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It’s been quite a while since Hollywood has produced a true villain origin story. One that is not a retelling, nor the reframing of a “misunderstood” villain, but simply an understandable look into the past and psyche of a man that transforms into a monster. And while DC’s Clayface is sympathetic, certainly, it is still about the grotesque, tragic birth of one of Batman’s most uncomfortable villains.

And all that was achieved without Batman.

Directed by James Watkins, Clayface follows Matt Hagen, portrayed well by Tom Rhys Harries, a rising actor who finds himself horrifically attacked and disfigured. Hagen is left to grapple with not just his physical trauma, but also the loss of his identity and livelihood, for there is perhaps no industry more intimately familiar with the commercialisation of the human face. For an actor, such as our protagonist, there is no currency more valuable to him, nor any avenue with which to fulfil his dreams of cinema and acting glory, than that of his face. Thus, when his very means of self and livelihood are gruesomely taken away, he is willing to go to any means necessary to reclaim it, and enact revenge on those that inflicted this cruelty upon him in the first place.

Without giving too much away, it is a grotesque solution that seems perfectly aligned with the body horror of the whole film. However, the film’s central focus isn’t unfamiliar; it’s much like 2024’s horror darling The Substance. The similarities are palpable between the two protagonists who are abused by the corruption of Hollywood and turn to nefarious substances that “fix” their appearance to fit the industry standard, chipping away at their humanity in exchange.

In Clayface’s case, Hagen is an actor whose entire profession requires him to be looked at, the disfigurement a physical toll as well as a complete destruction of life and identity. His tragedy lies in the fact that recovering his appearance is synonymous with recovering his own selfhood, and while he is far from perfect, he is an extremely pitiable person.

Thus, the body horror has a unique layer of intentionality behind it where Hagen’s consistently horrifying transformations allow for dissection of character as well as spectacle. To lose what is one’s entire life, and then lose the humanity you had left trying to reclaim said life through reclaiming appearance is a difficult matter to explore. Even more difficult, perhaps, is the constant push and pull with whether the monster is Hagen’s own self, or the substance that corrupts him, body and soul.

Harries carries the burden of this disturbingly difficult portrayal, and yet he manages to suit the role to the point where I could not imagine any other performer successfully taking on the character, the dissolution of Hagen’s psyche and identity carried in a way impactful enough to leave a mark.

However, Clayface is a film that picks and chooses what to prioritise. The character study and dissection of Hagen, itself central to the film’s identity as a body horror piece, is quite well done and a surprisingly brave choice for what could have been a more generic bet in the superhero genre. Unfortunately, other story beats range from generic to disrespectfully rushed, particularly with the film’s first half, where the set-up seems to be rushed through in an attempt to get to “the good stuff”. And as much as Naiomi Ackie is a standout actor, her character stands as understandably vital, but underdone.

All in all, however, Clayface is a worthy watch. It is at its most compelling when it fully leans into the themes and genres it actually intends to explore. Sometimes, the grotesque is simply what a man looks like when pushed to his absolute limits.

Its thematic ambitions occasionally reach beyond the quality of the narrative, with a specific court case plot point I will not get into (but did not enjoy — seriously, it took up precious screen time and only added more plot holes as the film went on) but there is something worthwhile in a superhero studio choosing to make a monster’s origin story an examination of identity, disposability, and the ups and downs of commercialising being seen.

Any fan of horror or any non-squeamish fan of DC should give it a watch.