Parents' Guide to Clayface

It's tempting to write this comic book-horror film off as a Morbius-like trifle, but it has more going on than skin-deep thrills. Clayface director James Watkins delights in detailing the deterioration and reconstitution of Matt's body as his powers take shape, watching his emotional state melt and fuse his body in various horrifying ways. Then, as Matt learns to control his newfound powers, he gives viewers one delicious revenge scene after another as he takes apart his nemesis' criminal enterprise from the inside, impersonating his targets with both his powers and his uncanny acting skills. It's in this second half of the film that all of Watkins' table-setting pays off, culminating in a nightclub set piece that shows off the full range of Clayface's powers.

In the wake of the success of films like Joker, DC Studios has clearly been gunning for more experiments focusing on The Caped Crusader's rogues' gallery. In Clayface, we get something that plays on the body horror of Sam Raimi's Darkman and David Cronenberg's The Fly, a tale of desperate people playing God and exploring the brittle connection between self and body. Matt is an antihero, a tragic figure driven to villainy and revenge by the massive betrayals from everyone around him; Harries plays this slowly unraveling desperation well, working invitingly against Ackie's resolute, morally conflicted scientist. While the movie suffers from some first-act pacing and a lack of compelling supporting characters, its creative visual effects and a strong central performance mold Clayface into one of the new DC Studios' more assured efforts to date.