Tying into our Spooky Season series of features, Gaming Respawn was invited down to Vue in Leicester Square by Warner Bros. to check out the latest epic from DC: Clayface.
The Prelude
Now, I will pre-fix this one by saying I had was accompanied for the evening by my lovely fiancee, who is firmly in the Marvel camp of comic book fandom, so convincing her to come along to not only see a DC film but a film on one of Batman’s more niche villains (let you all debate if Clayface is niche) was a tough ask.
Then, after she saw the trailers, it didn’t exactly help, especially with her being squeemish, but hey-ho. Now, upon entering the cinema and being checked in, we were led into one of Vue’s Epic screens (ironically where we saw Avengers: Endgame Encore) and were treated to a lavish table by the screen full of every drink a human could possibly ask for. I loaded up on beers and Pepsi, and given the fact my lovely fiancee is pregnant, she took lots of orange juice and water.
Waiting on our seats was a nice little touch; in addition to popcorn, there was a comic book detailing some of Batman’s fights with Clayface, with a unique cover to match the movie poster.
Prior to the movie starting, everyone in the auditorium were treated to a brief Q&A from the film’s director, James Watkins, and the three main characters: Tom Rhys Harries (Clayface), Naomi Ackie (Dr. Caitlyn Corr) and Max Minghella (John Borrelli). The trio’s appearance was short and sweet, with the host asking each person a question or two, but unfortunately, there was no audience participation. That was a shame as I would have asked Max Minghella which corrupt police department he preferred: the Gotham PD or the Metro Police from Spiral: From the Book of Saw. Also, I wondered if he has a thing for starring in super gory movies, but I digress.
Clayface – The Film Itself
Now, onto the film itself. The film does an amazing job at painting a picture of who Matt Hagen is. He is an actor who has just been nominated for an Oscar and is appearing in talk shows (lovely cameo from Rob Brydon- I almost shout out that Uncle Bryn is doing well) and living it up.
That is before he gets into bed with the wrong mobster’s (Markos Szabo) girlfriend after a night at the club, taking certain pills, and even after he was warned not to go home with her, Matt still does….big mistake.
As payback for this act, this Szabo decides to carve up Matt’s face to make it less pretty, so to speak.
Due to the horrendous level of disfiguration from this attack, Matt is forced to almost go into hiding, and he loses his money, his apartment, and his career. Absolutely everything.
After hitting rock bottom, Matt turns to Dr. Caitlyn Corr for help. She had come up with a new nanotechnology that could potentially get Matt’s face, well, looking like before. At first, all seems well. We have a short montage over several weeks of the progress, and eventually, Matt is back to his old self again.
He is warned by Dr. Corr not to go out just yet till they run more tests. Does he listen? No, he doesn’t. Matt goes to a film premiere of a film that he was booted off of to show them what they are missing. However, while the nanotech initially works, his face begins to look like it’s melting off. He rushes back to Dr. Corr to fix it, but while she is away getting medicine, Matt injects every last bit of nanobot serum into his face, and it seems to have worked.
What ensues over the next hour is an almost vendetta tour for Matt: He goes after the people that ruined his life, from his business manager to his supposed best friend, and eventually, the mobster who wronged him. What I have not said is that, at one point, Matt discovers that he is able to shapeshift into anyone he desires. The film leaves it unclear whether he controls it, or if the nanobot things are taking over.
This allows for some incredible camera work as he shifts in and out of different people to gain the upper hand or find out some vital information.
While I won’t spoil the entire story for you, I will say that towards the big, climactic showdown with Szabo, there is an absolutely hilarious dance scene in the same night club where Matt met Szabo’s girlfriend that was just incredibly well done and made for a nice change of pace.
The film doesn’t hold back in terms of the body horror, from Matt cutting the skin around his eyes with nail scissors to the gruesome deaths that are dealt out, it does make you squirm. Also, the actual cuts made to Matt’s face at various points with different types of blades are so detailed that it makes that particular part of your face tingle with discomfort.
Clayface- Final Thoughts
Walking out of the cinema, I came to the same conclusion I did after seeing Joker for the first time. This was an excellent self-contained story set inside the Batman universe.
I feel this really doesn’t need a sequel (neither did Joker, but money). It told a gruesome story in a way that does leave you wanting more actual Clayface action, but the 1 hour 48-minute runtime felt perfect.
The special effects team need a massive pat on the back for all the hard work that went into this film; it is perfect and doesn’t look tacky at any point.
As I said at the start, a great inclusion to anyone’s spooky season film catalogue and a really pleasant (or in some places, unpleasant) surprise.
