appreciate is that the filmmakers weren’t afraid to make their protagonist genuinely monstrous.

Matt is a victim of terrible circumstances, but that doesn’t excuse everything he does afterward. The film gradually transforms him into a villain, not simply through his appearance but through his decisions.

And that, to me, is what makes this adaptation work.

I’m also glad that the movie stands entirely on its own. No Batman appearance, no Batman name-drop, and no need to interrupt Matt’s story with unnecessary superhero connections.

It’s a standalone DC horror film, and it commits to that identity.

For anyone who loves Batman’s rogues gallery, Batman: The Animated Series, or genuinely disturbing body horror, I think Clayface is well worth checking out.

Just be warned: this movie is NOT for the squeamish.

And if the Joker ever asks whether you want to know how he got his scars, take Korey’s advice from Double Toasted.

YOU DON’T. YOU REALLY, REALLY DON’T.

Rating

8/10

A genuinely disturbing and surprisingly effective DC horror film with excellent body horror, a strong lead performance, and a tragic interpretation of Clayface. Its screenplay isn’t without problems, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

—

SPOILER WARNING!

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

From this point onward, I’ll be discussing the film’s major plot developments, character deaths, transformations, and ending in full detail.

And let me emphasize that this movie contains some extremely graphic material, including facial mutilation, disturbing surgical procedures, severe bodily deformation, gruesome deaths, and psychological horror. There’s also an attempted forced kiss and scenes involving obsessive, controlling behavior.

If you’re sensitive to body horror, this is definitely one to approach with caution.

You’ve been warned!

Spoilers

Matt Hagen’s Downfall

The film begins by establishing Matt Hagen as a successful actor whose career is going wonderfully. He’s receiving major recognition, enjoying the benefits of fame, and celebrating with his best friend Corey.

Then he meets Theresa at a nightclub.

Corey warns Matt that she’s involved with a dangerous crime boss named Markos Szabo, but Matt dismisses the warning with the wonderfully stupid response, “Not tonight she isn’t.”

Oh, Matt.

My guy.

PLEASE stop letting your dick do the thinking.

Naturally, Matt spends the night with her, and the following morning he awakens to find Markos and his henchmen standing over him.

What follows is one of the most disturbing scenes in the movie.

Markos has his men restrain Matt and proceeds to slash his face, cutting into his cheeks, mouth, eyelids, and nose.

And the camera does NOT shy away from the damage.

It’s absolutely horrifying.

Matt subsequently attempts to pursue justice, but Theresa publicly claims he drugged her and denies witnessing the attack. Markos escapes punishment, and Matt gradually loses his money, home, career, and the support of people who previously benefited from his success.

One thing that bothered me is that Theresa’s involvement remains frustratingly unclear. Was she willingly helping Markos? Was she threatened? How much did she actually know?

The movie never really gives her enough development for me to understand her motivations.

But what disturbed me even more than the original mutilation was Matt’s reconstructive surgery.

There’s a scene where doctors cut open his nose and pull it apart with surgical instruments to examine the damage.

OH, GOOD LORD.

I genuinely found that harder to watch than Markos cutting his face in the first place.

Caitlyn’s Experimental Treatment

Matt eventually discovers Dr. Caitlyn Corr’s research into experimental nanotechnology and convinces her to help restore his face.

The treatment involves injecting AI-powered nanobots into his body, which gradually begin repairing the damage.

And yes, considering how much we’ve discussed AI and its potential problems, I found it rather amusing that artificial intelligence is involved in creating Clayface.

What could possibly go wrong?!

Initially, the treatment seems successful. Matt’s face gradually returns to normal, and he’s so excited about reclaiming his career that he attends a red-carpet premiere despite Caitlyn warning him to wait for further testing.

He even encounters his former agent, who suddenly wants to work with him again now that he’s attractive and potentially profitable.

When Matt asks where she was when he needed her, she essentially brushes it off as something in the past.

OH, HOW CONVENIENT!

But the celebration doesn’t last long.

Matt notices the skin beneath his eye beginning to sag, and Caitlyn has to administer another dose of the treatment.

