‘The Substance’ Review: Growing Old’s Never Been More Terrifying in This Masterpiece of Body Horror


You know what’s really terrifying, what’s guaranteed to fill most people with dread and anxiety?  No, it’s not a hockey-mask wearing killer or even whatever real-life serial killing psychopath raises their ugly head during the latest TV news cycle. Nope, what’s really scary is when you wake up one morning, look in the mirror, see a few gray hairs or a new wrinkle, and realize you’re starting to look more like your parents than that youthful go-getter you were just last week.  

Time is undefeated, it will always score the win. No matter how much we exercise, inject and guzzle vitamins, sooner or later age is going to overtake us, trap us in a spider’s web of wrinkled skin, sore muscles and achy joints.

An Astounding Film

“The Substance” (directed and written by Coralie Fargeat) is a treatise on aging (and what some people will endure to hold onto their youth) that doesn’t hold your hand nor does the camera avert its focus when the most sickening things happen. It isn’t for the faint-hearted or weak-stomached.  It’s an astounding film.  

Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) is the host of a long-running TV aerobics show (similar to those video workouts Jane Fonda did decades ago). Recently turning 50, she realizes her popularity is waning and her agent Harvey (Dennis Quaid) is not-so-subtly trying to drop her and replace her with someone younger. Fearing that her career is ending, she desperately wants to hold onto her youth and beauty.

Fate intervenes when she learns about “The Substance,” a new experimental drug. When the drug is injected, it creates a version of yourself that’s half your age and your mind is transferred to that body. The catch is that you can only stay in that young body for a week and then have to switch back to your real body, so you have to alternate going back and forth a week at a time. That’s the limits of the drug and the limits have to be respected. But what happens when Elisabeth’s younger self Sue, (Margaret Qualley) enjoys all the perks of being young again and wants to stay in the younger body longer than a week, bending then breaking the “rules” imposed by the drug’s creators?

A Film that Doesn’t Play by the Rules

We all know David Cronenberg will forever be considered the king of body horror. But why can’t there also be a queen?  Director Coralie Fargeat’s previous film “Revenge” had many body horror elements in it, as a woman who has been raped in the desert and left for dead brutally fights back, getting revenge on her rapists with shootings, impalements, etc. It was a more exhilarating and smarter version of Meir Zarchi’s “I Spit on Your Grave” that delivered one great twist after another and threw every movie script convention out the window.

“The Substance” also refuses to play by the rules and refreshingly has no limits. It’s fearless. There were several horrifying or just plain insane moments during the film where I thought “Surely it’s not going to go that far”—and not only did it go that far, it went way beyond it and forced you to keep looking. It was delicious. The first transformation scene in the film (when Elisabeth injects herself with “The Substance” and the volcanic gore that follows) might be enough itself to have the more fragile viewers fleeing the theater. The climactic transformation scene from “The Beast Within” or any scene from Cronenberg’s “The Fly” pale by comparison to this scene and the film only gets more insane from there!

An Oscar-worthy Performance from Demi Moore

Demi Moore delivers an Oscar-winning performance here and if she’s not nominated when the Academy Awards rolls around again, it’ll be further proof that the Academy has an obstinate and unreasonable prejudice against horror films and the people starring in them.  Moore is both fierce and vulnerable. She simmers with rage at Harvey’s condescending attitude towards her and lashes out at her younger self with a fury that only years of resentment can produce. Alternately, there are many moments where she’s naked (both literally and figuratively) and the camera magnifies every one of her wrinkles and “imperfections.” It’s a courageous performance because I can’t imagine many actresses agreeing to be so open and revealing about themselves on film. 

Margaret Qualley is also wonderful as Sue (Elisabeth’s younger self). She’s drunk on youth and life. She knows she’s beautiful and firm in all the right places and can’t stop touching and massaging herself. She has that sublime confidence that everyone has in their 20s, that the world is theirs for the taking and in her case it is. The camera constantly sweeps across her butt, stomach ,and breasts—but it never feels exploitative because it’s more about Sue basking in her self-confidence than it is about appealing to any leering male gaze.

Deserves a Second Viewing

Dennis Quaid’s Harvey is the most obnoxious chump ever. He has absolutely no self-awareness and he’s borderline hyperbolic. He’s also a hypocrite who’s simultaneously hilarious and sickening. In one scene where he’s having dinner with Elisabeth, he tells her how people in their business have to stay young and attractive, all while the camera does an extreme close-up of his face, covered in wrinkles and craters, cocktail sauce smearing his nauseatingly dry lips as he shoves another fried shrimp into his mouth. He’s an exasperating representation of the double-standard that women face in the entertainment industry, where a man can play virile and romantic roles into their 60s while women over 35 are often relegated to playing domesticated mothers, grandmothers or aunts.

This is definitely my favorite horror film this year and possibly my favorite film in any genre this year. I rarely see a film a second time while it’s playing in the theater, but I’ll be seeing this one again before its theatrical run ends. It’s a damn great film that’s disturbing and hits you in the gut like prime Mike Tyson. We may never see a film like this again, that so perfectly captures the heartache, anxiety and agony of growing old. I predict it will be discussed for many years to come.