Clayface 2026 Review (SPOILERS!!!)

After episode 5 of Creature Commandos introduced us to him in December of 2024, and leaked set photos from filming back in 2025, Clayface has finally been released to theaters. This review will be going into spoilers, so if you haven’t seen it, turn back now! Okay… all safe? Let’s get into it!

Written by Mike Flanagan and directed by James Watkins, Clayface 2026 resembles Clayface’s story from the Batman Animated series more than anything else. With an R rating, the film is able to fully embrace the nature of the character, and show some things you might not be used to seeing in a DC movie. The difference in tone between Clayface and 2025’s Superman is as drastic as night and day. 

We start the film meeting Matt Hagen, a rising star who got his first nomination for an Oscar. While in Gotham for a red carpet, he and his best friend Corey visit a club to party where Matt meets Mia Torezz, a woman at the club that tries to seduce him. Despite his best friend’s warning that Mia is the girlfriend of mob boss Markos Szabo, Matt takes her back to his place anyways. The next morning, Markos and his mob goons stand over the sleeping actor, waiting for him to awake. And when he does, they carve up his face with brutality reminiscent of Robo-Cop and officer Murphy’s death. Matt Hagen is rushed to the hospital where he receives multiple face surgeries from a doctor paid by his lawyer. Yet 6 surgeries later, Matt looks worse than he did before them. Stuck deformed and scarred, Matt and his lawyer take up a civil case with Szabo, but at the end, Szabos walks free. After losing his money in the case, Matt loses his lawyer and his house. Not only that, but he loses his reputation as Mia Torrez states on the news that Matt drugged her, and when she “escaped” her boyfriend Szabo was never there and Matt’s face was fine, suggesting he did it to himself. 

In his new rundown roach infested apartment, Matt sees a magazine article for a miracle drug invented by Dr. Caitlyn Corr. Her drug is made with nano cells that can repair any degrading cells. Despite not being cleared for human trials, Matt convinces her to help him help her. After weeks of injections and treatments Matt’s face returns to normal and Caitlyn’s drug passed human testing. Matt attends the red carpet of a play he was in before they replaced him. After an encounter with his old agent, Matt gets emotional and his eye starts to droop, then his cheek, then lips, until his entire face is melting. He goes to Caitlyn and injects himself with an overdosage of the drug causing it to bind with his cells. Matt is now able to turn into other people and objects, as he starts his quest for revenge. 

I feel like the film slightly rushed the beginning. I feel like we moved past his deformation too quickly, and wish we sat with the tragedy a little longer. But the movie makes up for it with the 2nd and 3rd act. Clayface is a bloody and disturbing thrill, and is a solid 8/10!