DC's Clayface Movie Should Take Inspiration From David Cronenberg's The Fly

DC's Clayface Movie Has The Perfect Blueprint In This 40-Year-Old Horror Classic

Published Oct 10, 2026, 11:55 AM EDT

Padraig is a Senior Features Writer and has been part of Screen Rant since 2017. Padraig is a writer, editor and retired Game of Thrones extra who has been writing about movies and TV online for over a decade. He has also written for The Irish Times, Den Of Geek, Little White Lies and many more. It's pronounced Paw-rick, BTW.

DC's big body horror experiment with Clayface has the perfect inspiration in one of the genre's best outings. David Cronenberg movies are considered ground zero for the entire body horror subgenre, where many of the protagonists of his earliest work underwent disturbing physical transformations. The likes of Scanners or Videodrome became infamous for their graphic scenes of bodies being twisted into unnatural shapes.

The 1980s were a particularly potent time for the body horror movie genre, with the shapeshifting alien creature from John Carpenter's The Thing taking things to a new level. One of the most haunting entries from this period is Cronenberg's The Fly, which, like The Thing before it, was a remake of a cult '50s B-movie.

Looking back on Cronenberg's 1986 horror, it's almost shocking how straightforward it is. The story essentially only has three characters, and follows a scientist (played by Jeff Goldblum) who starts to rapidly mutate after his genes get mixed with a housefly during a teleportation experiment. The film is now considered the defining text of the body horror category, and one that heavily inspired DC's latest movie, Clayface.

DC's Clayface Explained

Clayface was born from a pitch by director Mike Flanagan (Carrie), who felt there was a great standalone horror tale to be crafted around this Batman villain. While Flanagan penned a screenplay, he later revealed that Clayface helmer James Watkins (Speak No Evil) took the project in a different direction. The story involves an upcoming actor named Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries), who agrees to undergo an experimental procedure after his face is viciously disfigured by the mob.

This makes Matt's skin into an adjustable, almost clay-like substance, which soon begins to mutate and turn him into a melting, gooey monstrosity. While it might take place in the same world as James Gunn's Superman, Clayface is not intended as a superhero blockbuster in the slightest. It's unlikely Batman or any of the other famous rogues' gallery will turn up either, and the plot will follow Matt's revenge rampage as his body starts to break down.

It's a slightly risky project for DC, but with an estimated $40 million budget, it's an experiment worth taking - unlike the one poor Matt Hagen tries. If Clayface is a hit, this will hopefully lead to more DC outings that play around in different genres.

Why Cronenberg's The Fly Should Be An Influence

Clayface might be seen as one of the lesser Batman villains, but that's only because the Caped Crusader has one of the best rosters of antagonists of any superhero. Flanagan was right to pinpoint the potential inherent in a standalone origin story for Clayface. The core theme of the character is a juicy one, since actors fundamentally mold themselves like clay into different characters and personas anyway.

So, it stands to reason that a vain, handsome young star would turn to an experimental procedure if their main selling point (i.e., their face) was taken away. Matt's journey is also a mirror to Jeff Goldblum's doomed scientist Seth in The Fly. While it sure wasn't Seth's intention to get fused with a fly, he is initially revitalized by his first teleportation experience, feeling reborn by it.

Of course, he is soon pulling out fingernails and teeth as his disintegration begins. Clayface's James Watkins has already cited The Fly and other horror classics like The Invisible Man as influences on his DC outing, and it's not hard to see how much it pulls from Cronenberg's masterpiece.

Hopefully one thing this DC adventure will nail is the emotion involved, as for all the gory effects and creature transformations in The Fly, Cronenberg's film is a heartbreaking drama at its core. It's fundamentally about a vibrant young man contracting a fatal illness well before his time and the effect his inevitable demise has on his loved ones, so if Clayface can tap into something other than visceral horror, it might just break through with audiences.

• 

  Clayface

  Release Date

  October 23, 2026

  Runtime

  108 Minutes

  • 

    Tom Rhys Harries

    Matt Hagen / Clayface

  • 

    Naomi Ackie

    Dr. Caitlin Bates

  • 

    David Dencik

  • 

    Max Minghella

  An upcoming DCU feature film based on the shapeshifting Batman villain Clayface, purportedly combining tragedy and body horror.

• 

  The Fly

  

  10/10

  Release Date

  August 15, 1986

  Runtime

  96 minutes

  • 

    Seth Brundle

  • 

    Geena Davis

    Veronica Quaife

  The Fly follows brilliant but eccentric scientist Seth Brundle, whose groundbreaking teleportation experiments take a horrifying turn after a housefly accidentally enters one of his machines during a test. As Brundle undergoes a terrifying physical and psychological transformation, he struggles to stop the irreversible consequences of his own invention before it destroys everything he holds dear.