10 Best Movies To Watch If You Like Clayface

Matt Hagen has barely had time to celebrate his first Oscar nomination when Gotham crime boss Markos Szabo destroys his face in Clayface. After Matt sleeps with Szabo's girlfriend, the mobster attacks him with a blade, leaving him so badly disfigured that reconstructive surgery can't repair the damage. Years of working toward a successful acting career, and now Matt might never appear on screen again. When Dr. Caitlyn Corr offers him an experimental treatment that could restore his appearance, Matt agrees. He has no way of knowing what he's getting himself into.

At first, the treatment seems to give Matt exactly what he wanted. He can change his face, even making himself look like other people. But his flesh soon starts shifting without warning, and keeping his body under control becomes a struggle. Matt hasn't forgotten what Szabo did to him, either, and he wants everyone who helped destroy his career to pay for it. It's hard to blame him for being angry, especially after everything he's lost. But once Matt starts going after people he's known since childhood, it's harder to defend what he's doing, no matter how badly they betrayed him.

The cruel thing about Clayface is that Matt finally has the power to look like anyone, but all he really wanted was to look like himself again and keep acting. Instead, he's left trying to control a body that won't cooperate while his career and friendships slip further away.

It's a miserable situation, and there are plenty of other movies that put their characters through something similar, or explore similar themes tied to identity and appearance. Some go much further with body horror, while others show how badly people can ruin their lives trying to fix something they hate about themselves.

10 The Invisible Man (2020)

Cecilia Kass has finally escaped her abusive boyfriend in The Invisible Man, but even his apparent suicide doesn't bring her much relief. Someone starts pulling the covers off her while she sleeps, turning up the heat on the stove, and moving things around her house. Cecilia knows she's not imagining it, but nobody believes her when she insists her ex is still alive and tormenting her.

When Cecilia throws paint across the attic and briefly reveals the person who's been following her, you almost wish someone else had been there to see it. She's finally got proof, but it disappears before she can show anyone. Cecilia isn't losing control of her own body like Matt does in Clayface, but she's just as desperate to get her life back, and neither can seem to make that happen, which leads to The Invisible Man's terrifying and twist-filled ending.

9 The Blob (1988)

The creature in The Blob doesn't give its victims much chance of surviving once it gets hold of them. When Paul is attacked at the hospital, Meg grabs his arm and tries to pull him free, only to watch the Blob dissolve his body right in front of her. Later, the Blob forces another victim headfirst through a sink drain, crushing his body as it pulls him through the narrow opening.

The Blob's body never stops changing, much like Matt's in Clayface. The difference is that Matt is desperately trying to hold his human form together, while the Blob's abilities mean it just keeps growing, absorbing everything and everyone in its path.

8 Possessor (2020)

Tasya Vos can take over someone else's body to commit murder, but in Possessor, she's having trouble acting like herself when she's not working. Before visiting her husband and son, she sits alone rehearsing what she's going to say to them, including a regular conversation about a butterfly. It's unsettling to watch someone who can convincingly impersonate complete strangers struggle to speak naturally to her own family. Worse, the more time Tasya spends living as other people, the less comfortable she seems being herself.

Things get even worse when Tasya takes over Colin Tate's body, only for him to start fighting her for control. She can see through his eyes and move his body, but Colin isn't willing to let her use him to commit murder, culminating in Possessor's brutal and unforgettable ending. It's a little like watching Matt struggle with his changing body in Clayface. Neither can rely on their body doing what they want anymore. The difference is that Tasya has someone actively fighting against her, and she's trapped inside him when he starts taking control back.

7 Joker (2019)

Arthur Fleck has been pushed around so often in Joker that you almost expect him to snap eventually. When three men start harassing him on the subway, they have no idea he's carrying a gun. He shoots two of them inside the train, then follows the third man onto the platform and shoots him as he tries to escape.

It's hard to feel the same sympathy for Arthur after watching him chase down someone who's no longer a threat, especially as his behavior begins to escalate up to the point of his appearance on Murray Franklin's talk show.

Arthur's downfall is worth watching if you find yourself losing sympathy for Matt in Clayface. Both have good reasons to be angry about what happened to them, but eventually they start taking that anger out on people who don't deserve it. By then, it's hard to keep hoping things will work out for either of them.

