A body horror film that is genuinely disgusting but with genuine purpose is very rare and hard to find. Fortunately, you don’t have to look far to find The Substance, people are raving about it for a reason.

Aerobics personality Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) learns that the worst is about to happen. At middle age, she’s obsolete and her boss Harvey (Dennis Quaid) has begun the process of letting her go. During her panic, a mysterious laboratory supplies her with a black-market substance that supposedly can restore her to her physical prime.

The Characters

You don’t have to have an interest in media to know that there’re people, women particularly, whose livelihoods depend on them looking a certain way.

Elizabeth is no exception. For a woman in her 50s she looks phenomenal but that’s not enough for the industry that employs her. She’s somehow expected to appear as she did in her early 20s’. She is kind, polite and hardworking. As a character and as a person, she has no significant flaws other than her undying commitment to fulfil the impossible expectations set by her superiors. The extent she goes to meet them is heartbreaking as well as horrifying. There’s nothing wrong with her but she’s been conditioned to think that there is. How can anyone not relate to that?

Harvey is the monster of the film. He is the producer of Elizabeth’s show and her boss. Behind closed doors he’s as misogynistic as you’d expect however when out in the open, he’s actually more disturbing. He adores young women like they’re kittens or babies, he doesn’t see them as human beings but objects he can cherish. You’re never comfortable when he’s around.

No wonder such a character was named ‘Harvey.’

Within the first 20-minutes, you may suspect that The Substance is going to be a Faustian-horror like Talk to Me and you may be right. However, I’d argue that the decline Elizabeth experiences is much more visceral and upsetting.

When Elizabeth injects herself with the substance, she has to literally shed her old body off so she can emerge as fit and young (Margaret Qualley). This state only lasts for 7 days, in that time she has to inject her old body with ‘stabilizer fluid’ to prevent deterioration.

Calling herself Sue, Elizabeth returns to Harvey who hires her on the spot. Her career blossoms, giving her the time of her life, until she has to go back into her old body. The demand for Sue is of course more frequent than 7 days, hence Elizabeth has to inhabit her young skin more often than she should.

Despite being literally the same person, Elizabeth and Sue gradually become separate entities and it doesn’t take long for them to start resenting each other. One fights for what Elizabeth is while the other fights for what Elizabeth should be. Sue torments Elizabeth by leaving her unconscious for long periods. Elizabeth torments Sue by overeating, causing imperfections to appear in her body later on.

Elizabeth’s only worth is in being pretty, hence she tortures herself to achieve the industry standard. You can’t help but despair as Elizabeth suffers for something so trivial and shallow.

The Horror

For most of the film, Elizabeth peeling off her body is as icky as it gets. It’s only when she starts competing with Sue that we see the consequences of her unconscious body deteriorating. With some outstanding prosthetic makeup, Elizabeth looks disgusting but we don’t feel any less empathy for her. The exact opposite in fact.    

The ramifications of her and Sue’s body swapping escalate, becoming increasingly graphic. This is where the film really becomes a body horror. Just when you think Elizabeth’s physiology couldn’t distort any further, it does. I can’t remember the last time I was brilliantly and tastefully appalled by a new release. This is definitely a film I will revel in when showing it to someone who hasn’t seen it, the first-time reaction is always be the most animated.

Typically, I wouldn’t recommend a film like this to anyone who’s squeamish or has a thing for a blood but in this case, I encourage those people to make an effort for The Substance. It is disgusting but so are most beauty standards when you think about them. So while it may be an uncomfortable watch, it just might be a necessary one.

I recommend it for everyone.

I give The Substance an outstanding 10 out of 10.