The Substance is a new body horror movie from French writer/director Coralie Fargeat. It was made for a mere $17.5m by Universal through their “Working Title Films” UK subsidiary. It stars Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley with support from Dennis Quaid. The movie has not had a particularly large release, but has done well for it’s budget. Notably though it has had very positive reviews with many calling it the film of the year. So naturally I had to work this into my October horror reviews. Side note, this is my 100th horror review on the blog!
Moore plays “Elisabeth Sparkle”, a fading star that is about to loose her aerobics show due to her age. After being in a car crash a surgeon slips a USB stick into her pocket with a note saying “This changed my life”. On the stick is an advert for a treatment known as “The Substance” that promises to perform miracles. Specifically to create a better version of you that will then share your life. There are rules though, the most important being that you switch every seven days without fail. Being desperate to rekindle her fame and be loved by the audience once more, Elisabeth agrees. Thus “Sue” (Qualley) is born. The instructions warn “Remember you are one”, but that may be easier said than done.
Every Seven Days Without Fail
This is a film that heavily indulges in itself. Everything is heavily stylized, but each shot hangs on a few moments more than it needs to and the arty stuff is thrown in almost every second. The style is actually good, but the film milks each idea for far too long. This leads to the main problem with the film it is far too long. You just don’t need two hours and twenty one minutes to make a body horror. The story is actually pretty simple and you know where it is going from fairly early on. Dragging out each scene wasn’t really necessary artistically, to tell the story or to enforce the themes.
My other issue with the film is the predictability. Any film that literally lists rules, you know the the direction of the film will be to break every single one of them. It’s just a matter of time (and it’s a long time). The pay off on the last one is pretty impressive though, I’ll give them that. To be fair, body horror tends to be predictable, so this is a minor issue. I did wonder early on if most of the story was meant to be a hallucination after the car crash or even something experienced as Elizabeth died. Neither came to pass, but to be fair also wasn’t ruled out. The truth is this is a film where reality isn’t really important.
You Are The Matrix
The world in which the film takes place doesn’t feel very much like a real world. That’s not a criticism though since this is clearly intentional. But it is a sign of just how much this film is about style and themes. All the characters outside of the main two (who are in fact, one) are shallow shells of characters that don’t feel real. This is because they aren’t important to the story. This is a story about one person and one person alone. One person and two actresses so it’s a good job Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley were up to the task.
To me this seems to all be a metaphor for plastic surgery. More specifically for how it is crutch many Hollywood actresses reach for at a certain age. It’s an unfortunate thing and almost every time they end up looking worse than aging naturally. This movie really looks into this from the perspective of the women that go through it. It is ultimately a tragedy. It’s not an entirely sympathetic one though. It’s also not a film that shies away from the grossness or comedy of a body horror. The former it indulges in throughout, but the latter kicks into gear for the final act. This is an act that wouldn’t be out of place in a Charles Band or Troma horror comedy.
Termination Is Final
This is a good movie, but I’m not sure it warrants the “Best movie of the year” labels it’s been receiving. The ending is more funny than tragic and the movie drags a lot getting there while they show you a few more close ups of peoples teeth or piles of meat. The themes are sort of in your face and the plot is a straight line towards disaster. That is a plot that works, but it’s nothing special. The visuals however are good. The sets, sound design and editing (Length aside) are very impressive. The body horror is sufficiently gross (Which is the entire point) and everything more or less works. So, how do I score this? I think a strong 6/10 is fair. It’s a recommendation, but I do think you need to like body horrors or art movies to enjoy this.
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