Clayface (2026)
Directed by James Watkins
Matt Hagen's 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.
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56 films that influenced Clayface
What critics say influenced Clayface
Director
David Cronenberg
Critics invoke Cronenberg by name, and compare Clayface to 2 of Cronenberg’s films.
Themes Visuals
On Cronenberg, rather than any one film
As Cronenberg’s films once did, it could show how technology intersects with human development to create new bodies, behaviours and ways of being.
Cronenbergian body-horror…
Every other critic is going to reference “The Substance” (2024) or David Cronenberg’s early body horror work…
Watkins proves in “Clayface,” especially in some of the surgery sequences, that he is not afraid to go fully gnarly, à la “The Fly” (1986)…
Watkins's film leans heavily into body horror, channelling The Fly (though this is a far lesser movie)…
…the 80s classic THE FLY remake…
David Cronenberg (1975’s Shivers / They Came From Within, 1983’s Videodrome, 1986’s The Fly)…
(Shades of The Fly, Darkman, and Johnny Handsome can all be found in Clayface.)
…it can feel like the scrappy kid brother of David Cronenberg's The Fly, continually pushing the envelope regarding what it can get away with…
David Cronenberg (1975’s Shivers / They Came From Within, 1983’s Videodrome, 1986’s The Fly)…
…a one-man army that's half John Wick, half Videodrome…
…with a body horror level to rival “The Substance.”
…the early critic comparisons to The Substance are far more apt…
…with some of the most revolting images since The Substance…
Watkins proves in “Clayface,” especially in some of the surgery sequences, that he is not afraid to go fully gnarly, à la “The Fly” (1986) or “The Substance,”…
Every other critic is going to reference “The Substance” (2024) or David Cronenberg’s early body horror work…
He meshes the recent body horror of THE SUBSTANCE (with lots of practical make-up effects and a bit of CGI)…
There are recognizable landmarks and Gotham-specific nods that feel right out of Batman: The Animated Series…
Closely hewing to the “Batman: The Animated Series” two-part episode “Feat of Clay” (penned by Marv Wolfman and Michael Reeves), it follows actor and rising star Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries).
…adapted thematically from the Batman: The Animated Series episode Feat of Clay…
Die-hard fans should be warned, however: this may not be a word-for-word adaptation of Batman: The Animated Series (1992), but it certainly pays its respects.
In the Batman: The Animated Series two-parter, “Feat of Clay,” Clayface breaks down in a crucial scene, exclaiming, “I’m not an actor anymore. I’m not even a man!”
…inspired by the wonderful “Feat of Clay” episodes of the iconic Batman animated series from 1992…
Imagine if Sam Raimi’s seminal Darkman was grislier and, well, a bit dumber (complimentary).
…a whole lot of the 90s “you’d think he came from a comic book” DARKMAN (using tech to take down thugs)…
Think of Clayface as DC meets Darkman.
Clayface ultimately is not that different from countless other stories, from The Phantom Of The Opera to Darkman, about a disfigured, broken man and the brave, innocent woman who sees something beautiful inside him…
(Shades of The Fly, Darkman, and Johnny Handsome can all be found in Clayface.)
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From the chaotic ensemble pieces of Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey to the darker, more introspective character studies of Joker and The Batman, the studio has repeatedly mined the darker corners of its comic-book universe.
The daytime sequences in some scenes reminded me unfavourably of Todd Philips’ “Joker” in how that film depicted Gotham City of the 1970s.
Clayface is conceptually closer to 2019’s Joker.
…so watch out, “Bat-baddies” CATWOMAN and JOKER…
Rob Brydon of all people as a chat show host in the mould of the one played by Robert De Niro in the Joker movie…
…it easily clears the “Joker” franchise because it does not feel actively derivative or overwrought, and the comparison fits because these films’ protagonists are Batman villains with solo, standalone films…
There’ve been three VENOM flicks, but don’t hold your breath for the return of MORBIUS or KRAVEN THE HUNTER…
Remember when Venom was supposed to be a genre film and then most definitely wasn’t?
…a character who feels like an off-brand swirl of Venom, Hulk, Joker and Mystique…
Sony spent years trying to turn Spider-Man’s nemeses into big-screen sensations, hitting pay dirt with 2018’s Venom ($856 million)…
A John Wick-like sequence towards the film’s climax sees his revenge-fuelled rampage reach a bloody crescendo, culminating in a twist that leaves us on the edge of our seats.
…he sets out to John Wick his way through Szabo’s crime syndicate…
…a one-man army that's half John Wick, half Videodrome…
John Carpenter The Thing (1982) getting honorable mentions…
Combining elements of The Fly, The Thing, The Blob, and any number of “The” body-horror movies…
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…continuing as early as next year with Supergirl and Clayface…
…even last year’s much-heralded Superman reboot only grossed a solid $618m…
No rational box-office observer would put Clayface in the same commercial realm as last year’s Superman ($619 million worldwide)…
It kicked off with “Superman”, a frustrating and often baffling treatment of the brand’s iconic superhero.
Their SUPERMAN soared while his cousin SUPERGIRL certainly didn’t…
The third feature in James Gunn’s rebooted DCU after Superman, and Supergirl…
How does “Clayface” compare to prior DC Comics film adaptations rated R: “V for Vendetta” (2005), “Watchmen” (2009), “The Suicide Squad” (2021), “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” (2021), “Joker” (2019), and “Joker: Folie a Deux” (2024)?
With James Gunn (The Suicide Squad) steering the ship at DC Studios…
…the sort of thing we’d usually see in torture porn like Matryrs or a Terrifier sequel…
…this isn't Terrifier, after all…