The Substance

Directed by Coralie Fargeat

Horror Marathon 2024 Day 1 Film 1

I've watched quite a few films that were letdowns this year. Sometimes this is due to a film being a commercial, hollow form of storytelling, but often it's because of a self infatuation by the filmmaker. In those cases it's often better to think of how other films succeed, and often don't bother to write about them unless there's something more to say about the film. I don't guarantee that all of these horror movies will be worthwhile to watch, but for The Substance it succeeds in all of its grand gratuity.

Demi Moore is the fading starlet "Elizabeth Sparkle" being pushed out of her aerobics show- overhearing that she's too old for the garish producer played by Dennis Quaid. An early scene has them both at lunch, with Quaid being especially grotesque gnawing through sauce and shrimp. The hyper fixation on the mouth already creates this first person anxiety that Moore pushes throughout the film. This kind of styling of body horror fits with other French New Extremity films with splatter comedy as the transformation of the psyche has outward effects.

Spoilers follow:

Sparkle is given a serum that promises to perfect herself. Desperate to reclaim stardom, she injects this radiant green fluid, and births this new being by splitting out of her backbone. Margaret Qualley plays this younger, tight bodied version of herself with the name "Sue." This transformation doesn't allow one to stay within the new form forever though, with both having to share 7 days each. Sue is easily able to replace Sparkle as the new aerobics host- a glossy over the top sexualized cheese version of 1980s jazzercize. Watching this in theater was especially queasy as body horror mixing of sensual supple flesh and the coming of rot become intertwined on the big screen.

Although Sue is still Sparkle, she starts eating away at the very core of her older version by staying days longer than what was recommended. Moore is exceptionally over the top; downtrodden and wasting away on the couch she can't bear much more of herself that she loathes every bit of time that she isn't Sue. Qualley aptly conveys being the same person, although I'd have liked seeing more scenes with Sue also self destructing. Her teeth start to rot as she's drained every bit out of Sparkle's body. The misery drives Sue to also take the injection, becoming a total monstrosity herself for the final act. A geyser of blood bursts over the audience for the New Years Eve show in a gut-wrenching display with body parts becoming combustible chaff.

The inevitable death and only calm of staring into the stars shows how dismal the striving for stardom is, how it eats away at the sense of self. The splatter body horror becomes as absurdly humorous as it is revolting. Layers of internalized fear of aging and acceptance are deeply rooted in the psyche of this character-accept or annihilate. As this film goes over the top with the splatter and gore it could be easy to dismiss. What is especially good about this film is that it both rejects "arthouse horror" sensibility of never showing the extremes of the horrific world of the film, while also staying close to the thematic ties that make the characters relatable.

There are also quite a few references to other horror films like The Shining, Carrie, The Thing, Elephant Man, and all of Cronenberg's work. As a visual language those references fit within the world of this film without distracting from the action on screen.