There’s no doubt about it, Clayface is a brave experiment for the DCU franchise to make so early in its lifespan. With only its third ever theatrical release, James Gunn’s rebooted DC universe is delivering a comic book-flavored horror film, one based on a C-list Batman villain. To say it’s a gamble would be a massive understatement, especially after the unfortunate financial failure of Supergirl this past summer.

On the other hand, Clayface’s slim $30-40 million budget means that it’s not expected to work miracles, and anything north of three figures would ensure it turns a profit. Plus, it’s not like DC hasn’t found success with movies starring Batman villains before. In fact, 2019’s Joker was the last DC movie to cross $1 billion at the box office. In execution, however, Clayface is less like Joker and more like a spiritual successor to an 18-year-old movie from Marvel Studios.

A classic Batman villain gets his own movie, but some fans might be confused about where and when it's supposed to take place.

Clayface ’s marketing has proudly proclaimed it to be a superhero horror movie, but to be entirely accurate, it's really a superhero monster movie. In following a tragic character who becomes cursed with a disfiguring ailment that erodes their sanity, Clayface is very consciously drawing on the grand tradition of the Universal Monsters movies, starring such iconic characters as the Wolfman and Jekyll and Hyde. Director James Watkins has even confirmed that he included deliberate visual references to both Frankenstein’s Monster and Invisible Man in his film.

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