When it comes to upcoming horror movies, one of this year’s best may be hitting theaters this weekend, with Demi Moore’s body horror flick The Substance causing quite a stir amongst critics since its premiere at Cannes. The actress bares it all in the movie, but Moore says it’s not about the nudity. In fact, The Substance’s trailer seems to show that we’re in for a sexy and disturbing masterpiece of sorts. But what are the critics saying? The experts are weighing in ahead of the film’s September 20 release on the 2024 movie calendar, so let’s allow them to tell us what we’re in for.
Starring alongside Demi Moore is Margaret Qualley, as the women play two sides of the same aerobics instructor. Moore is a recently fired 50-year-old named Elisabeth Sparkle, who begins injecting herself with a serum to create a younger, more perfect version of herself called Sue (Qualley). Obviously things won’t go as expected, but no need to spoil any plot here. Let’s get to the critics, with our own Eric Eisenberg saying in the CinemaBlend review of The Substance that this “engrossing, horrifying, hilarious and wild” experience is a must-see for anyone who can stomach it. He gives it a perfect 5 out of 5 stars and writes:
Its feminist rage is rich and palpable, the story putting a body horror, female-centric spin on The Portrait Of Dorian Gray. But it’s also an exceptional execution of craft – a reference to both the phenomenal performances by stars Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, as well as the stunning and disgusting special effects work. It’s intoxicating, riotous and, to date, the best film of 2024.
James Mottram of GamesRadar gives the film 4 out of 5 stars, saying that Demi Moore, specifically, shines in what is possibly a career-best performance with plenty to say and “fountains” of blood. In Mottram’s words:
Precision-tooled from the off – the antiseptic white and blood red design scheme is particularly effective – this is a smart, savage look at ageing, beauty, and the male gaze. Quaid and Qualley are excellent, but Moore delivers arguably a career-best performance, nailing Elizabeth’s sense of regret over the reversal process. To be nitpicky, the film’s final act could’ve been more judiciously edited and the fountains of blood get tiresome. But this is an assured, blackly funny, and outrageous horror that will leave you roaring with approval.
David Ehrlich of IndieWire has all the adjectives when describing this “go-until-you-gag epic,” saying that anyone with the stomach to sit through this “audacious, insanely gross” movie will enjoy one the most sickly entertaining theatrical experiences of the year. The critic gives it an A-, and continues:
An immensely, unstoppably, ecstatically demented fairy tale about female self-hatred, Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance will stop at nothing — and I mean nothing — to explode the ruthless beauty standards that society has inflicted upon women for thousands of years, a burden this camp-adjacent instant classic aspires to cast off with some of the most spectacularly disgusting body horror this side of The Fly or the final minutes of Akira.
Bill Goodykoontz of the Arizona Republic also calls it one of the best movies of the year, as he lauds Demi Moore’s fearless performance and writer/director Coralie Fargeat’s accomplishment in making something that’s “hard to watch, impossible to turn away from.” The critic rates it 4.5 out of 5 stars, writing:
Qualley is sneaky smart as the scheming Sue. But Moore is amazing, absolutely fearless in her portrayal of a woman forced into the position of risking everything to just hang on. This is doubtless something she knows a little bit about, and her portrayal strips away any glamor and leans into the desperation fully. It’s only Fargeat’s second feature after 2017’s Revenge. That was a good movie. The Substance is a substantial leap forward and a film people will rightfully be talking about for a while.
Meanwhile, Slate’s Dana Stevens went into The Substance game for the feminist horror and commentary on aging and beauty. However, after the 140-minute runtime, Stevens seemingly felt beaten over the head with the same message over and over in increasingly raunchy fashion. In the critic’s words:
I’m disappointed to report that I found The Substance lacking in both departments: the oh-no-they-didn’t gross-out quotient and the intellectual heft. The fleshly transmogrifications the viewer witnesses, again and again, as Moore’s Elisabeth Sparkle injects herself with the glowing yellow-green ‘substance’ for her weekly identity swap with Sue (Margaret Qualley) grow more and more abjectly disgusting as both women’s physical and moral conditions degrade. But the fact of the switch means the same thing each time: Elisabeth has sold her soul, and her last chance at earthly happiness, to cling to the illusion of eternal youth, all in the service of a cruel and insatiable patriarchy. After two hours and 20 minutes of flamboyantly repulsive variations on this well-worn theme, even the strongest-stomached and most feminist of viewers could be excused for muttering, ‘We get it already.’
The majority of the feedback has been positive, as The Substance is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a current 89% from nearly 150 critics’ opinions. Love it or hate it, this movie seems bound to be a talker, and if you want to be a part of that conversation, check this one out when it hits theaters Friday, September 20.