James Watkins
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Connections, in both directions
Watkins proves in “Clayface,” especially in some of the surgery sequences, that he is not afraid to go fully gnarly, à la “The Fly” (1986)…
Watkins's film leans heavily into body horror, channelling The Fly (though this is a far lesser movie)…
…the 80s classic THE FLY remake…
David Cronenberg (1975’s Shivers / They Came From Within, 1983’s Videodrome, 1986’s The Fly)…
(Shades of The Fly, Darkman, and Johnny Handsome can all be found in Clayface.)
…it can feel like the scrappy kid brother of David Cronenberg's The Fly, continually pushing the envelope regarding what it can get away with…
…with a body horror level to rival “The Substance.”
…the early critic comparisons to The Substance are far more apt…
…with some of the most revolting images since The Substance…
Watkins proves in “Clayface,” especially in some of the surgery sequences, that he is not afraid to go fully gnarly, à la “The Fly” (1986) or “The Substance,”…
Every other critic is going to reference “The Substance” (2024) or David Cronenberg’s early body horror work…
He meshes the recent body horror of THE SUBSTANCE (with lots of practical make-up effects and a bit of CGI)…
There are recognizable landmarks and Gotham-specific nods that feel right out of Batman: The Animated Series…
Closely hewing to the “Batman: The Animated Series” two-part episode “Feat of Clay” (penned by Marv Wolfman and Michael Reeves), it follows actor and rising star Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries).
…adapted thematically from the Batman: The Animated Series episode Feat of Clay…
Die-hard fans should be warned, however: this may not be a word-for-word adaptation of Batman: The Animated Series (1992), but it certainly pays its respects.
In the Batman: The Animated Series two-parter, “Feat of Clay,” Clayface breaks down in a crucial scene, exclaiming, “I’m not an actor anymore. I’m not even a man!”
…inspired by the wonderful “Feat of Clay” episodes of the iconic Batman animated series from 1992…
Imagine if Sam Raimi’s seminal Darkman was grislier and, well, a bit dumber (complimentary).
…a whole lot of the 90s “you’d think he came from a comic book” DARKMAN (using tech to take down thugs)…
Think of Clayface as DC meets Darkman.
Clayface ultimately is not that different from countless other stories, from The Phantom Of The Opera to Darkman, about a disfigured, broken man and the brave, innocent woman who sees something beautiful inside him…
(Shades of The Fly, Darkman, and Johnny Handsome can all be found in Clayface.)
From the chaotic ensemble pieces of Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey to the darker, more introspective character studies of Joker and The Batman, the studio has repeatedly mined the darker corners of its comic-book universe.
The daytime sequences in some scenes reminded me unfavourably of Todd Philips’ “Joker” in how that film depicted Gotham City of the 1970s.
Clayface is conceptually closer to 2019’s Joker.
…so watch out, “Bat-baddies” CATWOMAN and JOKER…
Rob Brydon of all people as a chat show host in the mould of the one played by Robert De Niro in the Joker movie…
…it easily clears the “Joker” franchise because it does not feel actively derivative or overwrought, and the comparison fits because these films’ protagonists are Batman villains with solo, standalone films…
The story takes place in England at the turn of the 20th century, which is a particularly interesting historical moment to set a classical ghost story because the crumbling of older modes of life in the face of modern technology echoes the familiar tug-of-war between spirituality and rationality; the old ways hold on despite the force of social evolution (it is not surprising, in this regard, that Bram Stoker set Dracula, a story to which The Woman in Black owes no small debt, in the then-present tense of 1897, rather than in the past).
There’ve been three VENOM flicks, but don’t hold your breath for the return of MORBIUS or KRAVEN THE HUNTER…
Remember when Venom was supposed to be a genre film and then most definitely wasn’t?
…a character who feels like an off-brand swirl of Venom, Hulk, Joker and Mystique…
Sony spent years trying to turn Spider-Man’s nemeses into big-screen sensations, hitting pay dirt with 2018’s Venom ($856 million)…
You might say that "The Woman in Black" is in a similar vein to the 2001 smash "The Others," but it isn't a narrative built entirely around a Shyamalanian twist ending.
Stuffed with such familiar period touches as mechanical toys and mysteriously opening doors, it suffers by comparison to such similar films as “The Orphanage” and “The Others.’’
