TV show or Movie: Movie
Where to watch: Theaters
Writer: Coralie Fargeat
Director: Coralie Fargeat
Premise: A fading celebrity decides to use a black-market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.
Cast: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid.
Review: Holy crap! This movie was such a ride. I feel like it was this year’s Barbarian.
It seems rare that a body horror movie makes it to the theaters. And even more that it has such a worldwide release and gets such great reception. There was The Thing, The Fly, The Human Centipede, Tusk. Of, course others. Now, there is The Substance.
I was excited for this one because I feel there aren’t a lot of female directors who make body horror films. And also because I love horror. And body horror.
I haven’t seen Demi Moore in something in a while and she was fantastic in this movie. Some people want her to win an Oscar, but horror never gets the awards it should. A nomination would be nice. Her descent into madness throughout this movie was, well, madness.
Margaret Qualley was also fantastic in this movie. She’s in pretty much every movie right now and now I can see why. Playing a younger, more spry version of Moore, she did a great job
Dennis Quaid was awful in this movie. In the best way. Although the second and third act are filled with some of the most disgusting things I’ve seen in some time, I will tell you the two things I found the most disgusting. The first being Dennis Quaid eating prawn on screen. Quaid plays the head of the network that produces Moore’s workout show and he plays a hyperbolic version of what this person is like in real life. At least, I hope it is hyperbolic. Maybe not. I mean, isn’t that kind of the whole point of this movie? How do people in Hollywood keep up with Hollywood standards? The other part I found to be the grossest was a scene with puss. It reminded me of the end of Requiem for a Dream.
The opening shot and last shot are the movie are beautiful and twisted and perfect. They are artsy and experimental and symmetrical. And they make a perfect sandwich out of the film. With everything in between being the meat. And there is a lot of it.
I wanted the film to go in a slightly different direction in the third act. It still did pretty much just what I wanted it to do, but slightly different. Regardless, the brief but powerful third act is wild. My girlfriend had to leave the theater right before it started into the absolutely descent into madness. Let’s just say, I think that Fargeat was trying to beat Fede Alvarez’s record for amount of blood used in a film.
Go see this in theaters!
Trailer: