{"id":3699,"date":"2026-11-06T19:39:56","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T19:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/?p=3699"},"modified":"2026-11-07T04:13:39","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T04:13:39","slug":"clayface-unveiled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/2026\/11\/06\/clayface-unveiled\/","title":{"rendered":"Clayface unveiled"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Jackson Van Zyle <\/a>\u00b7 Contributing Writer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Clayface
Clayface actor Tom Rhys Harries looks on. (DC Studios)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sixteen years ago, Heath Ledger\u2019s Joker once said, \u201cWhatever doesn\u2019t kill you makes you \u2026 stranger.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This quote exemplifies the character of Clayface better than most in Batman\u2019s Rogues Gallery and no more so in his cinematic debut this past week. Clayface is a character who rests on the lower tier of Batman villains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this latest movie from DC Studios has a remarkably diverse pedigree: horror maestro Mike Flanagan (\u201cThe Haunting of Hill House,\u201d \u201cMidnight Mass\u201d) is the writer and catalyst for the existence of this movie, and Matt Reeves, the acclaimed director of 2022\u2019s \u201cThe Batman,\u201d contributes as a producer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClayface\u201d follows Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries), a rising young actor whose life collapses after Gotham mob boss Markos Szabo (David Dencik) carves up his face. Hagen loses his career, his money and his Academy Award, and a corrupt police force offers no justice. Desperate, he volunteers as a test subject for Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie), a scientist researching treatments for degenerative conditions like Huntington\u2019s disease. The treatment begins restoring his face, and he starts to hope that his old life might return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Hagen overdoses on the medication and discovers his body can now heal from any injury. As he grows more unstable, his thoughts turn to revenge, and he tears through Szabo\u2019s network of minions, becoming more monstrous in both power and behavior with each kill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClayface\u201ddoes not fit into one genre, which may hurt people\u2019s enthusiasm for a movie heavily marketed as horror. The influences on the film each contribute an element to the world, including Flanagan\u2019s original script that convinced Warner Bros. to greenlight the film, director James Watkins\u2019 interpretation of his script and the creative input from Reeves, James Gunn and the other producers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cClayface\u201d has some bold body horror elements that will scratch an itch for fans of the genre but does not commit to the level of full-on horror like \u201cThe Fly\u201dor \u201cThe Substance.\u201d Neither does the film lean fully into the esoteric supervillain subgenre popularized by \u201cJoker\u201d and \u201cThe Penguin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics have argued that the film\u2019s failure to commit to a genre is its greatest weakness. On the contrary, the dynamic direction of the film is oddly reminiscent of Clayface himself. The film does not let you categorize it as body horror, a thriller, a supervillain film or a tragedy. Rather, \u201cClayface\u201d forces you to accept the movie on its own terms, and that is the only way Matt Hagen would want you to watch his movie: on his terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movie itself has some rough pacing issues at the beginning but begins to find its groove as the film goes on. \u201cClayface\u201d is at its peak when Harries, a newcomer to franchise movies, confronts what kind of monster he is becoming but continues to pursue his downward course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film has a wide variety of set pieces used in Clayface\u2019s murders. One of the most memorable scenes from the movie is Hagen fighting his way through a squad of Szabo\u2019s men in the middle of a rave in a club, making full use of his powers as Clayface, all the while dancing with moves so smooth, they can only be described as the superhero genre\u2019s answer to Jenna Ortega\u2019s famous dance in \u201cWednesday.\u201d Despite this and other moments of stylized action, the movie is committed to making Hagen a tragic villain and not a violent antihero a la Venom and Morbius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In short, \u201cClayface\u201d has some issues at the beginning with some wooden dialogue and odd narrative choices but finds an authentic identity unique amongst any DC Comics film in recent memory, giving fans the experience of looking fear in the face.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jackson Van Zyle \u00b7 Contributing Writer Sixteen years ago, Heath Ledger\u2019s Joker once said, \u201cWhatever doesn\u2019t kill you makes you \u2026 stranger.\u201d This quote exemplifies the character of Clayface better than most in Batman\u2019s Rogues Gallery and no more so in his cinematic debut this past week. Clayface is a character who rests on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3705,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[220],"tags":[21,319,258,308],"class_list":["post-3699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-jackson-van-zyle","tag-movies-tv","tag-nov-6-2026-edition"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/11\/image-1.webp",1920,1080,false],"thumbnail":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/11\/image-1-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/11\/image-1-300x169.webp",300,169,true],"medium_large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/11\/image-1-768x432.webp",768,432,true],"large":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/11\/image-1-1024x576.webp",1024,576,true],"1536x1536":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/11\/image-1-1536x864.webp",1536,864,true],"2048x2048":["\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2026\/11\/image-1.webp",1920,1080,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"elvinrj23","author_link":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/author\/elvinrj23\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Jackson Van Zyle \u00b7 Contributing Writer Sixteen years ago, Heath Ledger\u2019s Joker once said, \u201cWhatever doesn\u2019t kill you makes you \u2026 stranger.\u201d This quote exemplifies the character of Clayface better than most in Batman\u2019s Rogues Gallery and no more so in his cinematic debut this past week. Clayface is a character who rests on…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3699"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3720,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3699\/revisions\/3720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuorgs2.gcc.edu\/thecollegian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}