Coralie Fargeat’s 6th project and the 77th Cannes Festival’s Best Screenplay, “The Substance” was released in theaters just in time for Halloween, and it’s nothing like we’ve seen in years.
This film includes incredible performances from highly praised actors such as Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid. The body horror and the use of prosthetics were impressive and something fresh, compared to other horror movies that have been released this year.
“The Substance” is a 140-minute-long story following an aging Hollywood star by the name of Elisabeth Sparkle who after getting fired from the industry, comes across a black-market drug, promising to give Elisabeth a better version of herself.
The film carried out themes of beauty standards for women, and the complications many women may go through when they are aging. Many parallels can be made between “The Substance” and similar movies such as “Black Swan”, or “X”, in the way how a woman can be obsessed with perfection with their performance, and the toxic influence Hollywood has on women and their relationship with their bodies and overall appearance.
The bold and vibrant color palette, often using bright pink and blues, visually reflects the Hollywood glamor setting. Which was a nice juxtaposition with the disturbing nature of the gore and horror in the film. There are also several stationary shots of extremely long corridors with décor themes possessing a sort of retro style, reminiscent of the 80s.
Certain camera angles in “The Substance” feel observational and sometimes put us in invasive close-ups of faces, warts, wrinkles, and all. Camera angles, wallpaper, and carpets seemed like were inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining.”
The audio though is as equally strong as the film is to watch. It’s the loudest and clearest sounding film I’ve seen at the cinema in forever and sound is also utilized in such a way as to make you both laugh and squirm. I loved the music in the movie, which is properly evocative, pulsing, and mechanically rhythmic courtesy of some wicked electronic tracks.
A big part of the film’s qualities is how its striking visuals, sound, and sharp editing, emphasize what’s happening on screen in every moment as it presents the seemingly glamorous yet harsh, world of show business.
“The Substance” has as many satirical moments as somber moments. Although the shock value is there in your face, there is never a moment you can’t justify the decisions Elisabeth Sparkle makes in the film, as her obsession with perfection and the desire to relive your successful youth is nothing unfamiliar in real life.
The body horror is something I have never seen before, and I like horror movies. It has exploding bodies and hundreds of gallons of spraying blood and gore. Close-ups of people loudly chewing food with their mouths open, and bodies shifting and changing into nightmarish visions of monstrousness. Something that got me more than anything though was needles. There are a lot of needles in this movie.
“The Substance” not only had beautiful and vivid scenes, but they had the complete opposite. I never knew in which way this film would turn. It was an absolute delight to watch this film in the theaters with a full audience. If you are looking for something fresh in the horror category and can handle some body horror, “The Substance” is for you.
