KNOX SAYS:
The Substance, by all accounts, should not work. It’s a feminist horror movie where a fading celebrity named Elisabeth Sparkle uses a drug that makes her back violently split open and creates a younger version of herself, named Sue. Talking about it in detail is very hard to not spoil, but missing it in theaters is one of the biggest regrets I had last year. Locations, makeup, and effects reflect expressionism with how unrealistically perfect and hollow it is. It’s similar to a stage play, where every location seems so sparsely populated, as if the world revolves around Elisabeth and Sue, the way trying to live up to beauty standards will feel, as if all eyes are on you, watching you as you struggle to meet those expectations. To be imperfect is to not fit in with the perfectly clean artifice The Substance builds. By taking the Substance, Elisabeth drives further with addiction and self-destruction, as she contorts herself to match the world around her; the world that is unrealistically perfect and hollow. And the way the movie matches beauty standards with extreme body horror will only make you feel more seen. The movie is so unabashedly gory and disgusting and I’m absolutely here for it. The level of horror is straight-up boundary-pushing, and I don’t see any movie even coming close to how bad this is. If Alien (1979) is a sneeze, The Substance is Total Organ Failure. There’s so many needles, bodily fluids, self-surgery, mutations, it’s a blast. Every squelch had me twisting and my grin growing wider. They must’ve tanked up a squid and recorded every squelch that thing made for 5 years; the level of squelches in this movie are unmatched. If it’s too much for you, I learned that watching it with others instead of alone makes the horror way more bearable. The last 30 minutes of the movie are pure bloody bliss. My jaw stayed open throughout it all. The movie also has so much nudity, but it works here to contrast the horror. “The Substance” masterfully strikes a balance between visceral imagery, satire, and unbridled emotion. It knows it’s absurd, and it plays into its camp with just the right amount of self-awareness and silliness. It’s self-aware and absurd but can still provide actual real emotion, which is a rare breed you don’t see too often with how hard it is to balance. Demi Moore and her other half, Margaret Qualley, give generational, career-defining performances, and Moore’s Golden Globe acceptance speech had me going. I love Coralie Fargeat displaying her complete vision and expressing her emotions in this one (also this is only her second theatrical release, so have Fargeat on your radar in the future). The movie was originally to be produced by Universal, but they got cold feet on the level of grotesqueness in the ending. They tried to get Fargeat to tone it down, but she didn’t comply and it got sold to MUBI. It’s almost poetic that the Execs tried to take down The Substance, almost parallel to how Elisabeth Sparkle gets taken down from her show for being too old. It packs so much in its 141 minute runtime. Fear, self-hatred, addiction, beauty standards, the industry, it tackles all of these while still not feeling bloated in the slightest and leaving plenty of room for horror. What it says is nothing new, it’s about how it says it. The Substance’s messages work because it doesn’t say its messages, it shouts them. Moments that would typically be preachy don’t feel that way in the slightest because of the way it’s played out. While it doesn’t go particularly in depth with any one element, I feel that it didn’t need to. It would feel like preaching to the choir, and overstuffing an already dense movie. Elisabeth’s descent is genuinely heartbreaking. There’s enough to analyze to fill a thousand papers, so I’ll hold my tongue. It’s a movie that’s captured my imagination like few others have. While Dune: Part Two may be the objective best movie of the year and just absolutely phenomenal, The Substance is my favorite movie of the year and I urge you to watch it as soon as you can. I am not the same person as I was before I watched The Substance. Keep in mind, it’s definitely not for everyone, and it’s not going to be a guaranteed hit for you. It’s brutally disgusting, jarring, and simple, but if you can get behind that, you’re gonna have a great time. 10/10.
MO SAYS:
…Yeah I did not like this movie. I can see every point that other people rave about – the editing, storyline, etc – but it did not compel me. The body horror was good, but the rest of the movie was so underwhelming it wasn’t even worth a pity laugh at the so-called satire. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley acted compassionately to convey the messages of the movie but there was always something pushing against them; whether that be the abrasive editing, weird framing, or the obnoxious pretentious dubstep house music. There are important themes here, but how am I supposed to resonate with them when there’s too little nuance and too much dubstep and flashing lights in the film?? I also felt that the movie was made to be too consumable for people who haven’t lived this experience before: think 2023’s Barbie, where every man who watched it walked out as a feminist, lest their girlfriends break up with them. For the people who hadn’t lived the experience of female beauty standards and competition, they were eye-opened and amazed. But for someone like me, who has lived that experience my whole life? I feel like I got mocked and then spit on as punishment for wanting genuineness. There are other movies in the world that deal with these themes better without the artificial deepness. Examples: “Hair Piece: A Film for Nappy-Headed People” is an animated story about Black women’s struggles to be perceived and valued as highly as their straight-haired peers; “To Be Beautiful” (Skaistai būt) is a Latvian documentary about the self-esteem issues of everyday teenage girls in a world of increasing comparison via social media. Both of these films are shorter than “The Substance” combined, deal with the same themes of perceived value and self-worth, yet show those themes more convincingly and authentically than the high-budget movie could. It’s taking a lot of strength to not rate this movie any lower than a 6/10.
Knox McCalla • Jan 20, 2025 at 12:46 pm
I think I just reset my brain