As a single man in my thirties who is not actively pursuing a religious vocation (unless the good Lord wants me to in the future), I often yearn for the opportunity to meet a nice lady and start a family, as God intends for those called to marriage. As I write this review, however, I’m glad I don’t have those things at the moment, and for good reason. October is one of my busiest months, though fortunately, it’s busy on a personal level. Between Inktober, watching anything horror-related, taking part in other Halloween activities, and doing the things I would normally do, such as watching movies and other mundane stuff, it’s safe to say I like to keep myself pretty busy in October. On top of that, one of my teams, the Tampa Bay Rays, is in the World Series, which is awesome but also time-consuming. Hopefully, they win it in four games, or at least fewer than seven, just so I can have time for other things. One of those things is producing a review just in time for spooky season, and the movie I’ll be covering is DC Studios’ latest film, Clayface.

For those unaware of the character, Clayface is a Batman villain from DC Comics with the ability to shapeshift, though he isn’t as popular as other members of the Dark Knight’s rogues’ gallery, such as the Joker, the Penguin, and the Riddler. If he were, we probably would have seen him at least once in a big-screen adaptation featuring the Caped Crusader himself. I will say, though, that Clayface has enjoyed some success in smaller media, from animated television series to movies released directly on physical media. That being said, we not only finally have a film featuring this grotesque villain, but he also gets the spotlight in his own origin story. Will this comic-book villain film be as successful as Joker (2019), or will it be as mediocre (and I’m being generous with that word) as Sony’s villain films, such as Venom (2018), Morbius (2022), and Madame Web (2024)? As usual, let’s find out.

In this DC Universe (DCU) film, we follow Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries), a rising A-list actor who further cements his status when he receives a Best Actor nomination for his latest performance. After appearing on a talk show in Gotham City, Matt and his childhood friend Corey Bowery (Joshua James) hit up a local nightclub. After a not-so-conservative number of shots, Matt flirts with an actress named Mia Torrez (Joana Ribeiro) and ends up having a one-night stand, despite Corey’s warning that she is the girlfriend of a mobster. The next morning, Matt wakes to find mobster Markos Szabo (David Dencik) and his henchmen surrounding him. They retaliate by cutting up his face. Matt is rushed to the hospital, where doctors treat his wounds. While he is there, Matt’s manager Frank Fitzpatrick (Eddie Marsan) obtains power of attorney so he can pursue legal action against Szabo over the damage to Matt’s face. Unfortunately for Matt, Szabo has powerful connections within the police, and he gets off scot-free, leaving Matt broke and out of the spotlight because of his appearance. As a result, Matt moves to a poorer part of Gotham City. At his lowest point, he stumbles across an article about nanite technology that can help treat damaged tissue and skin. Coincidentally, the laboratory developing this technology is based in Gotham City, and the research is led by Doctor Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie). After meeting with the doctor and pleading with her to begin human trials ahead of schedule, Caitlyn reluctantly accepts Matt as a test subject, with some encouragement from her fiancé, Gotham Police Detective John Borelli (Max Minghella). After several sessions involving injections of the nanite technology, Matt’s face is as good as new. The first thing he does after his final session is attend a red-carpet event to show off his restored face to the public. While confronting his former agent Hildie Love (Nancy Carroll), however, Matt’s face begins to droop, and he immediately returns to Caitlyn for more injections. After she gives him a small, conservative dose, Matt injects himself with additional nanites, which not only repair his face but do far more than he imagined. Matt soon discovers that he can recover from injuries that would otherwise be devastating. It’s an amazing revelation, but this turn of events starts a chain reaction that will transform Matt into something more monster than man: the title character, Clayface.

Earlier, I mentioned that Clayface is a Batman villain who is finally getting a big-screen adaptation. On paper, this sounds like an exciting action film, given that, without any context, one might assume Batman would be in it, especially since it’s set in Gotham City. That’s an easy assumption to make, considering that even a younger Bruce Wayne appeared in Joker. Hate to break it to you if you were looking forward to seeing the Dark Knight take on the shapeshifting monster, but aside from the occasional gunfire and street brawl, this comic-book film doesn’t feature the big, epic action scenes you’d expect from the genre. Plus, there’s no Batman, either. So, what can you expect from Clayface? A weird body-horror film that serves as a cautionary tale about pursuing not only vanity but revenge as well.

