Clayface: DC's Body-Horror Gamble on a Little-Known Batman Villain Is Paying Off
Nobody was asking for a Clayface movie, and that's what makes this one interesting. DC Studios took a second-tier Batman villain, gave him a modest budget and an R rating, and made a body-horror film in the tradition of The Fly rather than a superhero movie. Matt Hagen is a handsome young actor on the edge of stardom until a gangster takes a knife to his face. An experimental treatment gives him his looks back, then gives him far more than he bargained for.
The bet looks like it's working. Clayface knocked Street Fighter off the top of the North American box office in its first weekend, and while critics are divided, audiences gave it the kind of grade horror films rarely get.
Is Clayface a hit or a flop?
Too early to call it a hit, but it's well on the way. Clayface opened at No. 1 in North America with $24 million, a little under what tracking had predicted, and took about $19 million from other markets for a $43 million global start. By Monday it had reached $47.4 million worldwide, more than its reported production budget of around $40 million. (Reported budgets range from about $30 million to $44 million.)
For comparison, Supergirl, the DC Universe's summer release, opened to $37 million. Clayface was never meant to compete with that; it was made cheaply so it could turn a profit with a horror-sized audience. The A- CinemaScore is the most encouraging number here. Horror audiences are notoriously harsh graders, and a score that high usually means good word of mouth and a gentle second-weekend drop, which matters more than ever with Halloween falling on its second Saturday. We'll update this page after the weekend of 30 October.
What is Clayface about?
Matt Hagen grew up poor in Gotham City and made it to Hollywood. He's just been nominated for an Oscar when he spends the night with an actress who turns out to be the girlfriend of a Gotham crime boss, Markos Szabo. Szabo's men catch up with him the next morning and carve up his face. The police can't make anything stick, the work dries up, and Matt ends up back in his childhood home in the slums.
His last hope is Dr. Caitlyn Corr, a scientist developing a treatment that rebuilds damaged skin. It works, at first. Then his face starts to slide off on a red carpet, he gives himself a much bigger dose than she would allow, and he discovers that he can heal from anything and reshape his face into anyone's. What follows is a revenge thriller about a man who can become anybody and is slowly losing track of who he is.
Clayface cast
Tom Rhys Harries, a Welsh actor whose credits include White Lines, Suspicion and Guy Ritchie's The Gentlemen, was cast after what James Gunn called a long and exhaustive search; DC Studios chose not to go for a big name. He reportedly shot the whole film with a torn knee ligament. Naomi Ackie (Whitney Houston in I Wanna Dance with Somebody, and Mickey 17) plays Caitlyn, and the rest of the cast includes Joana Ribeiro as Mia Torrez, Joshua James as Matt's friend Corey, and Nancy Carroll as his agent.
If you think you spotted Aaron Paul, you did. He plays Jimmy Hagen, Matt's abusive father, and shot a string of flashback scenes, but director James Watkins cut them when the story moved away from "sins of the father" towards straight revenge. All that's left is a second or so in the nightclub finale, when Matt takes his father's face to frighten Szabo's men. The deleted flashbacks may turn up on the home release.
Clayface reviews
“A great body-horror movie but a terrible DC Comics film.”
That line sums up the split. Critics who wanted a horror film mostly got one, and they're enthusiastic: The Hollywood Reporter called it one of the year's big surprises, Time Out called it the best DC film in years "if your stomach can stand it", and several reviewers compared Watkins's practical effects to David Cronenberg and Sam Raimi. Harries's performance, a man coming apart physically and mentally at the same time, gets the most consistent praise.
The detractors aren't bothered by the gore; they think the film doesn't know what it wants Matt to be. RogerEbert.com gave it one and a half stars out of four and called it shapeless, the Los Angeles Times found it slow and unoriginal, and USA Today called it a messy DC miss. Even the positive reviews tend to agree that it takes a while to get going, and Rotten Tomatoes' critics consensus says much the same: slow to start, then an "icky and satisfying revenge thriller".
Is Clayface part of the DCU, and is Batman in it?
Yes, it's the third film in James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe, after Superman (2025) and Supergirl, and part of the slate they call Chapter One: Gods and Monsters. It's set before Superman, and it's the same Clayface who turned up in the animated series Creature Commandos, voiced there by Alan Tudyk.
Batman isn't in it, isn't seen and isn't named, although Safran has said he's already active in Gotham when the film takes place. The Gotham you do see, filmed largely in Liverpool, is grimy and full of small references for comic fans, but the film keeps them in the background. You don't need to have seen any other DC film to follow it.
The idea came from Mike Flanagan, who had wanted to make a horror take on Clayface for years and pitched it to DC Studios in 2023. He wrote the story but couldn't direct it because of other commitments, including his Carrie series, so the job went to James Watkins (Eden Lake, Speak No Evil), with Hossein Amini rewriting the script.
Clayface ending explained, and is there a post-credits scene?
⚠ How Clayface ends (full spoilers)Show spoilers
Matt gets his revenge. He kills the manager and the friend who betrayed him, wipes out Szabo's gang in his own club, and kills Mia and then Szabo himself, slashing his own face the way Szabo's men once did and letting his blood dissolve Szabo's.
The twist is in Caitlyn's home. She realises Matt is behind the killings and goes to tell John, only to find John's body: the man she has been talking to is Matt wearing his face. Matt believes she loves him back. She doesn't, and she triggers the kill switch built into the treatment. Matt seems to melt away into a storm drain, nobody believes her story, and her research is shut down.
He survived. In the final scene Caitlyn gives money to a homeless man in the street without realising it's Matt, who now lives in the tunnels under Gotham. Down there, he shapes a copy of her out of his own clay-like body and plays out the reunion he wanted, then swells into his full monstrous form and screams. The man is gone; what's left is Clayface.
There's no mid-credits or post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start. The film doesn't set up a sequel either, though it leaves Clayface alive in the sewers of a city that, we're told, already has a Batman.
Where to watch Clayface
Only in cinemas for now. It opened on 23 October in the US, the UK and India, and a couple of days earlier in some European countries, including France. In India it carries an A certificate and was reportedly trimmed by about 24 seconds, mostly nudity. In the US it's rated R for strong bloody violence, gore, language, some nudity and brief drug use; this is not one for younger DC fans.
Warner Bros. hasn't announced a digital or streaming date. Its films normally reach digital rental first and then HBO Max, where the other DC Universe films stream, but no dates have been confirmed. We'll add them here when they are.
More on what's in cinemas in our Hollywood movies coverage, including Street Fighter and Josh Hartnett's Verity.
Quick answers
Is Clayface a hit or a flop?
It's heading towards a hit. It opened at No. 1 in North America with $24 million and passed $47 million worldwide within four days, already more than its reported budget of about $40 million. The second weekend will settle it.
Does Clayface have a post-credits scene?
No. There are no mid-credits or end-credits scenes.
Is Batman in Clayface?
No. Batman doesn't appear and isn't named, though DC Studios says he's already active in Gotham at the time.
Is Aaron Paul in Clayface?
Briefly. He plays Matt's abusive father, Jimmy Hagen, but his flashback scenes were cut, leaving about a second of screen time in the nightclub finale.
Who plays Clayface?
Welsh actor Tom Rhys Harries plays Matt Hagen, the actor who becomes Clayface.
Is Clayface rated R?
Yes, for strong bloody violence, gore, language, some nudity and brief drug use. It's 18 in the UK and A in India.
How long is Clayface?
1 hour 48 minutes.
When will Clayface be on HBO Max?
No date has been announced. It's in cinemas only for now; we'll add digital and streaming dates when Warner Bros. confirms them.
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