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CLAYFACE MOVIE REVIEW
The comic books to movie train keeps chuggin’ along and the results have been of late, hugely varied. But if you fall on the ‘not into those’ camp, you might reconsider your stance for Clayface. Telling the origin story of the DC comics supervillain, writer Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House, Carrie) takes the idea of the guy whose body literally melts into any form to a very body horror conclusion. Matt (Tom Rhys Harries) is an actor who just got a huge step-up in his career, being nominated for an Oscar. While going out to celebrate with his best friend at a nightclub, he hooks up with a super-hottie (Ruby Sear) who unfortunately is the girlfriend of a Gotham crime boss. The boss horrifically cuts up Matt’s face as well as smears his reputation with false stories to the press about bad behavior. After many surgeries that don’t really help, and a manager who rips off what is left, Matt seeks any cure and he finds one with an experimental nanobot procedure by Dr. Corr (Naomi Ackie). At first, it’s a miracle as Matt returns to his old appearance completely, but soon discovers that it wears off. And from there, things start to get pretty messed up. We don’t want to spoil too much with the text here (although Chris, Wright, Rhett, and Drew are a little more liberal in their review, albeit with no spoilers that will surprise anyone already familiar with the Clayface official origin stories). Suffice it to say, even if you don’t really like comic book movies, if you dig really gnarly body horror, Clayface might be for you.
DIRECTED BY: James Watkins
STARRING: Tom Rhys Harries, Naomie Ackie, Max Minghella, Eddie Marsan, David Dencik, Nancy Carroll, Joshua James, Francesca Corney, Ruby Sear, Wil Coban
YOUR REVIEWERS
Christopher Lawrence Cox (Founder, Da Boss, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Deliberations of Doom)
Born in the wilds of northern Virginia, Chris managed to put all of his survival skills to use and barely escaped with his life to Austin Texas in 1992 where ever since he’s dabbled in everything from plumber’s assistant to sandwich maker, from band to bar and theater management. An opportunity to see theatrical release films for free by becoming a critic on a local public access show called “The Reel Deal” turned into a full-time job when Chris and his friends decided to take it to the internet. They built the site Spill.com, adding multiple podcasts and animated features, to no small amount of success. During this time, a fortuitous friendship sprung up between Chris and young Brian Salisbury, who was also a local film critic, and they merged their forces of will, and their laundry list of ideas for shows, to eventually build this community of critics. While Brian eventually followed his heart to a new family, Chris continues on with a cast of colorful folks from all over the country (and a few others).
Wright Sulek (The Other Boss, Trash in the Can, Digital Noise, Highly Suspect Reviews, One Man’s Trash, Screener Squad)
Wright hails from the northern suburbs of Dallas, Texas. His passion for filmmaking brought him to Austin to study and make movies. Since then he’s had his hand in acting, writing, and directing his own short films with numerous like-minded film geeks he’s met along his journey. His newest interest has brought him into the podcasting world. He co-hosted a few different movie related podcasts such as ‘And Now This’ and ‘The Match Cut’. He currently co-hosts with longtime friend, Eric Samaniego, where they talk shop about the grimiest, trashiest, lost gems of movies on their show, ‘Trash in the Can’. Wright also guests and hosts reviews on Screener Squad and Highly Suspect Reviews as well as co-hosts Digital Noise with Chris Cox. As of 2024, Wright has now been inducted into the Austin Film Critics Association as well as co-owns the One of Us network with Chris Cox.
Rhett O’Hara (Highly Suspect Reviews, Screener Squad, Trash in the Can)
Rhett O’Hara has really been looking forward to writing this “about me”. He blames movies for a lot of things in his life. He blames seeing Batman Returns as a child for his interest in all things goth and camp. He blames seeing Akira at far too young of an age for his interest in films that dare to venture into the weirder side of things. He blames Midsommar for never visiting Sweden. Rhett has lived in Austin for a couple of decades, so he can speak fondly of the old days of renting DVDs from I Luv Video (Tetsuo the Iron Man left a mark) and buying peculiar documentaries (The Nomi Song, Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist) from Waterloo Video. Rhett also remembers reading an “about me” that stuck with him a few years back. Time continued and he felt a constant need to share “about me” as well. It wasn’t a voice telling him to do this but something akin to the feeling of knowing that someone is watching you without ever actually seeing that person. Rhett has been anxious and is only just now feeling a sense of relief writing this. He feels selfish though, knowing that this will continue on to the next host; the desire…. the urge…. no….the need to pass along a message that has existed ever since humanity started sharing thoughts in a written form. You must understand that he had no choice in this matter. Rhett is truly sorry for this, but he’s every bit of a pawn as you are now. Rhett is also contractually obligated to let you know that he has been a guest on the hit podcast Trash in the Can.
Drew Tinnin (Screener Squad, Highly Suspect Reviews, Deliberations of Doom)
Drew Tinnin is a Rondo Award nominated interviewer and critic who has worked at SiriusXM’s Fangoria Radio and Fangoria magazine in NYC, as well as the London-based Dazed Digital. Currently a regular contributor to the Dread Central Network, he’s excited to join up with some old friends and other film fans on One of Us as a new contributor to Screener Squad.
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