How Sam Raimi’s ‘Extreme’ Horror Shaped DCU’s Darkest Movie Yet

According to Clayface director James Watkins, the upcoming DC movie was inspired by several elements from Sam Raimi’s horror films. In a recent interview, the English filmmaker opened up about how the creator of the Evil Dead franchise impacted the creation of Clayface.

James Watkins explains Sam Raimi’s influence on DCU’s Clayface

While speaking to Empire, James Watkins revealed that the “ridiculousness” and “extreme” nature of Sam Raimi’s horror inspired him to add a similar tone to his upcoming movie about the Batman villain Clayface.

“There were definitely some Sam Raimi influences,” the 53-year-old director remarked. “The way that Sam Raimi can push horror almost to ridiculousness, and humor. I mean ridiculousness in a good way. But pushing it where we’re all walking that line of ‘Oh man, this is extreme, and we know it’s extreme and we’re in it together.’ The boldness of what he does. There are a couple of Sam Raimi sequences, as it were.”

He also named another well-known filmmaker as another inspiration for the film’s look. “The other person for me that’s probably a massive inspiration for me is Brian De Palma,” Watkins remarked. “And that’s probably a less obvious one. You’ll see when you see the movie how he creates his Mise-en-scène, how he uses the camera.”

The Clayface director continued, “Rob Hardy, the cinematographer — brilliant cinematographer — and I spent a lot of time looking at a lot of [Martin] Scorsese, and we looked at a lot of Brian De Palma.”

Clayface will revolve around the journey of an up-and-coming actor who is brutally disfigured in a violent incident. In hopes of fixing his appearance, Matt Hagen, played by Tom Rhys, decides to volunteer as a test subject in a risky experiment. The side effects of the procedure transform him into a shape-shifting entity.

The Clayface movie is currently on track to premiere in theaters on October 23, 2026.