CONFIRMED
The reviews for DC Studios’ Clayface are in, and horror fans have reason to grin. Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter both single out director James Watkins’ graphic body horror as the film’s big strength. Other critics are divided on whether the script holds up.
What we know
Warner Bros. lists Clayface as a horror thriller from director James Watkins, starring Tom Rhys Harries, opening in theaters October 23, 2026. It is the third film in the Gunn/Safran DCU, after Superman (2025) and Supergirl (2026). Harries plays Matt Hagen, with Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan in the cast. Deadline lists the screenwriters as Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, the rating as R and the runtime as 1 hr 48 mins.
Now the part you care about: how scary is it? Deadline’s review praises Watkins for the jump-scares, creative kills and graphic body horror, and its headline calls the film a “fun, scary body horror” origin story. That is a lot of genre boxes ticked in one sentence.
The Hollywood Reporter goes further, calling Clayface a “Bona Fide Body-Horror Delight” in its headline. THR says Watkins does a superb job with the body-horror aspects and warns they are not for the squeamish. It points to the cutting up of Matt’s face and the plastic surgery that follows as where the queasy stuff starts.
A Rotten Tomatoes editorial quotes Variety’s Guy Lodge saying Clayface exceeds expectations in nearly every department “without getting ideas above its spiritual B-movie station.” The same piece quotes THR’s Frank Scheck calling it one of the year’s big surprises.
What we don’t know yet
The final critical consensus is still forming. Forbes, which is not on our approved outlet list, reported a 75% Rotten Tomatoes score from 83 reviews when the embargo lifted on October 21 at 3 p.m. ET, then cited 76% in an October 22 follow-up. Other outlets reported figures ranging from 74% on an early count to 76-77%. Treat any number as a snapshot.
The script split is real but thinner on solid sourcing. We have only seen the headlines, not the full reviews, from several outlets outside our approved list. The LA Times headline praises the body horror but calls the script a “sloppy mess.” Cleveland.com calls it a “pretty good” R-rated revenge thriller-horror romance. The Livingston County News frames it as a doomed romance with body horror trappings, and The Arts Fuse headline reads “A Mug Only a Horror Fan Could Love.”
ComicBookMovie.com and Tempo.co report that GamesRadar+ called the film an uneven tragedy and that USA Today gave it 2 out of 4 stars, citing weak character development. We have not confirmed those reviews directly.
What is rumored
Fan and entertainment aggregators Cosmic Book News and Geeks + Gamers claim Rotten Tomatoes removed the first “rotten” Clayface review, written by Josh Wilding of ComicBookMovie.com. That review, published October 19, rated the film 2.5/5 and labeled it “DC’s Morbius moment.” Multiple sites repeat the review’s existence and rating. The removal claim, though, comes from a single unverified line of reporting, and we could not confirm it with Rotten Tomatoes or any outlet on our approved list. Treat it as rumor until RT or a major outlet weighs in.
What it means
If you are asking whether Clayface works as a horror movie, the confirmed reviews say yes, at least where the horror is concerned. Deadline and THR agree that the scares, kills and gooey transformations deliver, and THR’s squeamish warning should be read as a feature, not a bug, for body-horror devotees.
The open question is the story around the gore. Even the mixed headlines tend to praise the horror and knock the writing, so expectations matter. Lodge’s B-movie line captures the vibe: walk in hoping for a nasty, entertaining creature feature with a tragic romance at its core, and the early word suggests you will leave happy. Walk in wanting a airtight revenge drama, and you may side with the skeptics.
Either way, an R-rated DC film that leans this hard into body horror is a fascinating swing. We will be watching that score settle as opening day arrives.