The key facts
- «Clayface» is the third film of the DC Universe's «Chapter One: Gods And Monsters» chapter, a low-budget (40 million dollars) horror about a Batman villain
- Cast: Tom Rhys Harries (Matt Hagen), Naomi Ackie (Dr. Caitlin Corr), David Dencik (Sabo); director — James Watkins
- Euronews: impressive makeup and body horror, but a «shallow» script and a formulaic second half
A dark horror within the DC Universe
Euronews Culture picked «Clayface» as its film of the week. According to the outlet, it is the third picture of the first chapter of the revamped DC Universe — «Chapter One: Gods And Monsters», overseen by DC Studios co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran. After the high-profile adventures of Superman and Supergirl, the studio bet on «monsters»: a lesser-known villain from Batman's rogues' gallery and a comparatively low-budget (40 million dollars) dark horror. The outlet notes that few films have dared to blend superheroics with horror — among its predecessors it named Wes Craven's Swamp Thing, Sam Raimi's Darkman and David Yarovesky's Brightburn (2019), which was produced by Gunn himself.
Plot: an actor, a gangster and nanocells
The lead role is played by the comparatively little-known Welsh actor Tom Rhys Harries — he plays Matt Hagen, a rising heartthrob actor. After a night with the girlfriend of Gotham gangster Sabo (David Dencik), Matt's face is slashed with a knife, and his career as a leading man is under threat. He turns to Dr. Caitlin Corr (Naomi Ackie), a nanotechnology scientist who injects him with an experimental serum based on stem cells with artificial intelligence, capable of regenerating dead tissue. The results are initially promising, but then «face-melting» side effects appear, and Matt finds himself in a spiral of revenge, at the end of which he injects himself with all the nanocells.
Strengths: makeup and body horror
The reviewer calls the film «a dark and surprisingly bloody villain origin story» and «a refreshingly standalone adventure» devoted entirely to body horror: the camera does not look away from scenes with cuts, there are many naturalistic reconstructive surgery episodes, and the airplane bathroom scene, where Matt tries with manicure scissors to keep his fusing eyes from sticking shut, is described as «jaw-clenching». The excellent work with practical effects and makeup is noted, as well as nods to The Fly and «Eyes Without a Face» and elements in the vein of Brian Yuzna.
Weaknesses: the script and wasted potential
In Euronews' view, the film sags because of a «shallow» script that fails to match the visual component: the characters are thinly drawn, and the thematic potential — the superficiality of beauty standards, the emptiness of the Hollywood system, the loss of identity — goes unexplored, although Harries convincingly conveys both the frightening and the tragic price of the transformations. Director James Watkins (Eden Lake, Speak No Evil), according to the outlet, settles for a formulaic and predictable second half with clunky dialogue, an awkward backstory for the hero and a contrived romantic storyline between Matt and Caitlin.
The script's history and the verdict
The outlet recalls that the project was originally brought to Gunn and Safran by Mike Flanagan (Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Hill House, Carrie), but due to scheduling conflicts he did not become the director, and his script was reworked by Hossein Amini (Drive, Snow White and the Huntsman). In the sluggish episodes, the reviewer writes, you wish Flanagan had been allowed to shoot a more polished version. The verdict: «Clayface» is a tougher and bloodier film than a typical blockbuster and, in Euronews' assessment, clearly surpasses past antihero films like Morbius, Madame Web and Kraven The Hunter, yet the story and characters lack the depth to «crawl under the skin» and stay in the memory. The film is already in theaters.