Then, despite her warnings, Matt secretly injects himself with even more serum.

And that’s when things begin getting seriously weird.

The Regeneration Experiments

One of my favorite sequences involves Matt discovering that his body can regenerate injuries almost instantly.

After accidentally injuring himself while playing basketball, he notices his nose healing on its own.

He begins experimenting further, deliberately cutting himself and watching the injuries repair.

Eventually, he visits Caitlyn and uses a vegetable slicer to remove a piece of skin from his hand.

The detached skin literally returns to his body, and the wound closes.

Even his spilled blood flows back into him!

Matt sees this as a miracle and excitedly suggests that Caitlyn could use the discovery to help countless people.

But Caitlyn warns him about the consequences of revealing such extraordinary abilities to the world. Matt could lose his freedom and spend the rest of his life being experimented on.

And honestly?

She’s not wrong.

What I particularly appreciate about this scene is that it establishes an important rule about Matt’s biology that becomes absolutely horrifying later in the movie.

The Airplane Scene

Oh boy, THIS scene.

Matt is aboard an airplane when he notices a televised interview featuring Markos Szabo, who is apparently trying to involve himself in the film industry.

And who’s standing behind Markos?

FRANK!

Matt’s own manager!

Well, isn’t THAT suspicious?

But before Matt can process everything, his eyelids begin sealing shut.

Yes, you read that correctly.

His eyelids start fusing together.

He rushes into the airplane bathroom while the plane experiences turbulence, and despite everything shaking around him, he attempts to reopen his eyes.

And how does he do that?

WITH SCISSORS.

He literally cuts through the fused skin around his eyelids.

OH, GOOD LORD!

And unlike his earlier experiments, the injuries don’t immediately heal.

This is where Matt realizes that his supposedly miraculous abilities are becoming increasingly unstable.

Frank’s Death

Matt eventually confronts Frank about his involvement with Markos, and Frank admits that he helped undermine Matt’s case.

He also reveals that Corey was involved.

Yes, Matt’s own best friend.

Now, I won’t pretend I was particularly surprised by Frank’s betrayal. The movie had practically been waving a giant sign over his head.

But the confrontation itself takes a rather horrifying turn.

Matt attacks Frank and shoves his fingers into his throat, only for his hand to become stuck.

When Matt tries to pull away, he accidentally rips out Frank’s tongue along with additional internal tissue.

GOOD LORD!

And then, because the movie apparently decided we needed some pitch-black comedy, Frank’s assistant approaches the locked office door.

Matt transforms into Frank to avoid being discovered.

So now we have Matt, disguised as Frank, casually eating Frank’s sandwich while Frank’s actual corpse is hidden beneath the desk.

The assistant asks why he didn’t answer the door.

Matt claims he was eating.

Then he knocks over a smoothie, asks for another, and the assistant points out that she’d already given him one earlier.

Matt’s solution?

“How about I give you the rest of the day off?”

HAHAHAHA!

That’s such a ridiculous situation, and I genuinely enjoyed the dark humor.

But it’s also our first major demonstration of Matt using his shapeshifting to impersonate someone he’s killed.

And things only get worse from here.

Corey’s Betrayal and Death

Matt confronts Corey at his trailer while he’s preparing to film a scene.

Initially, Corey denies betraying him, insisting that they’re best friends.

Matt almost accepts his explanation.

But then he notices Theresa’s name on the script.

UH-OH.

Corey eventually admits that Markos blackmailed him, and Matt realizes that Corey’s involvement also helped him secure an acting opportunity.

Corey insists that he never wanted any of this and that he genuinely loves Matt.

The two embrace.

Matt tells him:

“You broke my heart.”

And then he suffocates Corey by absorbing his face into his own body.

OH, MY GOD.

What makes the scene particularly tragic is that Matt subsequently holds Corey’s lifeless body and cries.

He clearly loved his friend, but he killed him anyway.

And that, to me, is where Matt’s transformation into a genuine villain becomes undeniable.

But we’re not finished!

