Editorials
[It Came From the ‘80s] The Rampaging Pagan God Known as ‘Rawhead Rex’
With horror industry heavy hitters already in place from the 1970s, the 1980s built upon that with the rise of brilliant minds in makeup and effects artists, as well as advances in technology. Artists like Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Tom Savini, Stan Winston, and countless other artists that delivered groundbreaking, mind-blowing practical effects that ushered in the pre-CGI Golden Age of Cinema. Which meant a glorious glut of creatures in horror. More than just a technical marvel, the creatures on display in ‘80s horror meant tangible texture that still holds up decades later. Grotesque slimy skin to brutal transformation sequences, there wasn’t anything the artists couldn’t create. It Came From the ‘80s is a series that will pay homage to the monstrous, deadly, and often slimy creatures that made the ‘80s such a fantastic decade in horror.
One of the lesser celebrated monsters of the ‘80s is that of pagan god Rawhead Rex. Between its limited theatrical release in 1987, and Clive Barker’s notorious displeasure with the film, it’s not a surprise that Rawhead Rex slipped between the cracks. Though he wrote the screenplay, adapted from his own short story that appeared in volume 3 of his Books of Blood series, there’s very little resemblance between Barker’s original vision of his rampaging pagan god and the one that appears on screen. Considering the story’s version of the character was an 8-foot tall slender phallus, and the film’s version was a sort of punk-rock bulked out animalistic beast, Rawhead Head tends to be divisive depending on familiarity with Barker’s story.
Though the film adaptation is nowhere near as gory or depraved as the original story, some of the pagan god’s core values remain; Rawhead Rex still pisses on priests, has issues with women, and prefers to munch on kids and babies for dinner. It’s ‘80s rubber-suit monster meets Irish folk horror, as Rawhead Rex is unleashed from the Earth and tears through the idyllic countryside, wreaking havoc along the way.
As is often the case, the limited budget and very limited window of prep work meant the special effects time had a Herculean task of designing and creating Rawhead Rex. The creature design has often been criticized for being just a big guy in a rubber suit and mask with a fixed expression. That’s not exactly accurate. Based on concept art by Paul Catling (AVP: Alien vs Predator, Guardians of the Galaxy), Rawhead Rex was a big guy in a suit, played by ski instructer Heinrich von Schellendorf in his only film credit, but the mask was mechanized. The fiberglass and animatronic head gave Rawhead Rex movement and the ability to emote, and there were fiber optics and deflectors put in the creature’s eyes to give that glowing movement effect. The creature also had animatronic hands for his retractable claws.
The issue was that the limited resources available to the special effects team meant they didn’t have the time or money to spend on the animatronics to give it the level of detail they would have liked, and its scope diminished. The bigger issue, though, was that director George Pavlou never highlighted the full scope of the creature effects. There was often a handful of animatronics engineers and technicians operating Rawhead Rex, but Pavlou didn’t quite seem to know how to showcase the special effects. It was only his second feature, so inexperience likely played a key role in how wooden the pagan god came across.
The production of Rawhead Rex seemed doomed from the start. The budget promised to Pavlou and crew never quite materialized, leaving them struggling from the onset. The rough weather caused delays in a super tight schedule, and money practically ran dry by the time production was poised to shoot the climactic finale, resulting in a lackluster laser light show ending.
Even still, Pavlou and crew managed to pull together a coherent film that’s developed a cult following despite its flaws. Rawhead Rex exists in that weird overlap between folk horror and a punk rock mentality, perhaps the only of its kind. It’s not the visceral gore fest of Barker’s original story, but I don’t think any film could have been at the time. Giant monster penises is a tough sell no matter what era. If not for Rawhead Rex, Barker might not have been pushed into directing Hellraiser, either. As it stands, it’s a perfect example of the many facets it takes behind the scenes to make memorable creature features.
I was never against Sony’s initial idea to produce solo movies based on Spider-Man’s most memorable supervillains. After all, a hero is only as good as his Rogues’ Gallery is intimidating, so it stands to reason that there were plenty of dark stories to tell here.
While rushed productions like Morbius and Kraven the Hunter didn’t quite turn out as I had hoped, it’s a relief to see James Gunn and the DC Extended Universe learn the right lessons from Marvel’s flops by investing in supervillain stories that aren’t afraid to step into the horror genre.
The new trailer for James Watkins’ upcoming Clayface movie is a great example of this, as the new footage confirms our suspicions that the movie is set to be a full-on piece of body horror focusing more on telling a standalone scary story than setting up a brand.
With that in mind, I’ve decided to take a closer look at the trailer in order to find out what we can expect from this highly anticipated comic-book adaptation from hell.
So without further ado, here are four things we learned from the new Clayface trailer!
4. Matt Hagen is a Club Vesuvius Regular
A seedy nightclub owned by “former” mobster Johnny Sabatino, the comic books have established Club Vesuvius as a hotspot for criminal activity and metahuman action since 2009. Throughout the years, the club has seen everything from an attempted arson by Firefly to magical acts performed by Zatanna herself.
The trailer for Clayface appears to suggest that Vesuvius will feature prominently in this story as well, as the footage shows us several shots of Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) casually attending the club as well as a couple of more concerning moments where Gotham City Police roll up to the establishment to deal with some kind of emergency.
3. The Movie Will Not Adapt Any Single Specific Comic
As I mentioned before in my Clayface primer for horror fans who aren’t all that familiar with the character, the initial teaser for the film had me convinced that the project would be more of an adaptation of Batman: The Animated Series’ two-part episode Feat of Clay rather than any specific comic-book.
This latest trailer has only confirmed my suspicions, with Hagen’s predicament here feeling much more in line with Marv Wolfman and Michael Reaves’ sympathetic vision of the character than the more traditional criminal that we usually see in the comics. That being said, I’m curious to see how the filmmakers intend to connect this tragic version of Clayface to the more unpleasant monster we saw in Creature Commandos now that it’s been confirmed that these are indeed the same person.
2. James Watkins is Combining Practical and Digital Effects
I’ll always prefer a well-executed practical effect over CGI simply because the former is closer to the stage magic that inspired early moviemaking. That being said, there’s an undeniable artistry to well-crafted visual effects, and I’d argue that a character like Clayface requires the best of both worlds in order to be convincingly brought to life on the big screen.
I’m clearly not the only one who thinks so, as the trailer has shown us that Watkins is combining digital imagery with prosthetics and plenty of flesh-colored goop to depict Hagen’s unique brand of monstrous body horror. James Gunn had already promised us that the film would feature plenty of old-school practical effects wizardry, so it’s exciting to see that this approach in action.
1. Hagen Will Eventually Transform into Clayface’s Iconic True Form
In the comics, whenever Clayface isn’t pretending to be someone else, the character spends most of his time in his “natural” form resembling a gigantic golem-like monster. This look has certainly evolved over the years, but, at this point, most artists have settled on a vaguely humanoid shape accompanied by a gaping maw (though the villain’s terrifying re-imagining in DC’s Absolute Universe is a bit more complicated than that).
While fans were initially skeptical regarding whether or not the upcoming adaptation would even feature this admittedly outlandish design, the trailer has basically confirmed that Hagen’s condition will get progressively worse until he finally resembles the hulking monstrosity from the comics!
Be sure to comment below if you think we overlooked any interesting details in the trailer, and keep in mind that Clayface will be hitting theaters on October 23.
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