“Clayface” is a breath of fresh air in the superhero genre. Fans have been asking Marvel to explore horror, but DC gets there first with their third film in the new James Gunn universe. James Watkins’s body horror film is also what the Sony villain films should have been—a story in which the villain can be a villain. “Clayface” is something new in the genre while still drawing from “The Batman Animated Series” and “The Substance.” But what it borrows from each only makes it better.
Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) is Hollywood’s newest young star. He is handsome, a new Oscar nominee, and charming on late-night TV—everything a new star needs. As quick as his rise to stardom is, his fall is even quicker. He and his best friend head back to Gotham City to celebrate his nomination. However, he chooses the wrong girl to get intertwined with. Despite his friend’s warning, Hagen is too intoxicated to care that the girl is with a famous mobster, Marckos Szabo (David Dencik). When Hagen wakes up, Szabo and his men are waiting. They decide to take away his most important asset: his face.
After his face is carved up, the story, written by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, slows down to show his descent into madness. Hagen is unrecognizable after six failed surgeries. Since Szabo controls many areas of Gotham, everyone has turned on Hagen. The media portrays Hagen as a monster. The police and justice system fail Hagen. His agent and manager dropped him. With nothing left, he turns to experimental treatment by Caitlyn Coor (Naomi Ackie), who has developed nanobots to heal wounds.
The treatment has only been used on animals and pieces of skin donated by Caitlyn. Hagen would rather die than have his face be permanently scarred, so he accepts the risks. At first the treatment worked well with minimal side effects. He flaunts his newly repaired face at the red carpet premiere of the film he was dropped from. But his face starts to melt while he’s out. He goes to Caitlyn’s and takes a near fatal dose of the treatment, but he now has the abilities to turn into anyone. The practical effects and body horror will make most viewers squirm. Even before becoming Clayface, pieces of Hagen’s face are cut off. With the newfound shapeshifting, his face melts spontaneously, including a scene where Hagan has to cut his eyes open so he can see again. The shot was done in real time with real prosthetics. I don’t know if these effects fall under makeup or visual effects for the Oscars, but this film should definitely be nominated for the practical work.
The third act crescendos into a revenge plotline, instantly becoming the most entertaining part. The kills are committed in a variety of ways, showing off different aspects of Hagen’s powers. Although his story is tragic, Hagen crosses the line many times. I wish the villain was more interesting to create a bigger payoff, but Hagen is the main villain to his own story—always getting in the way of making the right decision.
Going into this, I was hoping for an enjoyable time with some horror elements, but “Clayface” delivered more than that. Harries gave a great performance as Clayface, delivering the emotionality of the character’s internal conflicts. The side characters could have been fleshed out and given some importance, but the story is ultimately a character study with many horror elements. This film is first in the DCU timeline, so I am interested in how this movie fits in the rest of the DCU. Gotham is portrayed as a corrupt land perfect for crime bosses, so a Batman film will fit perfectly in this environment. Hopefully, “Clayface” can inspire more villain-oriented movies.
Final Verdict: Go See In Theaters (4/5)
Senior Ranon Travers is a Staff Writer. His email is rtravers@fandm.edu.