Someone knocks on the trailer door to tell Corey it’s time for his scene.

So what does Matt do?

He transforms into Corey and goes out to perform the scene himself.

Because apparently murdering your best friend isn’t enough. You might as well steal his acting job while you’re at it!

Matt ends up behaving suspiciously around Theresa, and one of her guards follows him back to the trailer, only to discover Corey’s actual corpse sitting in a chair.

Meanwhile, the police are left with an increasingly bizarre mystery.

The Impossible Murder Timelines

Detective Borrelli begins investigating the murders, but there’s a rather significant problem.

Frank’s estimated time of death is around 1:58, yet he’s apparently seen leaving the building at approximately 2:30.

And Corey has a similar discrepancy.

How can someone be seen alive AFTER they’re already dead?

Well, we know the answer.

MATT HAGEN CAN BECOME ANYONE HE WANTS.

I actually really liked this element of the film. It’s a clever way to incorporate Clayface’s abilities into a murder investigation.

And Caitlyn eventually begins connecting the dots herself.

Matt’s Deterioration and His Feelings for Caitlyn

As the film progresses, Matt’s appearance becomes increasingly grotesque.

He loses his hair, his facial features become horribly distorted, his mouth stretches unnaturally toward his neck, and his teeth become sharp and uneven.

Caitlyn visits him after he repeatedly ignores her calls, and Matt eventually admits that he’s fallen in love with her.

Oh, come on.

I saw that coming!

Caitlyn reminds him that she’s already in a relationship with Detective Borrelli.

Matt asks whether she’s happy with him, promising not to ask again if she is.

They kiss, but Caitlyn quickly pulls away and leaves.

Now, initially, I found this romantic development rather predictable.

And I particularly disliked Matt placing so much responsibility for his emotional stability on Caitlyn.

He essentially treats her as the only person capable of bringing him back to reality.

Matt, my guy, that sounds like a YOU problem.

However, as we’ll discuss later, the film eventually turns this relationship into something considerably more disturbing.

The Nightclub Massacre

Matt notices one of Markos’s men following Caitlyn and decides to intervene.

He transforms into Caitlyn to lure the henchman away.

When the man approaches and says he has a message from Markos, Matt transforms back into himself and replies that he has a message for Markos, too.

And then we see the shadow of Matt’s hand transforming into his iconic enormous mallet before he smashes the man’s head.

YES! THE CLAYFACE MALLET HAND!

Matt subsequently impersonates the henchman and infiltrates Markos’s nightclub.

And this is where the movie becomes an absolutely chaotic showcase of his shapeshifting abilities.

Matt deliberately reveals himself to Theresa, who alerts the guards.

They spot him dancing in the crowd, only for him to change appearances and disappear among the other people.

At one point, he transforms into a woman, grabs a guard, and sends them both tumbling down a staircase.

Matt gets up with his body horribly contorted, while the actual woman whose appearance he copied stares at him in disbelief.

And Matt, still wearing her dress, gives her this ridiculous little smirk.

HAHAHAHA!

I genuinely loved that moment.

It’s a much better example of the movie’s humor working naturally through its premise.

There’s also a particularly nasty moment where Matt grabs one of the henchmen by his private parts, and let’s just say I’m not entirely convinced that man walked away with everything still attached.

GOOD LORD.

Eventually, Matt assumes the appearance of Patches, another member of Markos’s gang, and escorts Theresa into Markos’s private room.

Patches and Theresa

Once Matt reaches Markos, the real Patches unexpectedly enters the room.

Suddenly, Markos is confronted with two identical henchmen.

Fake Patches, who is actually Matt, tells Markos to shoot the other one.

And Markos does exactly that!

Then he essentially justifies it by saying he had to be safe.

MARKOS, YOU IDIOT!

Theresa desperately tries to save Patches, and we’re suddenly informed that he’s about to become a father.

Now, here’s something I didn’t particularly like.

The movie hadn’t previously established that Patches was expecting a child, so revealing it immediately after he’s shot feels like a last-minute attempt to make the situation more emotionally devastating.

