Janet (Francesca Eastwood) is a housewife living in a luxury upper-class suburb. Upon waking up, she finds her husband, Evan (Nestor Carbonell), has apparently vanished. Despite supposedly going away on a work trip, his luggage is still in the house. To make matters even more bizarre, Janet receives a knock at the door from a handyman named Leo (Milo Gibson). Leo has paperwork with Evan’s signature, allowing Leo to renovate Janet’s bathroom, including installing a Clawfoot bathtub, which she dislikes. For Janet, the news is entirely unexpected. Despite Janet having spoken about making minor changes, a new renovation is out of the blue. Based on the paperwork and explanation from Leo, she lets him and his off-sider Samuel (Oliver Cooper) into the house to begin work.
Janet becomes suspicious as Leo and Samuel begin conducting their work. On top of Leo consistently talking so much that he gets under Janet’s skin, she also catches him off task and snooping around her property. Janet gets mad and begins to lose her patience, becoming so furious she even starts to have murderous visions of killing Leo. Janet’s best friend, Tasha (Olivia Culpo), visits, and they talk about the two new handymen and the dark thoughts that are randomly emerging.
Clawfoot is a thriller, and given the craziness and blood violence, the film also scratches the surface of horror, especially during its third and climactic finale. The film was directed by Michael Day and serves as a directorial debut. The writer, April Wolfe, is also a new talent, with only Black Christmas from 2019 on her resumé. As Clawfoot began, I enjoyed how fast the film got underway, including Janet becoming increasingly suspicious, especially as Milo knocks on her door. I also love the concept of a suspicious handyman conducting unexpected work at a luxury home. As viewers, you can’t help but question Milo’s true motives and begin to ponder if Janet might have a few secrets of her own, too.
The pacing for most of the film is slow, tedious and somewhat annoying. For the vast majority, we witness Janet continually becoming more suspicious about Leo. Even when she catches him off task or overstepping boundaries verbally, she continues to put up with him, which I found challenging to believe for many reasons. Thankfully, when the film introduces a fun and surprising twist, it becomes more exciting, extremely bloody, violent and witty. However, the finale is not far away once this third act kicks in and the fun is introduced. I found myself wishing the first and second acts were so much more playful, like the third and finale, instead of feeling frustrating and tedious.
I found Francesca Eastwood’s performance the strongest, offering a mixture of confidence and craziness, especially whenever she sees a vision of her inner thoughts. Sadly, Milo Gibson was a weaker aspect here, but this was mostly due to his annoying character, and it was a role that felt unconvincing to me for most of the runtime. Surely there are better roles out there for this actor? The musical score is noticeable, enjoyable and extremely fitting, thanks to Jeff Francis and Coen Wolters.
Overall, Clawfoot carries a playful concept, a fun plot, and a couple of mysteries. However, the film is drawn out and tedious for most of the first and second acts. What’s most exciting is the film’s major reveals and finale, which is far more enjoyable than the rest of the movie. I couldn’t help but question why the film took so long to get there. The stronger performance out of the two leads comes from Francesca Eastwood, who is both confident and, during certain visions, crazy. Filled with an eerie and strange yet rather fitting film score, Clawfoot has a few good ingredients on-screen and some missed opportunities, too. If you can stick with the annoying moments, the ending is most certainly rewarding, and the film itself is a strong achievement for first-time director Michael Day.
5.5/10
26th May 2024
Written by Peter Walkden
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