DC’s first horror movie is nearly here, and the reactions calling it “shockingly gruesome” and the “Joker meets The Substance” are absolutely correct. It’s Clayface's scary trailer set me up for what to expect, but the movie goes even harder on the gore than I would have guessed for the latest of upcoming DC movies. So I had to ask the director about it.
James Watkins has made some chilling movies in his career thus far, from The Woman in Black to Speak No Evil. But was there ever a time where he was worried about going too far with the body horror-forward comic book movie? Here’s what he told CinemaBlend:
I was mindful of the kind of catalyst action when the violence on Matt and his face [happens]. You see a bit and you could see a lot more, but, you see a fair bit. But, also with both what you see and what you hear, that was the trickiest scene in terms of getting the balance because it's a horrific thing that's happening.
Clayface follows actor Matt Hagen (played by newcomer Tom Rhys Harries), who recently got his big break in Hollywood. However, after making the wrong person mad, his face is completely disfigured and his reputation is ruined. In his desperation, he seeks out fringe scientist Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie) to help him restore his face back to normal. She agrees to do a procedure on him that has yet to go into human trials, and the results are nightmarish.
As Watkins shared with us, the scene where Matt is disfigured was the one scene where he worried about getting right the most. As he added:
I could have gone a lot further, but at the same time, I thought that was enough. I didn't wanna go further. I didn't wanna show any more… It's a balance, because you wanna give people the rollercoaster ride, but I don't want people walking out.
When I watched Clayface, I certainly found myself watching through my fingers at some point. Particularly, the scene teased in the trailers where Matt has to take some scissors to his eyes while in a plane. That one absolutely doesn’t disappoint. It was so fun to watch with an audience though because so many of us were squealing over the stressful scenes together.
I found there to be a solid balance there between grossing us out keeping us in the theater. By the way, I think it’s genius that the popcorn bucket gives you a hand to hold, because you might need it to get through all the violent moments.
Clayface is the third movie in James Gunn’s new era of DC films that started with Superman and Supergirl, and is based on an iconic DC villain. This is definitely the most inventive of the movies yet, and I hope it finds success so we get more mid-budget horror DC projects like it.
At this point, there’s been so so many comic book movies, and I want to see movies like Clayface redefine what we expect from them. You can experience the new movie yourself when it hits theaters this weekend as part of the 2026 movie release list. Moviegoers decide if the horror level was too much, not enough or just right.
