Review: The Substance

No film took up more space on the 2024 horror hype train. Let's find out if The Substance has actual substance, or if it gets by on its wild body horror reputation alone.

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You are unlikely to watch a horror movie this year that invests as heavily in its central themes as The Substance. I think horror is a uniquely great vehicle for thematic exploration, but even I found myself annoyed after twenty minutes or so at how hard it was hammering the same concept with every visual choice or bit of dialogue. Yet, that ultimately proves to be to the movie's benefit. What follows is so outrageous and so jaw-dropping that it would come off as empty provocation without such a maniacal focus on the point it wants to make. As it stands, you need the constant reminders of what the story is about to keep you from getting lost in the unrelenting body horror and black humor that never stops escalating as the film goes on. The Substance doesn't have room for subtlety, lest it get washed away in a flood of viscous blood, milky spinal fluid, and vestigial organs.

Demi Moore stars as an actress and fitness personality that has aged out of favor in her chosen industry. So much value is placed on youth and beauty in our society, and especially in the entertainment field, that Moore's character, Elisabeth, is unable to conjure anything else to which she can tie her self-worth. It is immediately ironic on its face, because Moore is still an undeniably attractive and magnetic presence, even at Elisabeth's age of 50 (and Moore's actual age of 61 at the time of filming.) Yet it still reads true for anyone who has participated in society lately, and probably doubly so for an actress such as Moore, who spent her youth as a sex symbol who would occasionally be allowed to play roles such as "FBI employee", just so long as the plot demanded she moonlight as a stripper. Elisabeth is so desperate to recapture her youth, and by extension her worth, that she is willing to undertake the sketchiest of sketchy experimental treatments and hope for the best. Thus, the introduction of the titular substance, and Margaret Qualley's youthful, sexy Sue, the mirror to which Elisabeth curses herself for the rest of the film.

I'm going to leave the plot mechanics for you to discover when you watch The Substance, and I fully encourage you to watch it if you haven't already. Both lead actresses are excellent, but especially Moore, who manages to ground the film in emotional vulnerability while also nailing an extremely demanding physical performance. I'm not a big body horror guy, but its impossible to not be impressed by the originality and execution of those elements in this film, and especially the non-stop escalation that occurs. Different moments will have you leaning close in anticipation, flinching in disgust, or busting out in incredulous laughter at the images director Coralie Fargeat assaults you with. Fargeat and her team also nail the non-horror visual aspects of the movie, delivering a bright and stylized backdrop to cover in viscera. She also juxtaposes overtly sexual imagery with the utterly grotesque, and so during any of the several scenes in which you see exposed breasts, they are just as likely to be in a variety of disturbing contexts as they are to be attached to a nubile young woman. When one lecherous casting agent says while appraising Sue, "Looks like everything sure is in the right place this time...", that turns out to be more of a point in time assessment than an indication of the future.

Overall, I really enjoyed The Substance. It doesn't have the complex and interwoven thematic density of something like Sinners, but it has its point of view and it puts all of its energy behind making you pay attention so that point of view lands home. Moore's performance and the SFX seem to be getting the majority of the praise, rightfully so, but I also think that Fargeat should be celebrated for expertly managing the tone of the film. It is alternately campy, horrific, funny and deeply sad, yet the viewer doesn't experience the whiplash that you would expect for such an overstuffed emotional smorgasbord. Mostly, you just hold onto your seat and let the movie take you where it wants, unable to look away despite practically being dared to over and over again.