Preamble
Between Obession, Primetime and now Clayface, I’m starting to think that I’m developing a knack for being really late to the party. In the case of the horror titles, something signifant has happend in the culture that it now can’t help but colour the film in question. In regard to Clayface, James Gunn and Peter Safran have stepped down as heads of DC Studios, which now marks the standalone DC villian movie as the penultimate entry in this outgoing Gunn verse. With that said, have you seen Clayface? Let me know in the comments below.
Brief Consideration
Who is Matt Hagen? It’s a question that lingers like a faint whisper throughout Clayface. Despite being a solid genre effort, the film never truly answers that existential question, resulting in a fun but ultimately shallow experience.
The aforementioned Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) is an actor in his prime. After having his face slashed by gangsters, he seeks experimental treatment to repair his face. However, after overdosing on the treatment dose, he soon finds he can mould into anyone, which ignites a path of revenge against the people who wronged him.
From its humble title reveal to some cheesy dialogue, Clayface feels like a throwback. Allusions varying from Hellraiser and The Fly steep the movie in a smorgasbord of horror genres. But what makes it lesser compared to those efforts is a clear sense of theme. Sure, there’s allusions to Matt’s occupation being a metaphor for identity crisis, but it feels rather sketchily developed. The same goes for the Mob being akin to an infection that corrupts the Hollywood system and shapes it into a piece of self-interested putty.
The closest I could discern to a theme is the holistic creation of Clayface. There’s no one discernible factor for Matt turning into Clayface. It’s a fusion of many elements that, much like his disguises, afford a glimpse into the monster lurking underneath. But again, much like prior discussed themes, its all surface, with Gotham’s corruption and Matt’s childhood being undercooked.
I’d typically not ding this too much. However, the fever of high expectations via Mike Flanagan’s involvement makes me wish that more had been under the bonnet (sub textually speaking). What remains is a consistently entertaining and surprisingly engaging effort on the filmmaking front.
The standout sequence is when Dr Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie) runs observations whilst Matt is sleeping. In real time, she sees Matt morph into her and move his body as though he’s performing a primal and sensual embrace. It’s both erotic and uncanny, with an almost documentary eye as the camera holds firm on medium shots bathed in a warm orange light (via a street lamp outside the window).
Moments like this, along with some surprisingly effective kill and instances of deadpan editing make Clayface seem like a movie that lives up to its diverse and artful movie posters. The trouble is, there’s not much to unpack beyond that.
