Rule one of surviving Gotham is that you should not sleep with a mafia boss’s girlfriend. Rule two is that you should not overdose on experimental science. Tom Rhys Harries’ Matt Hagen breaks both, and ends up becoming one of the most tragic villains in the DC Universe.
Directed by James Watkins from a script by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, Clayfaceis the villain origin story of one of Batman’s lesser-known foes. It also arrives at the right time. With high-concept horror being the rage in Hollywood right now, thanks to the success of Obsessionand Backrooms, the DCU under James Gunn takes a risk by making an unflinching body horror film.
We are introduced to Matt Hagen, a top Hollywood actor who rose to fame from Gotham’s streets. One reckless night leads him to sleep with Mia (Joana Ribeiro), the girlfriend of the local mafia boss Markos Szabo (David Dencik).
He wakes up to Szabo’s goons, who carve up his face in retaliation. He loses everything, from his face to his money. After all, what is an actor without his face?
With nothing left to lose, Hagen is desperate to reclaim his old life. He is ready to do anything to get it back in all its glory. That desperation pushes him to become a human lab rat for an experimental treatment led by Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie).
Every Time Hagen Gets His Old Life Back, It Falls Apart Again
The film oscillates between chaos and stability. Each time Hagen feels a sense of victory or familiarity with his old life, it all comes crashing down, often triggered by his emotions. The aeroplane sequence is the clearest example. During heavy turbulence, Hagen locks himself in the lavatory as the skin grows over his eyes, and he has to cut them open with a pair of scissors. It is one of the best-executed scenes in the film, and one of the hardest to sit through.
The Romance Is The Film’s Heart, But It Never Gets Room To Breathe
Hagen’s relationship with Caitlyn is central to his story, and she is easily the heart of this film. That is why it stings that the romance feels rushed and bent around the plot, rather than earned. Just like Mia, Caitlyn is already taken. We never see her side of it, either her relationship or her feelings for Hagen.
Meanwhile, Hagen’s feelings clearly run deep, and you can especially see that in the last scene before he transforms into Clayface. Yet the film never gives us enough time with the two of them to invest in the romance, so the moment hits less hard than it should.
Gotham Without Batman Feels Like Any Other American City
This is our first proper look at Gotham in the new DC universe, but if we are being really honest, there is very little Gotham in it. There is nothing beyond a GCPD sign telling you where you are. It is not just the lack of Batman that makes it feel less alive, but the fact that it could be any other American city.
Tom Rhys Harries Makes You Root For Hagen Until You Cannot
Where the film does not stumble is its lead. It is carried by Harries’ commanding screen presence. He plays Matt with so much innocence that for the longest time we are rooting for his rags-to-riches story. But slowly he shapeshifts into the man of horror, not just as Clayface but deep within himself. While his initial acts of violence are accidental, he goes on to take down the people who destroyed him one by one, taking a step toward becoming the monster each time he does. We start to wonder whether Hagen was a good man like he claims to be, or whether the monster was within him all this time. By the third act, the film leaves us with no sympathy for the person he has become, even as we can still empathise with the man who lost everything.
Clayfacedelivers what it promises. It is body horror at its finest, and there are times when you can’t help but look away from the screen. The good news is that you do not need to be a DC fan to enjoy it. The movie works well even as a standalone film, with no world, references or backstories to catch up on. There are also zero cameos in this one, except for Aaron Paul’s blink-and-you-miss-it one.
What stays with you, though, is Hagen himself, and how far he goes to get his old life back. It is the horror of that desperation, and the danger of chasing the person you used to be until it swallows you whole.
Clayfaceis in theatres now.
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