The Clayface early reviews — or, more accurately at this point, the Clayface early reactions, since actual critic reviews are still locked in a vault somewhere — have officially started leaking out of test screenings, and the internet has, predictably, lost its collective mind over a man made of mud.
Let’s get the disclaimer out of the way first, because every single outlet covering this has had to: nobody has published a formal review yet. Official critic reactions still haven’t arrived, so the early buzz should be taken with caution.
What we do have is a growing pile of test-screening tweets, a few brave influencers, and enough body-horror imagery to make you reconsider your relationship with moisturizer. That’s the raw material behind every Clayface early reviews roundup currently circulating, including this one.
So What Is This Movie, Exactly?
For the uninitiated: Clayface follows Matt Hagen, a rising Hollywood star whose career is derailed by a horrifying accident that disfigures his face — and then, this being DC’s first full-send horror experiment, things get considerably worse from there.
The MPA slapped it with an R rating for “strong bloody violence, gore, language, some nudity and brief drug use,” which is the kind of rating that makes a parent quietly close the laptop. According to iHorror, it’s the first R-rated feature in the DC Universe that James Gunn and Peter Safran are building — so, no pressure, Clayface, but you’re kind of setting a tone here.
The Verdict So Far: “We Haven’t Felt Like This Since Obsession“
If there’s one sentence doing the heaviest lifting across every single Clayface early reviews thread this week, it’s this one, relayed by ComicBook.com: “The early buzz on CLAYFACE has some people comparing it to OBSESSION.”
One attendee reportedly told a reporter, “We haven’t felt like this leaving a movie since Obsession.” That’s a bold comparison to drop on a Batman villain nobody has ever seen in live action, but here we are.
ComicBookMovie.com also flagged the obvious asterisk that should hover over every Clayface early reviews headline right now: this was clearly a fan and influencer screening meant to generate the same overwhelmingly positive buzz we saw for Supergirl before critics started weighing in. Translation: early reactions are basically a movie’s hype trailer wearing a trench coat. Fun to read, not gospel.
Still, the comparisons keep piling up. FictionHorizon and ComicBasics both report that early viewers have compared Clayface to an intriguing mix of titles, including Joker, Vanilla Sky, The Substance, and 2008’s The Incredible Hulk — which is either the most eclectic double feature of all time or a very accurate description of “sad man, body falling apart, occasional rage episode.”
One social media insider went so far as to call it “very good and funnier than expected,” which, for a movie where a guy reportedly cuts his own eyelids open mid-flight, is a genuinely surprising adjective.
The Eyelid Scene (You’re Welcome)
Speaking of which: if you only remember one detail from this entire Clayface early reviews cycle, it’s probably going to be the airplane. GeekTyrant reports that insider Daniel Richtman described a sequence involving Matt having to cut his eyelids open with a pair of scissors on a plane going through turbulence. Somewhere, an airline is very relieved this isn’t a real incident report.
The Surprise Cast Member Nobody Called
Early screening attendees also seem fixated on a certain Breaking Bad alum popping up in the film. CinemaBlend and GeekTyrant both flag Aaron Paul’s name attached to the project, which — depending on how you feel about Jesse Pinkman showing up in Gotham’s orbit — is either delightful stunt casting or a fun rumor someone needs to confirm on the record.
The One Complaint Everyone Keeps Bringing Up
Not every data point in the Clayface early reviews conversation is glowing. The recurring gripe, repeated almost word-for-word across multiple outlets, is that this is apparently a Clayface movie that’s light on actual Clayface.
FictionHorizon notes some viewers raised concerns that the film may not feature many full-body transformations for its title character, despite being a body horror movie. Which is a bit like making a Godzilla movie and having him mostly just… stand around, concerned about his skin. CinemaBlend put it bluntly, too: “a Clayface movie without Clayface-level transformations just seems baffling.” Fair.
No Batman, No Cameos, No Problem?
If you were hoping for a Batsignal cameo, ComicBasics reports Batman does not appear in the film and is not even mentioned, with the story allowing the focus to stay completely on Matt Hagen’s personal journey. Gunn himself reportedly described the whole approach simply: “It’s a body-horror movie. It’s a horror movie that, like any cool body-horror movie, just happens to be in the DCU.” Bold. Slightly unhinged. Very on-brand for the man who made a sentient tree a beloved father figure.
What the Actual Scorecards Say (Spoiler: Not Much Yet)
As for hard numbers, there aren’t any — Metacritic currently lists zero critic reviews, confirming what everyone already suspected: the Clayface early reviews conversation is still 100% vibes, 0% Tomatometer. Prediction markets tracked by Kalshi are betting the eventual Rotten Tomatoes score lands around 77%, with bettors giving it a 66% chance of finishing “Fresh” above 70 — basically Wall Street’s version of cautious optimism.
The Bottom Line
Clayface opens October 23, 2026, and right now the entire internet is operating on secondhand tweets, one eyelid scene, and a lot of Obsession comparisons nobody asked for but everyone’s repeating anyway. The Clayface early reviews we have are promising, genuinely entertaining to read, and should be treated with exactly the skepticism they deserve — because test-screening hype and actual critical consensus are, historically, about as similar as Matt Hagen’s face is to, well, Matt Hagen’s face anymore.
Check back once the review embargo lifts. Until then: keep an eye on those eyelids.
