The third feature in James Gunn’s rebooted DCU after Superman, and Supergirl might seem like a bit of an odd choice. A comic book movie dressed as a horror/thriller focused on a lesser known Batman villain, with no superhero for him to butt squishy heads with, Clayface is a difficult sell from the off.
With a predominantly British cast, including a largely unknown lead in Tom Rhys Harries as upcoming Hollywood star Matt Hagen, Clayface isn’t currently recognisable as part of the colourful Superman universe, and certainly doesn’t fit within Matt Reeves's Batman world - what will happen to old pottery chops next remains to be seen.
However, there is ample talent behind the camera which makes it a more interesting prospect. With a script written by Drive scribe Hossein Amini and modern horror royalty Mike Flanagan, Reeves on board as one of the producers, and Woman in Black, Eden Lake and Speak No Evil’s James Watkins on directing duties, Clayface has a lot more going for it than it might seem at (mutilated) face value.
What results is a so-so film that’s probably about as good as it was ever going to be. Welsh actor Rhys Harris is charismatic as Hagen, an actor on the cusp of the big time, who in a moment of hedonism and hubris, sleeps with the wrong girl. When her mob boss boyfriend Szabo (David Dencik) finds out, he enacts a cruel and violent revenge on Hagen’s pretty face, leaving him badly deformed.
When Hagen’s attempts to bring Szabo to justice via the police fail due to the gangster’s ability to reach his tendrils into all levels of authority, Hagen is destitute, abandoned by his agent and management and without a career to return to.
A glimmer of hope comes from Naomi Ackie’s Doctor Caitlyn Corr who is working on an experimental treatment involving AI cells which she’s hoping will enable patients to quickly and efficiently regenerate tissue. Of course, it’s not been tested on humans yet…
Watkins's film leans heavily into body horror, channelling The Fly (though this is a far lesser movie), so while there are a total of two decent jump scares, Clayface is disgusting rather than frightening. It’s also lacking in peril since our protagonist is virtually unkillable by the end. Instead it’s a very gory revenge movie, as Hagen/aka Clayface picks off those who have wronged him in increasingly outrageous ways, while experiencing grotesque side effects (the kills are good and will elicit cheers and eeks from a horror audience).
View Green Video on the source websiteAckie is sympathetic as the doctor who is giddy at her scientific breakthrough but flirting with danger in her burgeoning feelings for Hagen despite being engaged to decent cop John, played by Max Minghella. The arc here is less about Hagen’s vengeful rampage and more his descent into hell. How does fame and beauty weigh against humanity? And at what point will Hagen finally become the truly monstrous Clayface and not just a victim of circumstance and a few bad decisions?
Tonally unbalanced, wanting to mix humour and pathos with the horror and not quite managing it, Clayface does well with its effects, some of which are necessarily CG, but by nature it's an origin story that goes nowhere.
Really the character would have been better introduced as a subplot in a bigger movie, allowing us to enjoy the tension between this indestructible force who isn’t intrinsically evil, and our Caped Crusader who is human, fallible but endlessly resourceful. Better than Marvel equivalents Morbius, Kraven the Hunter et al, Clayface is pacey, gross but unremarkable.
Clayface is out now in cinemas.
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