6 The Thing (1982)

Trying to save someone's life shouldn't end with losing both your arms, but that's what happens to Dr. Copper in The Thing. When Copper presses a defibrillator's paddles against Norris' chest, it splits open and bites down on his arms. Norris' head somehow makes things worse by breaking away from his body, growing spider-like legs, and trying to escape. By the time Palmer suggests burning it, you're probably wondering why nobody thought of that sooner.

In Clayface, Matt struggles to keep his own face from changing. The men in The Thing have the opposite problem. They can't tell whether the faces around them still belong to the people they've known for months. Someone could be sitting beside them at dinner, looking and talking exactly as they always have, only to reveal they're an alien the moment they're threatened. After watching what happens to Norris, you can understand why nobody wants to be alone with anyone else.

5 A Different Man (2024)

Edward should be enjoying his new life in A Different Man. An experimental treatment has changed his disfigured face, and he can finally walk down the street without people staring at him. But when he auditions for a play written by his former neighbor Ingrid, things get uncomfortable.

The play is based on his old life, and Edward ends up competing with Oswald, an actor who has a similar facial condition but none of his insecurities. Edward spent years wishing he looked different, and now he can't stand watching someone with his old appearance get the opportunities he thought were out of reach.

Matt wants his old face back in Clayface, while Edward gets a new one and still isn't happy. Both men put their hopes in experimental treatments, but Edward's problems don't disappear with his disfigurement.

4 The Substance (2024)

Watching Elisabeth Sparkle get pushed out of her own fitness show in The Substance is infuriating, especially when her boss makes it clear that turning 50 is enough to cost her the job. She's spent years building her career, and now someone younger gets to take her place. Elisabeth eventually tries a mysterious substance that produces a younger version of herself named Sue.

Sue is supposed to switch places with Elisabeth every seven days, but she keeps staying out longer. Elisabeth wakes up with an aged, disfigured finger after Sue's first violation, and the damage only gets worse each time Sue refuses to give up her turn.

Elisabeth and Matt in Clayface both risk their bodies to save their acting careers. Neither expects the treatment to leave them looking worse than before.

3 The Fly (1986)

Watching Seth Brundle fall apart in The Fly is awful, especially when he starts keeping the pieces of himself that are falling off. He puts his teeth, fingernails, and other body parts into jars inside his medicine cabinet, almost like he's trying to keep track of what's left of him.

Fellow scientist Veronica can barely stand to look at what he's becoming, but she still cares about him. When Seth starts suggesting that Veronica undergo the same transformation, it's unsettling to realize he can no longer understand why she'd be terrified of becoming like him.

Matt struggles to keep his body from changing in Clayface, but Seth has to watch his slowly deteriorate in The Fly. What makes Seth's situation even sadder is that Veronica still wants to help him, even as he becomes someone she's increasingly afraid to be around.

2 The Elephant Man (1980)

One of the saddest moments in The Elephant Man comes when John Merrick is cornered by a crowd at a train station. People stare at his disfigured face, chase him through the station, and refuse to leave him alone even as he tries to escape. When he finally cries out that he's a human being, it's sad knowing he has to remind people of something that should be obvious.

Matt's face is changed after an attack in Clayface, but John has spent his entire life dealing with people who treat him cruelly because of his appearance. Matt wants revenge, even going so far as to murder a childhood friend who betrayed him. John, meanwhile, is thrilled just to attend the theater and be treated like any other guest. After everything he's endured, it's heartbreaking how much those ordinary experiences mean to him.

1 Darkman (1990)

Peyton Westlake's synthetic skin lets him disguise himself as almost anyone in Darkman, although there's one frustrating problem he hasn't figured out how to fix. The synthetic skin he creates only lasts 99 minutes in daylight before it starts falling apart.

During a carnival date with his girlfriend Julie, Peyton loses his temper after a vendor refuses to give him a stuffed elephant he'd won for her. Peyton snaps and breaks the vendor's fingers, leaving Julie staring at him in horror. She's relieved to have him back after believing he'd died, but now she's seeing a side of him she doesn't recognize.

Peyton has a lot in common with Matt in Clayface. Both are left disfigured by criminals, and both discover ways to make their faces look like they did before again. But Peyton's outburst at the carnival shows the same problem Matt faces. Being able to look like their old selves doesn't mean they can behave like them, and the people closest to them are the first to notice.

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  Tom Rhys Harries

  Matt Hagen / Clayface

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  Naomi Ackie

  Dr. Caitlin Bates