[“Clayface Theme” from Clayface (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)]
Clayface, one of the many villains from Batman’s Rogue Gallery, is finally given the solo treatment in his own film. From horror director James Watkins, the film chronicles the rise and fall of actor Matt Hagen. After a horrific disfigurement, Hagen seeks out an experimental treatment to restore his looks with disastrous shape-shifting results in a fascinating take on the making-of-a-monster story.
[Dialogue from “Clayface | Official Trailer” ]
As Matt Hagen, later Clayface, Tom Rhys Harries pulls off an impressive balancing act. He plays the charismatic actor, the bloodthirsty maligned man, and a paranoid patient. However, Harries is at his most compelling when Hagen is full of a quiet, shaky, completely unnerving confidence. This reaches its peak in one of the film’s final scenes which is downright chilling. Opposite Harries is Naomi Ackie as Dr. Caitlyn Corr, an on-the-outs scientist who creates and administers Hagen’s treatment, becoming his sole friend and confidante in the process. Ackie does a fine job as she descends from a strong faith in her research to a disgusted horror. One critique though, is that I wish Ackie, an incredible actress in films like Mickey 17 and Sorry, Baby, was given more to do than simply react to Hagen’s bloody antics.
And boy are they bloody. For audiences wondering if the DC Studios backing would sanitize the film, Clayface swiftly answers that question with a brutal attack on Hagen from the film’s antagonists. If you’re at all squeamish about blood, guts, and gore, Clayface will probably be a film best watched through your fingers.
It is when the movie leans into and relishes being in the horror genre, that it excels. With an electric sequence in the third act with brutal kills and some exciting shape-shifting action, Clayface holds its own against its body horror predecessors. Interestingly, Clayface shares a lot of scientifically modified DNA with the 2024 Oscar-nominated film The Substance. Both pieces explore the question of how far someone would go to maintain their appearance in an industry where image is everything, before arriving at similarly devastating answers.
All this goes to show, Clayface has a lot of interesting things to say. It pushes the boundary in exciting ways that a lot of recent Marvel and even DC projects haven’t done. However for all the risks it takes, Clayface’s continued commitment to a well-worn formula is its greatest flaw
The film’s conversations surrounding stardom are largely abandoned by the halfway point and Hagen’s journey, for all its fun and gory detours, finds itself becoming a run of the mill revenge quest. This causes the film to drag and after a few too many fake-out endings, concludes Hagen’s journey in a rather underwhelming and predictable place, at least for now.
Clayface is an intriguing movie with some interesting concepts and magnetic performances, it’s just a shame that like its protagonist, it ends up losing much of its form by the end.
[“End Credit (Clayface)” from Clayface (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)]
Clayface released nationwide on October 23rd and is now playing in movie theaters across the country.
For WNUR News, I’m Sophia Casa
