Clayface Launches DCU's Horror Experiment

Clayface, a $40 million R-rated DCU horror movie, arrived in Australian cinemas on October 22 and in US and UK theaters on October 23. It is the franchise's first outright horror film and a lower-budget villain origin story, allegedly the first in a new 'Gods and Monsters' strand.

Set in Batman's Gotham City, the film uses stark shadows, muted brown hues, and endless night skies to amplify darkness and hopelessness. Production designer James Price created a German Expressionist-inspired visual composition emphasizing grit and grime.

Production and performance

Tom Rhys Harries stars as Matt Hagen, with Naomi Ackie as scientist Caitlyn Corr and Max Minghella as a cop. The supporting cast includes David Dencik, Eddie Marsan, Nancy Carroll, and Joshua James.

Makeup designer Nicole Stafford and visual effects lead Angus Bickerton created the body horror effects. These include clay-like skin corruption and mutations. The movie is a body horror film similar to 'The Substance' and David Cronenberg's work. Welsh actor Tom Rhys Harries visually walks a fine line between a GQ model and a serial killer.

Story and themes

Matt Hagen is a rising movie star disfigured by mobsters after a one-night stand with a mobster's girlfriend. He is fired from a major movie, dropped by his agent, and becomes the subject of a #MeToo-style smear campaign. He loses his court case due to mafia control of the Gotham PD.

Hiding in a dingy apartment, he sees an interview with Dr. Caitlyn Corr about experimental nanotechnology. Corr, played by Naomi Ackie, is not FDA approved and wants to use the technology to challenge the cosmetics company that stole her research. Injected with pink goo, Hagen becomes handsome again but his face begins to droop. He then uses his shape-shifting powers to kill his enemies.

The film explores themes of identity, the human form, societal acceptance, and the loss of humanity. It draws from The Picture of Dorian Grey, The Substance, The Fly, and Frankenstein. Themes include science pushed to unnatural lengths, playing God, and the struggle to feel human again. It blends horror, body horror, and superhero genres with psychological themes of revenge and corrupted love.

Reception and context

Clayface is DC Studios' biggest experiment to date. It has been compared unfavorably to Todd Phillips's Joker, which brought prestige and Oscars. One critic asked, "What if Taxi Driver sucked?"

The film was described as looking more like a network TV series than a DC movie. Clayface's character abilities and rules were poorly defined, making him a screenwriting device. His tragedy was excised for a video game-like narrative trajectory. It was called a 'clumsily missed opportunity' and a 'reminder that DC doesn't know what it's doing.'

Gotham is described as a letdown and tawdry, more Joker-lite than a confident depiction. However, a nightclub action scene at Gotham's Vesuvius is considered a DCU highlight. The film serves as the third installment in the new DCU following Superman and Supergirl.