I SAW CLAYFACE

Clayface, directed by James (Eden Lake/The Woman in Black 2012/Speak No Evil 2024) Watkins and written by Hossein (Snow White and the Huntsman) Amini and Mike (Doctor Sleep/The Fall of the House of Usher 2023) Flanagan, dwells within DC's rich mythology, though simulates Sony's adjacent Spider-Verse. To rephrase, its modified structure sloshes through Cronenberg-ian body horror, while clawing at chunks of Batman: The Animated Series' "Feat of Clay," sans the Caped Crusader. 

I had anticipated that Clayface would lift more from Twilight Zone's "The Four of Us Are Dying," and it does have discernible traces of the Rod Serling/George Clayton Johnson tale, but the fugitive-in-flux angle never reaches fruition. Such would work, perhaps, in a sequel or better yet, a miniseries, where an alteration of faces might lead the character from place to place.

Even with its Fugitive fuel omitted, the plot's desperation is palpable and rides off other tragic fables of exploratory mishap, like The Invisible Man, The H-Man, The Human Vapor, 4D Man, Man with the X-ray Eyes, The Incredible Melting Man, The Fly (any entry in the franchise) and The Substance, bolstered by subtle strands of The Face Behind the Mask, Eyes Without a Face and Frankenstein: The True Story. Such tales use skewed sympathy, if not elemental empathy, to underscore their weird self-destruction and/or criminality. Clayface, by design, clings to their masochistic habits. 

For the sake of this interpretation, the titular character is played by Tom Rhys (Jekyll and Hyde 2015/The Return) Harries, who basks in the limelight as a renowned, pretty-boy actor, until his face is slashed by mobster Markos Szabo (David Dencik), after Hagan has a tryst with the gangster's girlfriend, the seductive yet deceitful Mia Torrez (Joana Riberio). In desperation, Hagen seeks breakthrough-scientist Caitlyn Corr, played by Naomi (Lady MacBeth) Ackie, who injects him with an experimental nano-solution to mend his scars. It works, but after a spell, his flesh turns malleable, like clay, and in the ensuing stretch, so do his thoughts. 

Hagen's mania inspires him to pick off Szabo's associates (with Joshua James, Will Coban, Jake Curran and Eddie Marsden playing prime members of the overlord's immoral pack). Hagen's murders catch the attention of Corr's fiancé, John Borelli, a conscientious, Gotham detective, played by Max Minghella, who begins to connect the dots, but will it be enough to halt Hagen's spree?

Hagen does hold obvious advantages in the matter. Not only is he able to mimic facial features (as well as body styles and clothing pigments), but he has the acting chops to render any imitation near perfect. Regardless, his semblances do shift and fade with his rising rage, and when such occurs, one can't help but recall Darkman's Payton Wilder, where time constraints tended to thwart his ruses. In Hagen's case, it's his overwhelming contempt that expire his disguises. 

Though Clayface is being ballyhooed as a Grand Guignol sojourn, it's as much an offbeat character study, with a good man spiraling into something bad. It's also a mob-revenge movie, in step with the face-mended Johnny Handsome. Heck, when all is said and done, it's a bit of this and that, but isn't that the whole point of its infamous character? Clayface is never just one persona. His identity comprises many facets, as does the movie he embodies.