Clayface Movie Review:

Clayface shares some of its DNA with Todd Phillips’ Joker (2019). They’re both tragic stories about broken men being betrayed by the world, and are then twisted into becoming absolute misanthropes. But the fundamental difference between Joker and Clayface is that the latter is a situational tragedy. In the 2019 film, Arthur Fleck/The Joker is doomed from the start. The world starts kicking him almost right from birth. But Matt Hagen AKA Clayface’s tragedy, is the one we most often fear. It is the fear of having everything in life only to have it all suddenly plucked away, betrayed by everyone we loved and trusted, and then falling into total darkness. On a fundamental level, we might pity Todd Phillips’ Joker, but we dread becoming Matt Hagen.

Director: James Watkins

Cast: Tom Rhys Harries, Naomi Ackie, Max Minghella, Eddie Marsan

We know what’s coming, and yet, as the first thirty minutes of the film show actor Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) on top of the world, getting nominated for Oscars and getting celebrated by the audience, we hope he somehow survives the tragedy and comes out with his goodness intact. And by the end, when he becomes Clayface and inadvertently starts hurting people, the film very smoothly and subconsciously nudges us to reflect on whether he was ever really “good” or if all that evil was just held beneath the surface by a successful life. And that’s a part of the horror presented by the film. Sure, the experimental stem cell-nanobot therapy might have exacerbated Matt’s mental health issues and turned him violent, but it was a brilliant decision not to make it explicit, thereby letting us ponder how much of Clayface is just Matt Hagen, and how much of the evil is just human.

On the surface, Clayface follows the tried-and-tested superhero trope of the protagonist accidentally getting superpowers through an experimental scientific breakthrough. But Matt Hagen’s ability to restructure his skin cells into whatever shape he wants, and then make himself look like whoever he wants, is never shown as an exciting development. It is all pure squirm-worthy horror. Even when Matt himself starts to enjoy it, the film never wavers in its intent to show just how repulsive and grotesque this ability is. We do understand Matt’s internal struggle, the pain of betrayal, and the loss of everything he holds dear, but we are never made to feel like his vengeance is justice. Clayface is definitely not for those easily disturbed by gory visuals. There are plenty of scenes with intentional self-harm and grotesque body horror. Even the non-action scenes, like with the scientist experimenting on her own skin cells, shows skin being peeled. Clayface never shies away from fleshing out the true extremes of its potential to be a complete body horror film, and through that, it earns our respect.

If there is any place the film loses us, it is when it pushes the limits of Clayface’s abilities. The film wonderfully builds up the slow and steady development of Matt’s regeneration, but then quickly jumps the gun when it shows you how easily he can take on someone else’s appearance. It takes you out of the film when Matt is shown to change into anybody at light speed, and it even makes you chuckle when he conjures the other person’s clothes with his skin. Maybe it was made this way to make things easier when Clayface joins the mainstream DCU. It is also easier to ignore this because you are also thankful to the film for not distracting you with any impulsive franchise building or Batman easter eggs.

Tom Rhys Harries projects equal amounts of empathy, self-pity, and evil into his performance as Matt Hagen/Clayface. While the scary and disturbing parts of Clayface are supported by excellent visual effects, the pitiable and human side of Matt Hagen is all credits to Tom Rhys Harries’ incredible ability to subtly ramp up the emotional levels of the character. Matt Hagen is as horrified as we are at the transformation, and when he finally accepts and revels in his Clayface persona, our horrified feeling decays into this wonderfully bitter sense of creepiness. The zenith of this is the final frame, which, even though we have seen countless shots with blood and gore until then, is still the most disturbing shot of the film.