This is what separates “The Woman in Black” from truly great ghost movies such as “The Innocents,” “The Haunting” and “The Others.”
It's lovely to see the Boy Who Lived move on, but don't expect The Woman in Black to be nearly as memorable as Harry Potter or as creepily mind-blowing as The Others .
The best ghost stories are the ones that rely on careful exposition and a pervasive sense of mounting dread to unsettle audiences (The Others and The Orphanage being modern examples), but director James Watkins and scripter Jane Goldman abandon that approach shockingly fast.
Watkins and his team pull out all the classic horror clichés to energize Jane Goldman’s flaccid and confused screenplay (she’s adapting Susan Hill’s 1983 novel), stealing cues from Juan Antonio Bayona’s far superior The Orphanage while desperately trying to emulate Alejandro Amenábar’s overrated The Others.
A John Wick-like sequence towards the film’s climax sees his revenge-fuelled rampage reach a bloody crescendo, culminating in a twist that leaves us on the edge of our seats.
…he sets out to John Wick his way through Szabo’s crime syndicate…
…a one-man army that's half John Wick, half Videodrome…
John Carpenter The Thing (1982) getting honorable mentions…
Combining elements of The Fly, The Thing, The Blob, and any number of “The” body-horror movies…
David Cronenberg (1975’s Shivers / They Came From Within, 1983’s Videodrome, 1986’s The Fly)…
…a one-man army that's half John Wick, half Videodrome…
…continuing as early as next year with Supergirl and Clayface…
…even last year’s much-heralded Superman reboot only grossed a solid $618m…
No rational box-office observer would put Clayface in the same commercial realm as last year’s Superman ($619 million worldwide)…
It kicked off with “Superman”, a frustrating and often baffling treatment of the brand’s iconic superhero.
Their SUPERMAN soared while his cousin SUPERGIRL certainly didn’t…
The third feature in James Gunn’s rebooted DCU after Superman, and Supergirl…
…the sort of thing we’d usually see in torture porn like Matryrs or a Terrifier sequel…
…this isn't Terrifier, after all…
From the chaotic ensemble pieces of Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey to the darker, more introspective character studies of Joker and The Batman, the studio has repeatedly mined the darker corners of its comic-book universe.
…while the DCEU had Suicide Squad which was a critical disaster, but a box-office hit with nearly $750 million worldwide…
…shamelessly shat out disasters like Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web…
Better than Marvel equivalents Morbius, Kraven the Hunter et al, Clayface is pacey, gross but unremarkable.
There’ve been three VENOM flicks, but don’t hold your breath for the return of MORBIUS or KRAVEN THE HUNTER…
DC’s Supergirl bombed so hard that experts believe it might have cost Warners upwards of $200m in losses…
Suddenly, Supergirl doesn’t look so bad now, does it?
…like the similarly-flawed Supergirl, its lead star Tom Rhys Harries is excellent…
I don’t have the same concerns about Clayface, which opens this October.
With Clayface coming later this year, though, the DCU is doubling down on its commitment to an eclectic mix of projects and tones…
…which is insane considering it was shot by Rob Hardy, the same cinematographer of Craig Gillespie’s dreadful-looking Supergirl…
Better than Marvel equivalents Morbius, Kraven the Hunter et al, Clayface is pacey, gross but unremarkable.
There’ve been three VENOM flicks, but don’t hold your breath for the return of MORBIUS or KRAVEN THE HUNTER…
…as being exceedingly derivative of Sony Studios’ last couple of live-action super-villain origin film outings (“Morbius” being the most notorious one)…
…shamelessly shat out disasters like Kraven the Hunter and Madame Web…
While it may not be as dire as the whole Sony of it all (sorry, Madame Web)…
…so watch out, “Bat-baddies” CATWOMAN and JOKER…
…the comparison fits because these films’ protagonists are Batman villains with solo, standalone films, which would also include “Catwoman” (2004), but is rated PG-13…
From the chaotic ensemble pieces of Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey to the darker, more introspective character studies of Joker and The Batman, the studio has repeatedly mined the darker corners of its comic-book universe.
…the spectre of darkness that shrouds Gotham City itself (explored in Reeves’ “The Batman” (2022)).
Though the picture shares a certain stylistic quality with Matt Reeves’s recent The Batman…
The design of Gotham City is comparable to The Batman which makes it worse as Matt Reeves' movie had a distinct style in its darkness.