There was a time when Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) was the toast of Hollywood, but now she’s 50 and her fame has long since faded. After she learns her sleazeball boss Harvey plans to drop her due to her age, an opportunity suddenly presents itself to her: a black-market drug called The Substance, which promises to give you a new, younger version of yourself. Initially hesitant, she soon gives in and agrees to try it. All she has to do is follow the instructions, and she’ll be back in the spotlight in no time, right? If you think you’ve heard this story before, that still won’t prepare you for what you’ll see in The Substance.
When a horror movie wins Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival, you know you’re in for something special. Sure enough, The Substance is one of the year’s best films. It’s also one of the year’s hardest watches. Part social commentary, part body horror film, and part scream of rage, it takes the media’s unrealistic beauty standards to task before hacking them with a machete. It’s a nearly-two-and-a-half hour descent into cinematic hell….but, you know, the good kind.
The Substance is the sort of movie best experienced, so I’ll go light on any more plot details. Also, what an experience it is. The filmmaking is absolutely top-notch, with the editing, sound, and cinematography perfectly calibrated to induce as much anxiety in viewers as humanly possible. Demi Moore gives an absolutely tour-de-force performance in this, while special mention has to be given to Dennis Quaid as Harvey. Whenever he’s onscreen, the camera angles and edits become as grotesque and over-the-top as humanly possible to enhance his slimy performance. This is an absolutely masterful work of cinematic craft.
Of course, this is still a horror film, and not the kind that relies on cheap jump scares, either. This isn’t a film for the weak of stomach in the slightest. The makeup is extremely well-done, and hopefully the Academy will actually give this movie the time of day when the Oscars come around, because it absolutely deserves a nomination for it (not to mention several others). Yet it’s also not the kind of movie that relies on shocks for entertainment, either. The story is well-paced, even for a film this long. It’s a smart script that’s blistering in its satire (in more ways than one). A lot of times, I thought I knew where this movie was going, and ended up pleasantly surprised. Everything is also as garish and exaggerated as possible, which adds to the overall theme of the movie.
It all builds up to a finale that doesn’t so much go off the rails as it does blow up the train. It’s among the year’s most unhinged movie moments, and while I did think it went on a bit too long, I nevertheless loved every minute of it. If recent horror movies have left you cold, go see The Substance immediately. It’s not only the best horror film of the year, it’s one of the best films of the year, period.
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