The Substance review

THE SUBSTANCE: 

A GRUESOME MASTERPIECE OF MADNESS; OH, AND DEMI MOORE’S IN IT TOO! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

MUBI

Demi Moore in The Substance

 

            Demi Moore (Ghost, A Few Good Men, G.I. Jane) takes a substance that creates a younger, better version of herself in the form of Margaret Qualley-The Nice Guys, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Kinds of Kindness) in The Substance, the new body horror film from director Coralie Fargeat (Revenge (2017)). I have not seen Fargeat’s previous movie, I just came in as someone who was incredibly fascinated by the trailer and wanted to see what it was about. 

            This could have easily flown under my radar in favor of much bigger releases, but since I saw the trailer a few times in theaters and it caught my interest, I made sure to check it out when it’s out. And I’m glad I did because this movie is good…like, really, REALLY fucking good! 

            This is easily the most horrifying and grotesque film I’ve seen all year (Makes Alien: Romulus look like a Disney film by comparison…oh, wait!) yet it’s also one of the most brilliantly told and entertaining watches as well. I would strongly encourage audiences to go in with as little expectations as possible (Have the trailer be your only prior knowledge to it) and not to come in on a full stomach…for the sake of your health (Trust me on this!). 

            The film follows fading celebrity, Elisabeth Sparkle (Moore) who is the host of a popular aerobics show that she is fired from after her fiftieth birthday. Desperate to keep her career and success in check, she takes a black market drug that creates a younger, better version of herself named Sue (Qualley) who almost instantly becomes a star because of her looks. 

            However, there is a catch with the drug requiring them to switch places every seven days and when the substance is constantly misused, horrible side effects begin to happen that are the stuff of nightmares. All in the name of beauty and fame. 

            The film also stars Dennis Quaid (Traffic, The Rookie, The Day After Tomorrow) as a slimy TV executive named Harvey (I wonder if that was intentional?). 

            Overall, The Substance is an unapologetically gruesome, shocking, and insanely clever body horror film that lives up to the ones that came before it while somehow reaching new levels of madness. Even when gory and twisted things aren’t happening, the film is shot and edited in a way where everything looks and feels intense and over-the-top from foreboding production design that’s reminiscent of a Stanley Kubrick movie to extreme close-ups of slimy executives shouting and eating intensely. 

The movie somehow manages to make the simple act of gnawing on shrimp in a restaurant look unpleasant and disgusting; puts Sausage Party to shame and surprisingly not the only connection to sausages in the film. 

Actually, one of my favorite scenes in the movie is the way it opens up showing Demi Moore’s character’s Walk of Fame star over the years from its construction and glamorous ceremony to it becoming cracked and faded today. That is such an effective way to begin a film like this and it does make a return in the end. 

            The sad part is that a lot of the things I praised about this film would require going into spoilers and I have no desire in doing that with a movie like this. I will simply say that the gore and makeup effects in this movie are freaking phenomenal and some of the best I’ve seen in a long time; if this doesn’t get at least an Oscar nomination for makeup I will be so pissed off. 

            Demi Moore gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen from her, she goes all out with her performance here and delivers something truly memorable and endearing with just the right amount of crazy. Margaret Qualley is also fantastic as this young entity intended to make Elisabeth’s life better but only ends up screwing her over greatly because of her substance addiction. 

            On the surface, this sounds like some of the foulest, grungiest schlock ever put to film that only bloodthirsty psychopaths would love, but it’s actually surprisingly very clever and thought-provoking in terms of how Hollywood and the general public perceive beauty and how far celebrities will go to retain it. It’s also an effective cautionary tale on substance abuse and how something made to make your life better can actually make it worse in reality. 

            The Substance is one of those body horror movies (with a twisted sense of humor) that must be seen to be believed, it is a 2-hour and 20 minute film with excessive gore, grotesque side effects from a black market drug, and actors hamming it up that had my eyes glued to the screen from beginning to end. Might even be a contender for my Best Film of the Year (At least so far), I loved this movie and I eagerly await discussing it amongst other fellow moviegoers. 

If you’re a fan of Stanley Kubrick and/or David Cronenberg’s work then this is a mandatory watch, just don’t eat anything before or during it, this shit gets ugly.