‘Clayface’ Japanese Poster Screams Pure Horror

Now this is a fucking horror poster.

The Japanese artwork for Clayface pairs an upside-down face with a hand stretching the skin into something deeply uncomfortable. Add that grainy texture and blood-red lettering, and you’ve got something that looks like it belongs among the Japanese horror films that kept us awake in the late ’90s and early 2000s.

The strongest connection for me is the Japanese artwork for films like Ringu, Kairo, Audition, The Cure, and others. It’s a resemblance in atmosphere, rather than a direct recreation, but that same sense of something being terribly wrong comes through here.

And that’s exactly what I want from Clayface. Something grotesque, tragic, and uncomfortable enough to make you look twice.

Directed by James Watkins (Speak No Evil), the film follows actor Matt Hagen, whose attempt to restore his disfigured appearance through an experimental treatment transforms him into a shapeshifting monster.

Check out the artwork below. This one deserves a spot on the wall.