We already understand that Markos is a horrible person. We don’t need a sudden pregnancy revelation to make shooting one of his own men seem worse.

But then things take an even more disturbing turn.

Theresa attempts to give Patches mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Except it’s not Patches.

It’s Matt.

He transforms back into himself, and Theresa ends up with clay filling her mouth and nose, suffocating her.

Ohhhhh, Matt.

Maybe that’s taking things a LITTLE too far.

And this is another reason I appreciate that the movie doesn’t try to pretend Matt is still some innocent victim. He’s now using his abilities to commit genuinely horrific acts.

Markos’s Death

And then we reach the confrontation between Matt and the man responsible for destroying his life.

Markos attempts to stab Matt with a blade, threatening to cut upward through his body.

Unfortunately for Markos, the blade becomes stuck inside Matt’s increasingly unnatural flesh.

Matt pins him to the floor.

And what happens next might be the most creative and disturbing death in the entire film.

Matt deliberately slices open his own face, allowing his blood to pour down onto Markos.

Then he explains that his blood is trying to return to his body.

Remember that earlier scene where Matt’s spilled blood flowed back into him?

Well, now he’s using that exact ability as a weapon.

His blood begins tearing its way back through Markos’s body, causing horrific injuries and draining him of blood.

GOOD LORD!

I genuinely loved how the movie brought back that earlier biological detail for the climax.

It’s also a horribly fitting reversal of the opening.

Markos mutilated Matt’s face.

Now Matt uses his own face and blood to kill Markos.

But even after Markos is dead, the movie isn’t finished.

The Murder Investigation

Detective Borrelli visits Matt to ask questions about the recent deaths.

And where is Matt when the detective arrives?

Lying in a bathtub, looking like a horrible, melted mass of flesh.

He wipes his face, transforms back into his normal appearance, and answers the door.

The detective questions him about Markos, Frank, and Corey.

Matt doesn’t pretend to be particularly upset about Markos’s death, which is understandable considering what the man did to him.

But when Corey comes up, Matt calmly claims that he’s devastated because Corey was his friend.

MATT!

YOU KILLED HIM!

Although, technically, Matt might actually be telling the truth about being devastated. We saw him crying while holding Corey’s body.

He’s just conveniently leaving out the fact that he’s responsible for the death.

And once again, I love how the movie uses Matt’s acting abilities as part of his transformation. He spent the beginning of the story desperate to return to acting, and now he’s delivering convincing performances to conceal his crimes.

The Detective’s Death and the Horrifying Reveal

Now THIS is where the movie genuinely surprised me.

Caitlyn returns home and finds Detective Borrelli waiting for her.

She’s finally connected the evidence and admits that Matt is responsible for the murders.

Borrelli points out that the surveillance footage appears to show the victims alive after their estimated times of death.

Caitlyn tells him something that sounds completely ridiculous.

Matt can change his face.

She explains that she has video evidence of his transformations and goes to retrieve it.

And here’s another disturbing detail: during one of Matt’s earlier periods of sleep, Caitlyn recorded him unconsciously transforming into her while apparently thinking about her.

Yeah, that’s extremely uncomfortable.

Anyway, Caitlyn opens the door to retrieve the footage.

And sitting in the corner of the room…

IS BORRELLI’S DEAD BODY.

OH, MY GOD!

Yep.

She’s been talking to Matt this entire time.

Matt murdered her partner and impersonated him.

And when Caitlyn demands to know why he did it, his explanation is genuinely horrifying.

He wanted to see how she looked at Borrelli. How she spoke to him. How she expressed her love.

Because Matt wants Caitlyn to love him that way.

Then he tells her:

“I can be anyone you want. Who do you want me to be?”

GOOD LORD.

Now THAT is psychological horror.

And suddenly, the romantic subplot I initially found predictable becomes something much more interesting.

Matt doesn’t understand love anymore. He’s become so obsessed with Caitlyn that he believes impersonating someone she loves might somehow make her love him.

He can copy someone’s appearance, but he cannot manufacture genuine affection.

