Director James Watkins has made a proper body horror film, and its best moments are the ones in which Matt Hagen’s face is disfigured and he then acquires the supernatural-tech powers of Clayface. These sequences are fascinating and, more often than not, genuinely unnerving. The practical effects give every transformation a wet, tactile weight that digital polish rarely achieves. The slashing, blood and gore are brutal enough to invite comparison with Gaspar Noé’s Irreversible, and Watkins finds creative, unsettling uses for Clayface’s abilities rather than treating them as a visual gimmick.

At the centre is Tom Rhys Harries, who is exceptional. He begins as a likeable, positive actor and ends as a deplorable mental health nightmare. The film’s smartest idea is that Hagen is not evil by choice but by necessity, pushed there by constant suffering, and Harries sells every step of that slide. By sheer intensity, this Clayface is more psychotic than Mystique has ever been in the X-Men films. His self-annihilating journey is also more disturbed and unhealthy than the Jokers of Joaquin Phoenix or Heath Ledger. There are shades of Rorschach from Watchmen here, and the grey menace of Hannibal Lecter (Silence Of The Lambs) and Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver), which makes the character far more engaging than a standard comic-book baddie.

The supporting cast holds up well. Naomi Ackie is top notch as Dr Caitlin Corr, the central presence who keeps Hagen, and the audience, at the edge of the seat. Max Minghella is likeable as a cop in a smaller but important role. David Dencik is vile enough as mob boss Szabo, but the part needed a little more unhinged charisma than what he managed onscreen.

Watkins deserves credit for deconstructing Hagen and showing how a DC villain is built from tragedy. The film is a standalone horror story that needs no franchise homework, which is a welcome change of texture for the DC Universe.

Where it slips is the screenplay. At 109 minutes the film is lean, almost too lean. It could have run another ten minutes and used them on more breakdown scenes charting Hagen’s descent into madness. The performance earns that room, and a few familiar story beats might have felt fresher with it. The film shows us the destination more convincingly than the journey. Perhaps even a more direct call out to Batman or Bruce Wayne would have added that extra payoff for the fans.