The Substance (2024)

The Substance (2024)

A body horror film focused on a starlet’s quest to become a better version of herself.

Laura’s Rating: 2.5/5 Stars

Plot: Aging celeb Elisabeth Sparkle is dismissed from her tv show as the network searches for a younger, fresher talent. Desperate to get her youth and beauty back, she tries “The Substance”, an underground drug that promises a “younger, more beautiful, more perfect” version of yourself. The catch is that she must return to her old self every other week, no exceptions. But her new self, Sue, has other ideas.

Analysis: First of all, there is a lot of body horror and some scenes are incredibly gory. Do not watch this if you get queasy from blood, gore, or other bodily fluids/mutations/etc. The female centered horror reminded me of Carrie and a scene at the end echoed the Shining.

The themes are not new: youth and beauty over age. People’s desperate quest for youth makes them willing to give up almost anything, but in the end, the efforts are fruitless. We see this in works spanning from The Picture of Dorian Gray to Death Becomes Her. A common struggle, especially among women, is feeling self conscious of aging and hating one’s flaws and oneself. This is relatable and important, yet the body horror in the film almost contradicts the point. Some of the horror is, in fact, Elisabeth’s own aging body. Yes, the point is that you can’t get your youth back, but it feels contradictory to present the consequences as getting older faster and being literally horrified by it. 

Rather than accepting herself and her flaws, Elisabeth only grows to hate herself even more. The lesson is lost. The film obviously critiques beauty standards for women, yet it glamorizes Sue’s youthful freshness in every hypersexual shot of her body. So what is the point? The male gaze is personified by Dennis Quaid and his nearly identical male assistants, shareholders, etc. that all view Sue as a commodity based on her appearance, but they never learn a lesson. The movie also doesn’t have a ton of dialogue, particularly for the two female leads, which doesn’t help develop them beyond physical representations.

Also…literally WHAT was that ending? At first, I’m thinking, “Hmm, this is maybe getting a bit too outrageous.” Then I’m thinking “WHAT am I watching? This is insane and is ruining the whole movie.” If I could separate the first 90% of the movie from the last 10, my rating for that would likely be closer to a 4. But the end…it’s insane. In a bad way. 

My rating of 2.5 feels wrong because honestly, there’s nothing average about this movie. There’s an interesting concept and some creative scenes, but I ultimately don’t recommend The Substance.