★★ (2 out of 4)
Anything for Halloween? Not bloody much. But “Clayface” at least gets the job done until the real thing comes along when “Godzilla Minus Zero” roars in on Nov. 6. Till then step up for the first horrorfest in the DC Comics Universe. And shut up about “Supergirl”—that epic flop was unintentionally horrible. “Clayface” means it. He looks like putty molded by Samantha Morton’s vengeful Circe in “The Odyssey.” The R-rated sight of him is gag inducing with a body horror level to rival “The Substance.” But I’ve jumped too far ahead.
Let’s start by introducing Matt Hagen, prettily played by Welsh newcomer Tom Rhys Harries. Raised in the grimy shadows of Gotham City—the film is Batman-adjacent with no appearance by the Caped Crusader—Matt is a hot young narcissist, ugh, I mean actor, who’s just bagged an Oscar nomination. Practically tumescent with preening self-pride, he bags a one-night stand (Joana Ribeiro), who just happens to be the private property of fearsome mobster Szabo (David Dencik is sleaze walking).
That’s a no-no, which results in mob lackeys carving up Matt’s face like a prime sirloin. Gone are the movie offers, the easy lays, the good life in Coast City (DC terminology for Los Angeles). His crooked manager, Frank (a wasted Eddie Marsan) has left his fallen client living in a slum. Alone with his wounded vanity, Matt sinks into a funk of ace production-design despair.
Revolting and riveting at the same time
But wait, there’s hope in the form of Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie, deserving way better than this), an experimental scientist who knows how to repair damaged tissue with something pink that looks like Pepto Bismol and a nanotechnology that might be able to fix his face with AI (oh those words). The horror! The horror!
Matt is hardly out from under her knife when they’re an item. Out goes her cop boyfriend (Max Minghella) and in comes Matt back in the dreamboat business. Everything is good again, except it isn’t. It never is. And when Matt finds he can take on the faces of just about anyone, the sky’s the limit, except it isn’t. It never is.
As Matt’s grip on reality slips, his desperation turns into an obsession with revenge. The treatment meant to restore his identity instead threatens to erase it, turning a hottie actor into a shapeshifting killer. The central horror is a man getting his face back while losing the person behind it.
The script is so familiar you think it’s public domain. It’s surprising that the great Mike Flanagan (TV’ s “Carrie”) cooked up the story and wrote the script with Hossein Amini. The shortcomings in that department basically give Brit director James Watkins (“McMafia”) nothing to work with, but damn if he doesn’t manage to pull off a few neat and nasty tricks. The best ones all relate to body horror and in that area wicked Watkins knows his stuff. The prosthetics are shockingly good, meaning repulsive to the max.
It starts with Matt’s face drooping, an inevitability in Hollywood. Even Dr. Caitlyn can’t help. Ackie and Harries radiate a chemistry the script never hints at. Matt can think only of revenge against those who wronged him. A metaphor for blind ambition? Nah. “Clayface” doesn’t dig that deep.
It digs plenty when it comes to slicing and dicing and needles in the eyes and nonstop blood splatter. I won’t soon forget the scene in an airplane restroom when Matt’s eyelids begin sealing shut as his face changes. He uses manicure scissors to cut the skin open—while turbulence makes every movement touch-and-go lethal. It’s revolting and riveting at the same time.
It’s also pretty effing hilarious in a climactic nightclub bloodbath when mob enforcers can’t catch Matt as he morphs into a monster of 1000 faces. He lets the real Matt pop up from time to time to really screw with their heads.
“Clayface” hits its Halloween sweet spot when it tosses mirth onto its bonfire of malice. Watkins wanted “delicious squirms”—the rollercoaster kick of laughing while your stomach begs for mercy. Done and done.