DC Studios, 6th & Idaho, Troll Court Entertainment and The Safran Company’s Clayface (dubbed from the Hollywood film of the same name; A) is the story of revenge of a rising movie star who is brutally disfigured by a local mob boss.
Rising film star Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) is horrendously disfigured by a mob boss. Unfit to act, Matt volunteers as a test subject to restore his original face. Even while becoming the guinea pig and letting experiments be conducted on himself, he undergoes a series of horrifying psychological and physical side effects that transform his body into living clay. He now swears revenge.
Mike Flanagan has written a story which may be interesting but it is implausible also. The screenplay, penned by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, is engaging and often keeps the audience on tenterhooks. Having said that, it must be added that since it is an experiment, just about anything is possible. Hence there’s just no end to what can happen to Matt Hagen. Even this may have worked had the character been played by a superstar.
Tom Rhys Harries does a fine job as movie star Matt Hagen. Naomi Ackie is natural as Dr. Caitlyn Corr, a scientist. Max Minghella plays police detective John Borrelli effectively. Eddie Marsan, David Dencik, Nancy Carroll, Joshua James, Francesca Corney, Ruby Sear and Wil Coban lend decent support.
James Watkins’ direction is quite nice. Volker Bertelmann’s background music is fair. Rob Hardy’s cinematography is eye-filling. Visual effects and computer graphics are of a good standard. James Price’s production designing is nice. Editing (by Jon Harris) should’ve been crisper. Dubbing is proper.
On the whole, Clayface is entertaining but it stands dim chances at the box-office because of the extremely poor start and less likelihood of collections picking up too much.
Released on 23-10-’26 at MovieMax Sion (daily 2 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Warner Bros. Pictures (India) Pvt. Ltd. Publicity & opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was poor everywhere.