The trailer looked a bit nasty but I was sure that a “comic book film” wouldn’t go full body horror.
Clayface only bloody did! Well done DCU. This film has done several things that this larger genre of film is usually afraid to do. For a start, it’s a film set partly in Gotham City that contains not one mention of Batman whatsoever. That would be such a crutch to use. It’s right there, and they don’t touch it. Bold.
Then there’s the commitment to the sadness and horror of the situation. This is an 18 certificate and it is earned. I squirmed in my seat several time. It’s no Terrifier, but there’s some gnarly stuff here. The airplane sequence partly shown in the trailer had me on the edge of my seat.
This is also a very cheap film. Now of course cheap is relative, but a comic book movie for circa 30 million is low. I can see where that money limits what the film can do, but overall it’s well spent and I hope leads to a nice little success for the fledgling universe, especially after Supergirl being a big old pile of nothing.
The biggest success of the story is how despite it being about a character I know to be Batman villain, I get it. Matt Hagen worked hard and got it all. But it was fleeting. Easily snatched away. And he tried to do the right thing to fix it. But working within the system didn’t work. So in desperation he makes choices. They’re not always the best. As an actor he can leave behind a rougher upbringing. And then as he gains new abilities he can leave behind right and wrong. The dangerous things you can do when you feel anonymous.
I have nitpicks. But I don’t feel compelled to go into them. Clayface is something different. It’s gross and intimate and has some entertaining scenes that make you forget you’re cheering on someone who is making terrible decisions.
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