In Clayface, the origin story of a DC Comics villain that as yet has nothing to do with superheroes, we meet Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries), a Hollywood actor who is on top of the world. At least for the first 10 minutes of the movie.

Hagen is a good, young man with talent who has just been nominated for an Academy Award. One night, though, he gets enamoured by the wrong woman at the dance club: Mia Torrez (Joana Ribeiro), an up-and-coming actress, and the moll of mobster Markos Szabo (David Dencik).

Short-tempered and quick at retribution, Szabo disfigures Matt’s face so badly that very night that no doctor or reconstructive surgery can fix it. His career, as one expects, dries up, and the once-promising actor finds himself nearly on the streets, with no saviour.

That is, until Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie) comes to Matt’s rescue with an experimental technique involving nanites — micro-machines that can hold the molecules of his face in place. Until, that is, he gets angry, agitated or excited. Matt’s face melts, and he slowly slides into madness, thrusting this tragic, body-horror story into a madman’s tale of identity disorder.

Despite not being as absorbing as one hoped, DC’s villain-origin story Clayface may be a career-making film for lead actor Tom Rhys Harries

Actually, scratch out ‘slowly’ and ‘madness’. This version of the film’s screenplay, re-adjusted by screenwriter Hossein Amini (Drive, 47 Ronin, Snow White and the Huntsman) and directed by James Watkins (Speak No Evil, The Woman in Black) feels like its pace was amped up, as if it had somewhere to go fast.

The film could have benefited from prior screenwriter Mike Flanagan’s slower, more deliberate touch. Flanagan, right now one of the best horror writer-directors in Hollywood, has previously directed Oculus and Doctor Sleep — though the better part of his filmography lies in the streaming series The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Fall of the House of Usher and, recently, Carrie. As a director, Flanagan could not continue with the project because of scheduling conflicts.

The thing is, one can see Flanagan’s touch in the film’s underbelly, as Clayface explores themes of vanity, loss of identity, and the ruthless commodification of human appearance within the entertainment industry. But The Substance this film ain’t, nor is it a horror like The Fly. The story lands somewhere in the middle, and therefore feels less explored than it could have been.

While Watkins and Amini finish the plot in an unengaging, paint-by-numbers order — one can guess where each scene lands way beforehand — they, and the underlying material, give lead actor Harries a platform to push his career into the Hollywood spotlight.

I — or for that matter, maybe the world — haven’t been quite aware of Harries’ works; he was in the Gerard Butler starrer Kandahar and the Guy Ritchie-directed movie The Gentlemen. Where he goes next from here is what people will probably note.

Despite not being as absorbing as one hoped, Clayface is Harries’ career-making film. The young actor — with the material’s help — has given Hagen a certain sympathetic depth that the material never fully explores. Other actors, such as Max Minghella, who plays a police detective named John Borrelli, unfortunately, get the short end of the stick. In fact, all other characters, including Dr Corr, get that treatment. The film is designed to be a one-man show.

Irrespective of the spotlight, one would have felt more for the characters if the film veered more into a darker narrative that wasn’t as clichéd and predictable as any other villain story. In fact, at one time, I was afraid that Clayface would turn into Morbius. That it didn’t makes me believe that DC’s current lot still has some intellect left in its machinery.

Distributed internationally by Warner Bros and released in Pakistan via HKC Entertainment, Clayface carries a “PG” rating, though I would give it an “A” — or a “PG-13” at least — for its dark theme. Children should be cautioned

The writer is Icon’s primary film reviewer

Published in Dawn, ICON, November 8th, 2026