Since we're approaching Halloween, it's a popular time for horror films bringing murder, bloodshed, and destruction. And let me tell you, The Substance delivers all of this in rich, inventive spades. This horror film is gross but in the best possible way. So many moments made me uncomfortable while watching this in the theater, but because of its gravitas, I couldn't look away.
The Substance stars Demi Moore (Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, 2024) as Elisabeth Sparkle, an aging celebrity whose popularity has faded in Hollywood. During a doctor's visit, she learns of a secret black market drug that can create a biological reproduction of herself, but a younger more perfected version. Both the older and younger Elisabeth have to live in harmony, with each of them living their lives on alternating weeks. The harmony starts to crumble though when the younger Elisabeth gets a taste of her own fame and starts living longer than her allotted time. The Substance is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) meets the style of director David Cronenberg (The Fly, 1986 or Dead Ringers, 1988) combining both psychological dread with very physical mutations.
The director/screenwriter for this is French woman Coralie Fargeat who is fascinated with visceral violence and beauty standards of the human body. If you want more of her work, watch the 2017 drama, Revenge or the 2014 short film, Reality+. Her visualization of The Substance is so seductively sensory with extreme close-ups of bare skin, a shiny leotard, the tip of a syringe, and rotting chicken. The expected glamour of a penthouse apartment and the bright lights of a TV studio are balanced against an ominous bathroom closet and long narrow hallways, hinting at an inevitable path to the terrible. (The long symmetrical hallways are also visually reminiscent of The Shining from 1980.)
With a never-ending list of references and commentaries to discuss, The Substance mostly criticizes the societal expectations of the female body and the growing options for people to constantly reach for physical perfection. And I'm not just talking about plastic surgery. I'm talking about the injectable medicines famously available now for weight loss (Ozempic & Mounjaro), people can pay for teeth whitening or veneers for an improved smile, and people often use filters to beautify their self-portraits taken on their camera phones.
Going into even more specific territory, The Substance also comments on Hollywood's treatment of older women through the horror sub-genre of hagsploitation. This genre officially began in the 1960s starring older actresses playing dangerous, psycho villains in cheap exploitative stories who are always dreaming of their youthful pasts and prone to outbursts of insanity. One scene in particular in The Substance pokes fun at this sub-genre, having Demi Moore talk to herself while working alone in her kitchen preparing a large feast.
The end is a monstrous climax of blood that's so over the top it leans into a comical circus, which made it difficult for me to remain fully invested in Elizabeth Sparkle's fate. But such an ending functions well as a punishment for all members of the nefarious media working to force such high expectations on all women at all ages. Demi Moore does an amazing job in her leading role. The Substance has very little dialogue, forcing Demi Moore to communicate mainly through her face and posture embodying a tenacious, naked desperation for acceptance. (And I don't use the word 'naked' lightly here.)
I highly recommend this film for everyone, but only if you think you can handle the outrageous style of gore it has waiting for you, from the bodily fluids to the screams.
