Clayface Review: Tom Rhys Harries' Interesting Body Horror Dragged Down By Basic Plot and Storytelling
The third film in James Gunn's DCU is Clayface, directed by James Watkins (Speak No Evil) and starring newcomer Tom Rhys Harries (The Gentleman).
Synopsis:
"Matt Hagen’s (Tom Rhys Harries) meteoric rise from Gotham street kid to Hollywood leading man is tragically cut short when a local crime boss’s actions leave him horribly disfigured. Abandoned by his team and with nothing left, Matt seeks out a cutting edge treatment that miraculously returns him to his former self… but also unexpectedly affects his grip on reality, spiraling him down a destructive path of all-consuming revenge."
Cast:
Tom Rhys Harries, Naomi Ackie, Eddie Marsan, Max Minghella, David Dencik
Release Date:
In Theaters Now
Rhys Harries Proves To Be A Leading Man
When DC was casting the lead role for this movie, there were plenty of big names thrown around - including the likes of Jack O'Connell and Daniel Radcliffe. However they went with the more unknown name in Tom Rhys Harries, who even James Gunn himself admitted he hadn't heard of before he came in to audition. The good news is that he absolutely proves his status as both a leading man and this incredibly complicated role. Matt Hagen starts out this movie as a charismatic and charming movie star, eventually delving into madness later on. This is a turn that Rhys Harries is able to pull off really well, being equally likable in the beginning and evil in the final few sequences. Hagen is a pretty basic character on the surface, outside of the body horror sequences that come later, but he's able to play him in a way that gives him this very off-putting presence. There's even scenes after he's done some horrible things where a part of you still feels bad for him, which is really a credit to his acting ability. As for the supporting cast, I've been of the opinion for a while that Naomi Ackie is one of the more underrated actors in this industry. That makes it so it's always fun to watch her on screen, even in a limited role like this one.
Hagen's descent into madness is really one of the big standout features of this film. In an era of so many anti-hero superhero movies, Clayface is a film where we genuinely watch someone turn into pure evil. Of course this was always the route they were going to go with this one, but it was nice to see them actually set it up with some plot points that Ackie's character brings up early on. The film slowly shows his fall off the deep end and when we finally get that first breakdown, it comes as an absolute shock to the audience. It becomes clear very early on that there is no redeeming Hagen and this is somebody who will become a full out villain. Just seeing everything that led to that fall was all really interesting to me.
Eerie and Bloody Body Horror Sequences
One of the main reasons this movie was getting so much hype in the production process was because of it being pitched as a gross body horror film. Mike Flanagan, who originally wrote the script for this, clearly had the idea of a film that wasn't even a superhero project in many ways. This is where the film really shines, as a lot of these sequences are genuinely gross. It's not really the classic clay design that you'd expect when you think of the character, but a variety of creative ways to show both Hagen's decline and then his control over his "powers". The effects on everything look really great, even when a lot of the things he is doing are inherently cartoonish. Even when you think Hagen's methods cannot get worse, he pulls out a move that is just pure evil. I also really enjoyed them playing around with Hagen's shapeshifting abilities. The way they bring it in is of a pure accident and he has to learn how to control it to use to his advantage. Then there's a scene towards the end where he is using all of these skills at once, harnessing both the shapeshifting and the clay features in his skin. This was probably my favorite scene in the movie, just a pure villain having no issue with utilizing his powers in the most brutal ways possible.
Largely Basic and Uninteresting Plot
It became very clear to me early on in this film that the filmmakers wanted to put all their effort into the transformation of Matt rather then an interesting plot or world around him. The actual plot itself plays it incredibly safe, making this a rather predictable story. The pacing in the beginning feels way too fast, speed running any good that Hagen has inside him for this origin story. Then once we do get to Gotham, it's almost as if the entire movie could have taken place anywhere else and it would have been the same film. We have corrupt crime bosses, lawyers and doctors, but no recognizable characters from the Batman universe. Now that's fine if they want to go that route, although bizarre, but the people they chose rather then any of those established characters were just the most basic iterations you could imagine. The main crime boss is one of the top billed actors in this film, but he's never delved deeper into just someone to move Hagen's plot forward. Really the entire world around him, outside maybe Ackie's character, just feel like plot or exposition devices.
I never really found myself invested into any of the characters, even including Matt Hagen. The movie overall just felt unremarkable - I stayed into it somewhat for the creepy sequences and the promise of a final form at the end, but the story itself is rather bland. There's small specific issues I have with that story, some that I've talked about and one that I will in the next section, but that's really the legacy of this film - why do I care about anything that's going on? It doesn't commit to being a full-on DC project, which is fine on paper, but then the actual movie itself isn't good enough to justify that decision. That means we find ourselves in a challenging middle ground between DC fans and horror fans where really nobody will be fully satisfied.
Bizzare Love Story
The budding relationship between Matt Hagen and Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie) slowly becomes one of the main plot lines in this film. Hagen initially goes to her for the procedure to fix his face and their storylines continue to intertwine as he starts to fall off the deep end. This professional relationship eventually turns slightly into romance, going pretty far given the R rating. Here's the problem - Caitlyn is engaged. They attempt to establish early on that she's having certain problems with her husband, but then proceed to show the husband as a supporting character that really isn't showing any lack of love for Caitlyn. Although she never fully commits to anything with Hagen, they really just go way too far with the two of them and I found myself audibly groaning anytime they were on screen together. That becomes a large problem when their relationship is really one of the things the entire film is built on. The most frustrating thing about it is that they could have very easily just made Ackie's character single and then developed the romance naturally. These are two very talented actors who clearly have chemistry, but instead they go into this weird cheating plot that is made even more pointless after Hagen descents into madness.
Final Thoughts
In a lot of ways Clayface encapsulates a lot of the issues I have with James Gunn's DC Universe, but at the end of the day the film itself just is very basic and unremarkable horror. They succeed with a lot of the body horror and establishing Clayface as a character, but the actual story isn't interesting enough to get you invested. Although I did enjoy parts of it, I find leaving underwhelmed given the hype that I had going into it.
Rating: 3/5 Stars
Clayface is ranked 56th out of the 93 new releases I've seen this year.
Editor's Note: I've only included the top 20 from my 2026 new releases list, for editing purposes.
2026 Ranked:
DCU Ranked:
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