Review: Clayface

The first trailer for Clayface became something of a talking point when it was released — for obvious reasons. A Batman villain granted his own origin film that also looked to be something very different. I’m honestly tired of superhero movies (and series) but follow developments with interest and still watch much of what is released. I like the Spider-Man films and I’m always interested in Batmans corner of the DC Universe. I’ve always liked him as a hero and he has many interesting enemies. Clayface is one I actually had a very poor grasp on. I had no memory of him, even though he’s surely in a few episodes of the animated Batman series I grew up with. Perhaps it’s because I also mix him up with the Spider-Man enemy Sandman. Enough about that. Here, DC Studios showed off a new trick — offering the adult audience an origin film that is actually a body horror.

The plot: Matt Hagens rocket career, from street kid in Gotham to Hollywood’s leading rising star, comes to a tragic end when a mafia boss’s brutal actions leave him severely disfigured. Abandoned by his team and with nothing left to lose, Matt seeks out a groundbreaking treatment that miraculously restores him to his former self. But the treatment also unexpectedly affects his perception of reality and drives him onto a destructive path, fueled by an obsession with revenge. The question is — does it hold up, or is Clayface the DC body horror no one asked for and that really should have been avoided? We’ll break that down in the following review.

We’ll start with the people behind the camera, and it gets interesting right away. James Watkins is the director. His debut is the dark, anxiety-inducing horror film Eden Lake. Since then, there has been horror with Daniel Radcliffe — The Woman in Black, which I don’t remember much of, generic action with Idris Elba in Bastille Day, which I recall being quite entertaining. Most recently, he directed Speak No Evil, the remake of the Danish film that impressed me greatly — even the remake was actually surprisingly good, even if it ended up far from the original. I really like that they chose a director with experience in the genre. And for the script, none other than the super-hyped Mike Flanagan, who is currently topical with the new Carrie series and soon The Exorcist: Martyrs, and all of Hollywood seems to feel a bit of “take my money, sir” as soon as he opens his mouth. I can find Flanagan a bit overrated in some ways, while the horror fan in me loves that he gets space to play with King books and other things and, after all, does it much better than many others. He co-wrote the script for Clayface with Hossein Amini, who has written everything from Drive to 47 Ronin and the pointless Harry Hole film The Snowman where Michael Fassbender looks chronically bored or constipated for two hours. An interesting choice here as well.

In the lead role, we see Tom Rhys Harries, who has been in things like Kandahar and Britannia. I don’t think I’ve seen him in anything more than the former. I think he plays the role of Matt Hagen really well, even if it, unlike the film’s poor actors, is unlikely to lead to an Oscar nomination. In the role of the dubious injection doctor Caitlyn Corr we see Naomi Ackie from Mickey 17 and Shelter. She is also good, even if some things in the chemistry with Rhys Harries can feel a bit off, but more on that later. Many other interesting actors also appear. Our own David Dencik plays the antagonist, the mafia boss Markos Szabo. It’s a fairly one-dimensional role, but Dencik is always good. Eddie Marsan (it’s impossible to see the name without thinking of custard sauce), Joshua James, Max Minghella. And a number of actors you’ve definitely seen but won’t remember the name of. One I think stands out a bit extra is Corey Johnson as Cadillac Sal. We’ve seen Corey in small roles in Captain Phillips, United 93 and Morbius (but we’d rather forget that one, sorry Daniel Espinosa). He has a small role and I don’t really know if it’s so much about acting as it is about makeup. There’s something about his stringy hair and perhaps the fact that he reminds me a bit of Oswald Cobb a.k.a Penguin. He feels like a character I would have liked to get to know better — not personally, that is.

But enough about that. Let’s start with what might not quite work. There’s something about the chemistry between Matt Hagen and Caitlyn Corr that is a bit off. I don’t know if it’s due to small things like facial expressions that feel strange or if it’s because parts of the dialogue become silly or forced. It doesn’t disturb too much, but enough for me to stop and think about it, obviously. The dialogue jars from time to time throughout. It feels too simple and sometimes makes things unnecessarily over-explicit, which, in itself, can be part of the genre. But it still makes me think back to the fact that Flanagan’s films and series always contain passages with dialogue that I find really corny, to use a worn expression. We move on to the transformation, which we’ll get into more deeply in the next part of the review. Hagen’s journey from rising star to write-off and further to a literal monster — here I’m reminded of the Harvey Dent-quote from Dark Knight — You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain — Even though we feel sympathy and understand where the hatred comes from, and that what he’s ingested naturally eats at his personality, it perhaps goes a bit fast from Hagen wondering what’s happening to Hagen going off on both obvious enemies and — no spoilers — a couple of others. But the same thing here as with the jarring dialogue — I can overlook it, and the transformation works. I would perhaps have just liked to see a couple more twists before the final one, so to speak.

But now I’m done complaining. We have actors who perform well. We have a fun premise, a genre mash-up I absolutely love on paper — and it turns out that the feelings hold up reasonably well to the final result. Because there is a lot in Clayface that works. Matt Hagen is built up in a nice way — and broken down just as nicely. The tempo is high throughout and the characters are interesting. And it’s quite grotesque. I am extremely desensitized and almost wish I were among the more squeamish to really get the chance to feel the real discomfort here, because I want to be clear on that point — it’s me that’s the problem, not the effects. The scene where Hagen stands in the airplane bathroom with nail scissors is truly nasty. For my part, however, they could have actually gone all out even more when they already have a strict age rating and all the possibilities. There are a couple of death scenes that could have easily been gorier. Again, that says more about me than the film itself. Clayface is entertaining, exciting, and offers things we haven’t seen in the superhero genre. More such daring ventures for the people. I’d much rather see more adult origin stories than boring movies where the Avengers or Superman fight other superhumans who are also more or less immortal. And the effects. The whole thing with the clay and being able to transform the face — and when everything starts to sag as if Hagen has had a stroke. I don’t know how much is practical effects versus CGI, but it’s damn good looking.

So, in summary. Clayface is not a perfect score, but it does something for both the little boy in me who grew up with superheroes and has always loved both Spider-Man and Batman and all the fun villains — Green Goblin, Sandman, Joker, Scarecrow and so on. It also does something for horror-lover Westberg, who is always hunting for the next pleasant horror experience. Because it’s a mash-up that really works. And in this case — delivers. Clayface entertains from beginning to end and many pitfalls have been carved away. With that said, to return to the beginning of the review: Is Clayface the DC body horror no one asked for and that really should have been avoided? No. It’s not. If you like horror, body horror, origin stories, superhero universes — and aren’t too squeamish — then Clayface is almost guaranteed to be something for you.