“Film Fanatics” explores Hollywood’s recent releases, cherished classics and everything in between. These thought-provoking reviews invite fresh perspectives and weigh whether a film deserves attention — or if it is best left in the past. Read on to find out what our writers think of this week’s film.
No two projects in the DC Universe (DCU) have been all that similar. The young franchise has seen space-faring odysseys in “Supergirl” and grounded detective stories in “Lanterns”. Now, “Clayface” brings the rebooted superhero franchise to the world of body horror.
The titular character of “Clayface” is a slightly lesser-known villain of Batman’s; one whose hulking, mud-like body can transform into anyone and anything. In the film, Matt Hagen — portrayed by Tom Rhys Harries — has his acting career ruined when a crime boss disfigures him for having sex with his girlfriend. When Hagen takes an experimental treatment too far, he gains shapeshifting powers and a lust for revenge.
“Clayface” delivers on its premise, and it delivers hard. One might expect a budding superhero franchise to shy away from gore and nudity, even in an R-rated horror movie, but “Clayface” is not shy about either. Almost every kill is graphic and entirely shown on-screen, leaving little to the imagination.
Michael Park, a junior film and media production major, believes that because Clayface is a shapeshifting villain, the movie would have worked better as a psychological thriller, especially when Hagen begins changing his appearance to win over his love interest.
“That’s a thing people deal with a lot: trying to transform yourself because you want someone to love you,” Park said. “[You can turn] that into, ‘Who is this person? Can I really trust this person?’ That adds a lot of psychological horror because you’re truly not understanding the person that you’re talking to … and not knowing is horror.”
Being an origin story, “Clayface” is slow in getting to the slaughter it promised. That is not to say it makes the audience wait for the body horror — Hagen’s ever-changing body becomes more and more grotesque as he escalates his treatments. Even when he is not changing uncontrollably, Hagen brings the horror onto himself by self-mutilating in slow, blood-curdling ways to see what he can heal from. Hagen’s third-act killing spree simply serves to pass the brutality to new, less willing victims.
Dylan Earl, a junior theatre and film and media production double major, thinks that lesser-known characters like Clayface deserve to be spotlighted when building a cinematic universe.
“I like the idea that we’re having these lesser-knowns like Mr. Terrific [from ‘Superman’] come in and be [major] characters,” Earl said. “I don’t need the Flash right now. I don’t need Wonder Woman right now. I know a lot of people are like, ‘No, we do need the foundation. We need Batman.’ Superman is already there … I’m excited to see where it goes [with other characters].”
If “Clayface” proves to be popular, it could pave the way for endless possibilities. There has already been a plethora of supervillain movies, and this one could inspire future projects to take a more horrific tone, or even pass the terror to superheroes.
Michael Aronson, a lecturer of journalism and creative media, expressed that the bending and combining of genres could mean great things for superhero movies.
“From a business perspective, yeah, they’re taking risks,” Aronson said. “Do they know what’s going to happen? No, but we’re in a time where taking risks pay off. I don’t know how many people want to see that many more MCU-style movies or see what’s been done before. We are in a time where people want to see something new.”
In its opening weekend, “Clayface” made back its $44 million budget and is projected to make even more. Perhaps the endeavor into horror will prove fruitful for the DCU and open the door for more genre-bending projects.
“Clayface” was released on Oct. 23 and can be seen in theaters nationwide.