Batman has one of the biggest and best rogues galleries in all of comics. From the Joker and the Riddler, to the Ventriloquest and Poison Ivy, there are a lot of fantastic villains the Dark Knight has taken on. One of the many brilliant villains who Batman frequently faces is none other than Clayface. This transformative baddie just got his own movie, so let’s take a look at if focusing on him for a whole flick was worth it or not.

The Good

There is no shortage of excellent body horror in Clayface. It all looks real and disgusting and fantastic. This movie is up there with The Fly and The Substance with its body horror. Scenes in which Matt’s face is being cut up or his body is falling apart are enough to make one wince. Trying to cut his own eyelids open during a turbulent plain ride is one of the most suspenseful moments in any recent movie. It’s simultaneously hard to watch and hard to look away from.

Part of the reason why the body horror in this movie is so good is the special effects. The visuals are fantastic, and that goes for both the traditional effects and CGI. The scars on Matt’s face look completely real, as does the rest of the movie’s gore. The CGI for Clayface and his abilities looks just as great. It’s like this monster is truly there.

It’s a genuine relief that Clayface felt like a true, full villain in the movie. A lot of the time with this “villain as the protagonist” trend, the character who is meant to be a villain in the source material ends up just being a misunderstood hero, or at least an antihero. Here, Matt may take out gangsters and criminals, but he also takes out cops and a few other people. The cops very specifically aren’t the corrupt ones either. He does it for selfish and personal gain. He’s fully a bad guy. It’s nice to see.

The movie is also surprisingly romantic. There’s an intriguing forbidden romance at the core of the story, and it’s handled quite well. It’s beautiful and tragic. It gives the film emotional wait and a reason to care about the main characters and the various obstacles in their way.

The editing of this movie is especially phenomenal. This is particularly clear when Matt Hagen transforms into other people. Instead of just cutting away and back to him or using CGI to show the full transformation process, it uses these really unique edits. It’s hard to explain, but it’s masterful editing.

Clayface serves as a brilliant, in-depth character study, diving deep into how the character of Matt Hagen ticks. It explores morality in clever ways. The audience never needs to be told why a character thinks or feels a certain way, it’s all clear on the screen.

There’s a good handful of references tying this story to the source material and to the DCU as a whole. We see this with locations like Amusement Mile, the Narrows, and Coast City. There are even in-universe movie titles that share their names with real-life comic books. It’s a lot of fun for eagle-eyed fans to pick these out, and it’s cool to see how it ties to the rest of the connected movie universe. Best of all, it still manages to feel like a completely standalone story without the need of any homework whatsoever. It’s refreshing.

The Bad

While the body horror is fantastic, the movie does unfortunately lack the dread that’s expected to come with a horror movie. It never feels scary. There’s no haunting atmosphere. What they do with the body horror aspect is incredible, but that’s where horror elements stop.

Some of Clayface’s killings aren’t shown on screen. They usually cut away or show a shadow of it. Some of the more mild killings are seen, but it’s weird for them to be so willing to show the body horror but shy away from showing some of the other gore. This is horror. Show us.

There’s a point when a character talks about not believing in someone having the ability to turn into other people. How are they fine to accept Superman, an alien who can fly and shoot beams from his eyes just a few cities over, but not a shapeshifter? That’s really dumb.

With the movie focusing on a Batman character in Gotham city with this dark-yet-comic booky tone, Batman’s absence is unfortunately felt. It doesn’t make this a bad Clayface movie by any means, but to be in Gotham without the villain’s fear of the superhero stopping him, or even being arrested by Commissioner Gordon, it’s hard not to wonder how things might have played out with the Caped Crusader present.

Conclusion

Clayface is a dark and twisted revenge story with a unique spin on it. It adapts the Batman villain quite well. It’s suspenseful, captivating, and overall fun to watch. It’s a shame that the filmmakers shied away from certain horror elements, but it still deserves a place next to some of the greats in the body horror subgenre. Comic book fans and casual audiences are sure to enjoy this one quite a bit.

Rating: 8/10

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