And the fact that he murdered one of Gotham’s few decent detectives makes his transformation into a villain even more tragic.

At this point, there is absolutely no pretending Matt Hagen is still a good person.

The Final Transformation

Matt attempts to force a kiss on Caitlyn while pinning her against the wall.

Fortunately, she has a taser and uses it to defend herself.

Matt falls through a window and lands outside in the pouring rain.

And then…

OH BOY.

His body begins transforming into something absolutely monstrous.

His skin starts becoming clay-like, his features distort, and his body grows into a grotesque creature that barely resembles a human being.

Caitlyn has a device capable of terminating the nanobots responsible for his condition, but using it could kill him.

Matt, clearly suffering, begs her to do it.

She activates the termination process, and we watch the system gradually reach completion.

Matt’s body begins melting away until he’s reduced to clay that disappears down a drain.

And for a moment, it seems like Matt Hagen’s nightmare has finally ended.

But come on.

We all know Clayface isn’t going out that easily.

The Ending

The film concludes with Caitlyn walking through Gotham, apparently still suspicious that Matt might be alive.

A homeless man approaches and asks her for a dollar.

She gives him one.

The man eventually returns to a hidden living area and enters a room where he transforms back into Matt Hagen.

And then Caitlyn appears behind him.

She tells him she knew she’d find him, and the two begin talking.

There’s even a moment where they discuss how Matt is being portrayed in the news, and she reassures him that it’s some of his best work.

They embrace.

And for a brief moment, you might think the movie is going to end with some sort of reconciliation.

Except…

THEY BOTH TURN INTO CLAY.

OH, THAT IS DEVASTATING.

Caitlyn isn’t actually there.

Matt has created an imitation of her, imagining the affection and acceptance he desperately wishes she would give him.

He’s essentially acting out his own fantasy of being loved.

And that’s when we finally see Matt Hagen in his full Clayface form.

GOOD LORD, WHAT A DESIGN!

His once recognizable face has become this grotesque, misshapen mass of flesh and clay. He’s completely bald, his skin looks rough, wrinkled, and almost melted, his facial features are horribly uneven, and his mouth has transformed into this enormous, unnatural opening filled with crooked, jagged teeth. His jaw looks like it’s practically stretching beyond what should be physically possible, while his neck and shoulders seem to blend into the rest of his deformed body.

There’s barely anything human left about his appearance, and yet you can still see traces of Matt Hagen underneath all that monstrosity.

But what really sells the ending isn’t simply how horrifying he looks.

It’s his reaction.

Matt looks down at his hand, seemingly realizing what he’s become.

His breathing grows heavier.

And then he lets out this absolutely horrifying scream.

And I LOVE how that scream still sounds human underneath, only horribly distorted by his monstrous body.

It’s not a triumphant monster roar.

It’s the sound of a man who has lost his face, his career, his friends, his humanity, and ultimately himself.

And that’s where the movie ends.

Honestly, I thought that was a fantastic ending.

The tragedy is that Matt Hagen can now become practically anyone he wants, but he can never truly become the person he was before.

And despite possessing the ability to imitate other human beings, he cannot force anyone to genuinely love him.

He’s a monster, but somewhere underneath all that clay is still a man who knows exactly how much he’s lost.

For a film inspired by Batman: The Animated Series’ Feat of Clay, I couldn’t think of a more fitting conclusion.

Final Spoiler Thoughts

And there you have it, folks.

Clayface isn’t a flawless movie, and I stand by every criticism I made regarding its screenplay, predictable developments, and cartoonish mobsters.

But I also think it delivers a genuinely disturbing, tragic, and surprisingly effective interpretation of one of Batman’s most fascinating villains.

I love that the movie allows Matt Hagen to become genuinely evil without completely abandoning the tragedy of his character.

He’s not innocent.

He’s not some misunderstood hero.

He’s a man who suffered horribly, made increasingly monstrous decisions, and ultimately became trapped inside the very nightmare he helped create.

And that final scream?

That’s going to stick with me for a while.

8/10. I loved it.