The best horror movies of 2026: Clayface, insatiable molecules, and lost humanity
The best horror movies of 2026: Clayface, Insatiable Molecules, and Lost Humanity
“If nothing is true, then is anyone real?
Horror movies are about to close on what may be their biggest year of all time, with films like Resident Evil, Obsession and Backrooms topping the box office charts, even outdoing all-ages franchises like Star Wars and Supergirl. Clayface, a new horror movie that’s probably in the same universe as Supergirl (they'll decide for sure later), just capped off this year of horror with a pretty solid showing. But like Supergirl, it probably would have done better if it weren’t about a “side character”. Much of the press about the film was more about what it isn’t (a Batman movie) and less about what it was (a character study on how the entertainment industry can destroy a person). Many are probably waiting to see it on streaming, but when they do, they’ll likely be pleased with its brisk pacing, its innovative body horror kills, and its overall message about how a regular person can lose their humanity.
Just as the titular Clayface can transform his outward appearance in order to get what he wants, the film also has the tendency to morph into copies of many of the classics in the genre, including Darkman, The Fly, John Carpenter’s The Thing, and 2024’s The Substance. In fact, some have taken to calling Clayface “The Studstance”, as it’s essentially the male equivalent to Demi Moore’s hit movie. Both stories send the same general message - that vanity leads to desperation, and every person is just a few truly desperate days from turning into a monster, though Clayface says all that with a lot more empowered glee and less self-loathing.
Seeing the parallels between the two films got us thinking about how nearly every big horror movie of 2026 was, in one way or another, about facing the fact that we aren’t as human as we used to be. Scream 7 was probably the one to say that in the least thoughtful, interesting way, but it at least sort of tried to say something about how our reliance on A.I. and our soul-hollowing urge to fabricate our desired realities. Backrooms and Other Mommy were much more direct in their messaging about how our twisted, evil reflections are out to get us, and that only our genuine selves have any chance of stopping them. Obsession also asked us to look at the twisted reflection of a person, a young woman whose personhood was removed by a love interest, transforming her into a shell of her former self. And of course, Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil was essentially a workaholic’s horror story, where the constant hustle of modern life turns a man into an all-consuming beast .
Then there’s You Can See Everything, a documentary that’s more disturbing that just about any movie on this list. The overall message of the film is, ironically, that seeing is not believing. We can’t know anything about anyone for sure, and so, we also don’t know if any of our relationships are “real”, and therefore, we can’t be certain that the emotional anchor points that all of us use to define our own identities are valid. Moderately successful erotic thriller Verity made similar points, though with a lot more sex, murder, and bed biting.
All these movies have done well, some much better than projected, and we can guess that’s because people today can relate. No one can trust anything they read or see anymore. Deepfakes and A.I., generated content is everywhere. We’re all totally disoriented, constantly needing to check and double check if we’re seeing things right, even when we look at ourselves. The world has become an unnatural place. Even the parts that look OK might be secretly corrupted, while the parts that feel off might actually be fine. And we’re a part of that world, so does that mean we might not be who we think we are? Have we changed into something new, something… worse? All these movies ask these questions in some way or another, and the most effective and honest among them are the ones that don’t give us easy answers.