Movies
Coffin Rock (V)
“The debut feature from writer/director Glasson, Coffin Rock is apparently striving to be something like Australia’s answer to Cape Fear or Fatal Attraction – and it’s not too far off.”
The debut feature from writer/director Glasson, Coffin Rock is apparently striving to be something like Australia’s answer to Cape Fear or Fatal Attraction – and it’s not too far off.
In a rural fishing village in New South Wales, middle aged couple Robb and Jess have been striving unsuccessfully for a baby for several years. When they visit the city for an IVF appointment they’re spotted by Irish teenager Evan, who immediately becomes obsessed with Jess and follows them home town in order to inveigle himself in their lives. After Jess drunkenly sleeps with Evan, and subsequently discovers she’s pregnant, what she thought was a besotted young boy reveals himself to be something far more unhinged and threatening.
Coffin Rock shares a producer with excellent horror Wolf Creek, and like that film it gets off to a measured, almost ponderous start, and features a similarly naturalistic style. Unfortunately it never reaches the same giddily nerve-wracking heights as Wolf Creek; taking parenthood and infidelity as its themes, this is a far more adult prospect that tends to pull its punches somewhat. There are, however, one or two moments of Grand Guignol, including some rather distressing animal cruelty to rival Fatal Attraction’s bunny boiling, and the final reel delivers some proper edge-of-your-seat tension.
Although, not an outstanding film, Coffin Rock does have much to recommend it. Glasson makes great use of the location; there’s an evocative wintery tone that seems unusual for an Australian film, and despite the rural setting it deliberately avoids the outback stereotypes we’re used to seeing. Furthermore, the three leads give unfaultable performances; Morrell, as the cuckolded Robb, strikes just the right balance between melancholy self-pity and simmering fury, and Camilleri as Jess perfectly conveys her character’s conflicted emotions. Inevitably though, it’s Parsonson as the increasingly deranged Evan who’ll stick in the mind after the credits roll.
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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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