I’ll be honest here: – I’ve been a critic of DC Studios; due to the recent sub-standard slop they have been producing under the stewardship of James Gunn. From the passable ‘Superman’ reboot to the disastrous and unfunny ‘Supergirl’ – and then onto the ‘Lanterns’ series on HBO that was so nasty and hateful that I ended up not even finishing the season.

When news first broke that a standalone film about Clayface – a second tier Batman villain – would be the next cab off the rank in the DC Universe series of films, more than a few eyebrows were raised. It really sounded like they had lost their marbles at DC – putting this project ahead of Wonder Woman or any other choice of better-known heroes or baddies.

Then the first trailer dropped and opinions started to shift a little…

‘Clayface’ was released in cinemas on October 23rd and is directed by James Watkins, with horror maestro Mike Flanagan being involved with the screenplay. The film does not have a star-studded lineup with only Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan being actors that I recognised, with the leading role of Matt Hagan/Clayface being played by Tom Rhys Harries. Naomi Ackie and David Dencik – who like the leading man are also relatively unknown – play Dr Caitlyn Corr and crime lord Markos Szabo respectively.

With the introductions now out of the way, it is time to get into my actual review of the movie. However, as ‘Clayface’ is still fresh in cinemas, I will avoid spoilers and share my thoughts by offering up a general overview of the film.

‘Clayface’ focuses on the main character Matt Hagan (Rhys Harries) and the film wastes no time in letting the audience know who this guy is, dropping us off during the peak of his success as an up-and-coming actor on the verge of stardom. The pace is lightning fast throughout the first act, and by the half hour mark we see Hagan’s unfortunate fall from grace after being mutilated by gangster Markos Szabo (Dencik) following which the system turns on our guy and all but destroys him, leading to his apparent resurrection having undergone experimental nanite therapy with the genius doctor Caitlyn Corr (Ackie).

The violence in the earlier parts of the film is horrifying to say the least, with both the face slashing and hospital surgery scenes graphic and quite frankly disgusting. I don’t think I am giving away too many surprises there, but these moments were really hard to watch! Besides that, the film looks aesthetically solid and the Gotham backdrop is good; highlighting the class divide in the city like all good Batman-adjacent films should, and showing us just how dangerous and seedy the town is once you rub a little of the polish away. This was good work – it looked and felt like Gotham City.

As I mentioned earlier, the pacing is great for the first half of the film, but perhaps in their eagerness to progress the story, the writers and editors may have brushed past the miracle medical procedure scenes a little too hastily. I might be being a bit picky here, but there was a montage of sorts that compressed perhaps weeks of treatments into a minute long sequence, and I’m not sure if the audience would have picked up on how much time elapsed in the story. But hey, if this is the only nitpicking I am offering at this point then the movie is doing better than okay, right?

I also felt that the writing and the dialogue was pretty good throughout, but there was one line that struck me instantly as being cringe – and it happened very early in the film when Matt Hagan met Markos Szabo for the first time. Szabo’s opening line to Hagan was almost word-for-word how Mike Tyson described Brad Pitt in his stage show/documentary ‘Undisputed Truth.’ It was a funny line and it works perfectly within that scene, but it’s not so effective if you’ve heard it before.

Hagan’s descent into his monstrous alter-ego is what dominates the second half of the film, and this is all set up very well and we are given a tight story that is easy to follow. ‘Clayface’ is not Academy Award winning stuff – not that it means anything these days – but it is a solid horror/revenge film that knows exactly what it is trying to do, and just goes out and does it.

The body horror and gruesome violence continues throughout, although it is not as graphic as it was in those earlier scenes, but we are still given our fair share of blood and guts; not to mention one of the most bizarre murder-by-suffocation scenes you will ever see! Story-wise the movie rolls along at a decent tempo, and Hagan’s journey of vengeance eventually leads to a final showdown with the mobster Szabo, and perhaps it is here where the direction wavers and loses shape – but only a little.

During these final scenes I felt that the horror elements became a little comedic – much like death scenes in generic slasher films – but I didn’t have any major issues with this. There was also an amusing dance floor sequence that was very James Gunn-esque that I thought was brilliant, mainly because it came out of nowhere. Up to that point, ‘Clayface’ had used levity sparingly, preferring instead to remain embedded in its dark and depressing tones, and the last thing I expected was to suddenly burst into laughter: – and I was laughing with the film and not at the film.

Quite simply, I enjoyed this movie – even though I found that some scenes were hard to watch.

‘Clayface’ presents itself as a horror/revenge flick, and pushes the boundary with its gratuitous violence and mutilation scenes: – and if you are going to go down the body horror path then you might as well go hard! As a standalone horror movie, this passes the test with flying colours, and whilst it is set in the DC Universe it doesn’t lean into it too much – which I think works in its favour.

Overall, the movie looked good, had a great soundtrack – including a classic nineteen-eighties TV show style intro – and the performances were solid, especially Rhys Harries in the leading role.

Whilst I do not believe that this film has brought DC Studios back from the brink, I will acknowledge good work when I see it – and ‘Clayface’ is by far the best movie DC has released during James Gunn’s tenure as studio boss. I’m giving it an impressive eight out of ten!

Screenshots and posters courtesy of DC Studios and Warner Bros Pictures.