The Beauty and the Body Horror of ‘The Substance’
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In a combination of body horror, biting humor, and beautiful visuals, The Substance delivers one of the most unique viewing experiences of the year.
In some horror movies, there’s a knife-wielding slasher, in others there’s a paranormal entity, in The Substance, the horror comes from a being a woman growing older in a superficial society.
Demi Moore is Elisabeth Sparkle, the gorgeous host of a popular aerobics show who finds that her career is over on her 50th birthday. She’s aged out of being desirable and the network wants to replace her with someone younger.
She’s offered a mysterious treatment called the Substance, which will allow her to be a younger and more beautiful version of herself every seven days. Margaret Qualley serves as that version, who takes up the name Sue and immediately starts turning heads in the business.
But as you might imagine, shortcuts and quick fixes to try to fight the inevitable march of time usually have a downside—and boy, does Elisabeth find that out the hard way!
The Substance feels like a fascinating combination of Death Becomes Her, Black Swan, The Fly, and even a little bit of 1990s The Witches wrapped up in a delightfully surreal and grotesque package.
It’s about as subtle as a sledgehammer with its commentary on aging, the male gaze, the superficiality of Hollywood, and our constant quest to look better, younger, and sexier. But that bluntness lends a wonderfully subversive humor to the film.
The body horror scenes are utterly disgusting but also strangely beautiful in terms of the artistry of the practical effects. I was reminded of Troma and low-budget horror where you can really appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into molding, painting, and making things extra gooey.
In terms of performances, Moore is spectacular, giving Elisabeth great vulnerability in her dysmorphia, but also leaning into the madness as things start to ramp up. Qualley really understands how to play with the objectification of her character and takes it to such an extreme that it starts to feel like a great biting commentary on the male gaze. Dennis Quaid hits the perfect level of over-the-top here as a sleazy TV producer who is the perfect gross, awful man in power.
So if you’re not bothered by some truly gnarly body horror, The Substance is an excellent watch. It’s disgusting, funny, poignant, and one of my favorites this year.
