Superhero cinema has flirted with the grotesque before, but rarely with the blood-soaked commitment seen in “Clayface”, DC Studios’ new film from the Batman universe.
As the superhero genre struggles to excite audiences, the shape-shifting Batman supervillain aims for something uniquely visceral.
“I don’t want just clockwork scares, jump scares, I don’t want mechanical scares, I want scares that get under people’s skin”, British director James Watkins said.
“Body horror is possibly one of the most relatable scares, because we all have fears for what can go wrong with our bodies”.
Welsh actor Tom Rhys Harries plays Matt Hagen, a rising film star whose face is horrifically disfigured by a mob boss, prompting a quest for revenge.
“Clayface as a character is sort of like uniquely suited to the body horror genre”, Harries said.
For Watkins, practical effects were central to the film’s impact.
“Where I could shoot something with a prosthetic, often we would do that”, he said.
“But also by shooting it for real, you’ve got real-time reactions from everybody”.
Harries admitted ripping off his prosthetics after shoots, earning reprimands from the makeup team.
The same emphasis on texture shaped filming in Liverpool, which doubles as Gotham City.
“When you’re alongside the Mersey and the rain’s coming in and it’s heavy atmospherics, you just feel it”, Watkins said.
Despite industry anxieties about artificial intelligence, he remains focused on people.
“I still feel that conversations I have with people are with people, because the films come down to human emotion”. — AFP
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