The DCU is looking for back-to-back hits after Lanterns cooked up huge viewership on HBO Max. Its second outing in as many months is Clayface , the Batman villain getting his own R-rated film set in Gotham presumably years before we ever see the Dark Knight himself. Early critic reviews and reactions are coming in through social media, and they are pretty unanimous in their praise.

Clayface has an interesting history, as it was in development before James Gunn and Peter Safran took over DC. The original plan may have been to slot it somewhere into Matt Reeves ’ The Batman universe, but the DCU has now grabbed it for itself. Lucky for them.

Clayface is a villain in Batman lore who can shift around his face and body to disguise himself as anyone, and in combat, form clay-based weapons to attempt to smash the Caped Crusader, or in one scarring childhood memory I have from Batman: The Animated Series , suffocate him to death inside of his gooey body.

It felt like a gamble to make only the third film in the DCU about the eighth-most notable Batman villain, but as James Gunn has said many times, the goal has been to cover many different tones and genres, in this case it’s R-rated body horror. And it works, seemingly. Here are some of the short reviews and reactions from various critics who have seen the film in early screenings, and just had an embargo lift:

Chris Killian – “CLAYFACE is incredible! It molds Matt Hagen’s tragic backstory into a wildly gory spectacle. There are some crazy unique body horror moments that’ll make you squirm, but what I loved most is it’s also a heartfelt throwback to a bygone era of classic gothic romance films.”

Brandon Davis – “#Clayface is freakishly awesome. Watkins makes an unsettling Gotham and gets very creative with Clayface’s abilities. Gruesome, dark moments and twisted ideas at play. Tom Rhys Harries is a star, literally in the movie and for his performance. Dude kills it. Well done by all.”

Steven Weintraub – “Clayface was fantastic. An awesome addition to the DCU that doesn’t require any knowledge of DC to enjoy. It’s a hard R and loaded with brutal scenes that really surprised me. Audience freaked out a few times during my screening to what was being depicted on screen. Strong recommend.”

So, some caveats here. These are early social media impressions, and those do not always track with final takes on films. Many are quick to mention that we just went through this with Supergirl this summer, where most early takes were very positive, but that movie went on to have a rotten 52% score and totally bombed at the box office.

My gut tells me that Clayface probably is good and not being set up to bomb with a low budget and existing as a horror film releasing in October right before Halloween. While I would not imagine Clayface arrives with perfect scores when the full review embargo lifts, things feel a bit different this time, and I’m expecting it to deliver.

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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy .