Clayface nearly just made up its entire $44 million budget with a $43 million haul this weekend at the global box office, surpassing expectations and holding off Nathan Fielder’s You Can See Everything, which increased its totals from last week after word of mouth spread. That film is widely considered one of the best of the year.
But Clayface? Audiences are now considering that one of the best films of the year, especially if you narrow it down to the horror category specifically. There is no wilder story than Obsession, the microbudget film that critics and audiences loved and made over half a billion dollars, setting loads of records. But Clayface has now matched it in one specific category. The comic book horror film has a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score, matching the 94% of Obsession. Both are 1% above the Korean zombie movie Colony, and the only other mainline 90%+ movie in 2026 is Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil.
The two split pretty heavily when it comes to critic takes. Obsession has a 93% Rotten Tomatoes critic score, while Clayface has a 75%, which puts it outside the top 10 horror movies of the year by that metric. But fans, I think especially DC fans, are surprised just how great Clayface ended up being, myself included, and I agree with the sky-high scores here. This is the list of most of the major horror releases toward the top of the audience score list in 2026:
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Clayface – 94% audience score
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Obsession – 94% audience score
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Colony – 93% audience score
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Resident Evil – 90% audience score
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28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – 88% audience score
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Ready or Not 2: Here I Come – 88% audience score
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Send Help – 86% audience score
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Iron Lung – 86% audience score
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Hokum – 82% audience score
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Leviticus – 82% audience score
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Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma – 78% audience score
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Buddy – 76% audience score
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They Will Kill You – 76% audience score
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Backrooms – 74% audience score
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Evil Dead Burn – 74% audience score
Clayface was already the best-reviewed solo villain comic book movie of all time on both the critic and audience side. For audiences, that would be any villain movie, including James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, albeit they end up being more antiheroes. Clayface is…not an antihero, at least not by the end of the film, which makes it somewhat unique in the genre, and more akin to something like Joker (the second highest-scored villain film).
The direction, script and acting by its lead, Tom Rhys Harries, are all fantastic, as is the film’s blend of VFX and practical effects. The film also doesn’t shy away from typical slasher features like gore and nudity, making it pretty unique across the entire genre. The MCU would never. Absolutely go see it, and see if these scores align with your thoughts.
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This article was originally published on Forbes.com