Before I get to my Catholic perspective on this comic-book film, I want to address my basic critiques of Clayface. I will say that this is a villain origin story I enjoyed quite a lot, at least more than other villain origin stories I’ve seen in years past. I wouldn’t say it’s perfect, though, but I’m getting ahead of myself. What makes this one stand out from films such as Morbius and Kraven is that it doesn’t try to sugarcoat the nature of Clayface himself. In other words, instead of giving us a story that sympathizes with the devil, where we see the villain’s good side emerge toward the end and start to view him as an antihero, we watch an ordinary person descend into villainy. Granted, there are moments when Matt is relatable, but the film doesn’t try to make you feel that you should be on his side the entire time. Again, this is a cautionary tale, and while I don’t want to spoil anything major because this isn’t a film I want people to stay away from, I will say there isn’t a happy ending. That’s a good thing, because this is a villain origin story.

Earlier, I mentioned that Matt Hagen pursues not just vanity but revenge as well, which got me thinking about how this film is a cautionary tale about the seven deadly sins and the ways they can lead to a person’s downfall. Apart from sloth and gluttony, Matt displays the other five deadly sins at different stages of the film. At the beginning, he gives in to lust through a one-night stand, which becomes the catalyst for the events that follow. From there, greed, envy, and pride come into play during the treatment process. Finally, wrath takes over when Matt seeks revenge against those who wronged him. Pride and wrath are the two sins that stand out most to me, with wrath becoming especially destructive. It can be difficult to resist these sins in daily life, and all of us have fallen into them to varying degrees. That is why we should remain aware of our temptations and strive to resist them. Otherwise, sin can lead us away from God and cause us to lose ourselves in the process.

If there’s anything I found disappointing about Clayface, it’s the way the film handles its surreal body horror. While I enjoyed the surreal elements, I feel the filmmakers could have gone a bit further with the body horror itself. As I watched, another body-horror film kept coming to mind: The Substance (2024). For those who haven’t seen or heard of it, The Substance features a grotesque third act reminiscent of films such as The Fly (1986) and The Thing (1982). The reason Clayface reminded me of The Substance, rather than those other films, is that both stories explore the pursuit of vanity, though the latter film approaches that pursuit in a more innocent way. If you’ve seen it, you’ll know what I mean. Clayface does get very surreal toward the end, but that’s the problem: it happens in what feels like the blink of an eye. While I enjoyed that particular creepy moment, I wish we’d had a bit more time to linger on the body-horror sequence. But that’s just me.

Despite the film not going above and beyond with its body horror, I enjoyed what I saw and appreciated the filmmakers’ approach to Clayface. They make him a villain, not someone to root for, and use his story as a cautionary tale. While exploring new horror films to watch this Halloween, I noticed a lack of new, or at least decent, horror releases. Even some streaming services haven’t put out anything new, unless I missed one, which is saying a lot given how much material that might not merit a theatrical release ends up there. What I’m getting at is that if you’re in the mood for a different kind of horror film, namely body horror, during spooky season, then Clayface might fill that void. Plus, if you’re someone who wants to watch every comic-book film to stay in the loop, Clayface is one of those films. As I mentioned earlier, it’s part of DC Studios’ rebooted universe featuring DC Comics characters, which began with Superman (2025). Technically, Clayface is the third entry, as Supergirl (2026) was the second, but you don’t have to watch Supergirl first to understand this film, assuming you haven’t seen it yet. Then again, I think it’s safe to assume that plenty of people haven’t, because Clayface is on track to outperform Supergirl at the box office. It’s a sad but true reflection of audience tastes that people would rather turn out for a comic-book villain film than a comic-book hero film. Then again, Clayface was the better film of the two, though you can be the judge of that for yourself.