Review: “The Substance” is Killer, No Filler

By Jay Collura     9/25/24 12:09am

Score: ★★★★½

I have covered over 30 movies for the Thresher but have never reviewed a straight-up horror film, until today. Generally, I am more than apprehensive about spending money on a movie that will, at best, give me nightmares and, at worst, be an unpleasant string of jump scares.

However, “The Substance,” French director Coralie Fargeat’s sophomore feature, intrigued me enough to overcome my apprehension. The film won the prestigious Best Screenplay award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and received glowing critical reviews, a combination of praise that is very infrequent for horror pictures. This acclaim drew me to “The Substance,” and, surprisingly, I find myself joining the chorus of praise for Fargeat’s latest.

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The engine of “The Substance” is the film’s satirical edge. After turning 50, actress Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) loses her longtime network TV job and decides to take an experimental drug called “the substance” to recapture her youth. This drug, the titular Substance, temporarily creates a younger version of herself, named Sue (Margaret Qualley). 

Even in this short summary, the satire becomes clear — “The Substance” directly aims at Hollywood and society’s unreasonable beauty standards for, and objectification of, women. As the various in-movie advertisements for the titular Substance say, the drug doesn’t just make you younger — it makes you better. 

Fargeat renders this farce in quite possibly the most gruesome terms possible. To express the pain of aging and the psychological harm of these double standards, the audience becomes subject to some of the most effective body horror ever created. By terrifying the audience and making them squirm, the film effectively communicates and literalizes the figurative harm inflicted by society on women. 

I cannot stress enough how distressing and gross this general methodology is: this is not a film for those with a weak stomach or a hatred of horror movies. The visual effects on display are grotesquely masterful and always surprising, as the film always seems to find a new peak after you think you’ve seen it all.

In fact, the last 30 minutes of this film are straight-up ridiculous. Without spoiling anything, the premise is stretched in a way that is so absurd that the film had me simultaneously gasping from fear and howling with laughter. This balance of tone never undermines the commentary, however, as the film finds moments in the insanity to reemphasize its heartbreaking message.

All of this is anchored by the performance of Demi Moore, who fully commits to the intensity of her role. She displays an upsetting fury as her character reaches darker and darker depths. In moments she is terrifying, and in others, she displays a distressing empathy, and this juxtaposition communicates a sense of humanity that makes the intensity of it all feel meaningful.

As Sue, Demi Moore’s other half, Margaret Qualley continues to impress after this year’s “Drive Away Dolls” and “Kinds of Kindness”. Qualley manages to match the energy of Moore in a way that visually connects the characters, but she also finds her own voice in the film, through an extreme portrayal of vapidness. Dennis Quaid also plays a hilariously slimy Hollywood executive, shot in a nauseating close-up. His presence is almost exclusively to bring misery and bolster the social critique, and Quaid’s harsh tone and energy do both excellently.

What has turned other critics off from “The Substance,” other than its violent approach to horror, is how unsubtle the film is. The message is incredibly on the nose and in the audience’s face — the film makes a point of replaying moments of injustice, even though the point has already been made by the unforgettable horror imagery. But this lack of subtlety was the glue that brought the film together, as I was never allowed to forget what “The Substance” was truly about. The complete lack of nuance forces the audience to leave the film with an exact message rather than a rough interpretation. This precision amplifies the film's horror, as the audience is never allowed to forget the underlying fear that motivates the literal scares they see on screen.  

Regardless, “The Substance” is just straight-up fun to watch. It’s a roller coaster of a horror movie that is simultaneously viscerally scary and devilishly hilarious, creating the exact kind of horror I like (go watch “Evil Dead II”). Fargeat’s direction and eye for social commentary balance these two tones incredibly well, making for an unforgettable thrill ride that is definitely worth your time — as long as you can stomach it.

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