«Clayface» arrives in North American theaters on October 23 and internationally on October 21, bringing a darker, more intimate kind of story to the DC Universe. Directed by James Watkins, the film stars Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen, a rising movie star from Gotham City whose hardscrabble past catches up with him when he crosses the city's most vicious crime lord, Markos Szabo, played by David Dencik. Szabo's men carve up Hagen's face as punishment, leaving him disfigured and desperate.
With no help from the law and multiple surgeries failing to restore his appearance, Hagen turns to Dr. Caitlyn Corr, played by Naomi Ackie, a researcher whose cutting-edge work was recently stolen by her former partners. She reluctantly agrees to let Hagen serve as a human test subject for her experimental, AI-infused nanobot regenerative technology. The treatment initially appears to work, but the film's title makes clear that Hagen's new skincare regimen does not end well. The nanobots do more than heal him — they unlock and amplify a darker side that was already present.
Watkins, who previously directed «The Woman in Black» and «Speak No Evil» as well as the «Black Mirror» episode «Shut Up and Dance», has fashioned a gritty throwback to the hardboiled revenge thrillers and low-budget horror films of the 1950s and 1960s, as well as the cult classics of the 1980s and 1990s that paid homage to them. Shades of «The Fly», «Darkman», and «Johnny Handsome» are visible throughout. The screenplay is by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, based on the DC Comics character.
The film takes time to find its groove, but once Hagen stops being a victim and becomes the gooey Angel of Death, «Clayface» delivers the nasty but fun body horror its premise promises. The shift unleashes some of the film's most clever, thrilling, and darkly funny sequences, including an airplane bathroom scene seen in trailers and a creepy sleep study sequence. Harries brings a young Malcolm McDowell quality to the role — impish good looks that hint at inner darkness — and never overplays his scenes. Ackie's Caitlyn is more misguided than mad scientist, sympathetically played even as she bears responsibility for the physical monster Hagen becomes.
Watkins and his creative team, including cinematographer Rob Hardy, production designer James Price, editor Jon Harris, makeup designer Nicole Stafford, and Legacy Effects, make great use of Hagen's power to shapeshift. The film finds both humor and tension in those situations, with Hagen using his skills as an actor to literally inhabit a slew of different characters one after another. As his condition worsens and his desire for revenge consumes him, he devolves morally and physically into something truly monstrous. The comics- and cartoon-accurate final form is not revealed until the film's closing moments, but it effectively caps off Hagen's tragic downfall.
«Clayface» is set in the DCU, as James Gunn has confirmed, but the film does not reveal the DCU's new Batman. Batman is not even mentioned, though there is a scene set at the Wayne Community Centre. This version of Matt Hagen does not align with the incarnation introduced in «Creature Commandos», which may confuse hardcore fans. Watkins addressed the absence of Batman at the film's junket: «I would say Batman exists in this world, but it's just not his story. It's Matt Hagen's story. So, it's just like in Joker. It's a city of several million people, and we're telling one person's story within it.»
Although it carries the banner of James Gunn's DC Studios, «Clayface» could just as easily have been set outside the DCU. Aside from taking place in the DC Comics locations of Gotham City and Coast City, there is nothing on display that screams DC Comics. Still, the film proves that the DCU can offer more than just superhero fisticuffs and save-the-world plots. The question remains how large an audience there will be for them.