Clayface Review: Why This Horrific Film Is a Watch for the Right Reasons
A star loses his footing
Matt Hagen, played by Tom Rhys Harries, has risen from a difficult childhood in Gotham City’s Narrows to become a successful actor in Coast City. His fortunes collapse after he parties with mobster Markus Szabo’s girlfriend, and Szabo disfigures him.
Matt loses his film roles, loses a civil case against Szabo and finds that cosmetic surgery cannot repair his face. Back in the Narrows, isolated and unsure of himself, he turns to Dr. Catelyn Corr after learning about her cellular therapy.
An experiment changes everything
Catelyn, played by Naomi Ackie, is a gifted scientist whose business partners have abandoned her and whose laboratory is short on funding. Despite the treatment being untested, she agrees to use Matt as her guinea pig.
The experimental nanotechnology initially restores Matt’s appearance. But when his face begins melting, an attempt to correct the problem transforms him into a nearly invulnerable figure who can take on other people’s faces and mutate as his emotions intensify.
Body horror takes the lead
The film shows Matt’s skin stretching, melting and changing shape as he faces attacks involving bullets, nail scissors, a razor and a can opener. These graphic scenes deliver on the movie’s body-horror promise and are likely to provoke strong audience reactions.
Revelations about the attack send Matt toward revenge, with his enemies killed in increasingly grotesque ways. The movie’s plot is a straightforward tale of corruption and revenge, and the review finds that it works best when it focuses on its repulsive, monstrous qualities rather than trying to become more.
Key points
- Clayface is the DCU’s first horror movie and embraces body horror.
- Matt Hagen’s experimental treatment restores his looks before transforming him.
- The film’s gruesome effects stand out more than its familiar revenge plot.
- Matt can take on other people’s faces after his body changes.