IMDb plot summary: A fading celebrity takes a black-market drug: a cell-replicating substance that creates a younger, better version of herself.
Directed by Coralie Fargeat. Starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid.
The Substance stars Demi Moore as an aging fitness celebrity who begins taking a mysterious "substance" with the promise it will make her young again. What it does is create a separate, younger, more beautiful body that trades off with Moore every seven days. This does not go well. This is, as I expected, an extremely gross but extremely fascinating movie that makes the most of its body horror opportunities. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are both phenomenal in their very different roles, though Moore definitely steps it up. The final section of the movie is truly wild, as we see the horrific breakdown of the split body as it attempts to keep its youth at any cost. It's fun and creative and delightful in a disgusting Cronenbergian way. The very last shot featuring Moore on her Walk of Fame star is both hilarious and haunting... and more than a little tragic. Overall, I think the film is very effective in its goals, both its satirical goals and its goals of getting some visceral "oh ew" reactions. It was exciting to see this get so much awards love, something that horror films rarely get.
How it entered my Flickchart:
The Substance > Can't Hardly Wait
The Substance > Key Largo
The Substance < The People Under the Stairs
The Substance < Theater Camp
The Substance < Shiva Baby
The Substance < Erin Brockovich
The Substance > Finian's Rainbow
The Substance < Sherlock Jr.
The Substance > Swing Girls
The Substance < Dogma
The Substance < Night Must Fall
The Substance > Love's Labour's Lost (2000)
Final spot: #963 out of 4018, or 76%.
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