Film Review: THE SUBSTANCE (2024): Coralie Fargeat’s Brilliantly Conceived Horror Movie Goes For Broke but Pushes the Envelope Too Far
The Substance Review
The Substance (2024) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Coralie Fargeat and starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Hugo Diego Garcia, Oscar Lesage, Alexandra Papoulias Barton, Joseph Balderrama, Tiffany Hofstetter, Gore Abrams, Oscar Salem, Robin Greer, Vincent Colombe, Jiselle Henderkott, Matthew Geczy, Jordan Ford Silver, Philip Schurer, Tom Morton and Gregory Defleur.
Writer/director Coralie Fargeat’s bloody and (mostly) brilliant horror movie, The Substance, borders on near perfect for the first two hours or so before going off the deep end with a conclusion that seems a bit over-the-top, even for this movie. Still, it’s a wild ride with Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley turning in what is, hands down, the most intriguing work of both of their careers.
This film is about an inspirational celebrity named Elisabeth Sparkle (Moore) whose star is fading even though she just got her very own star on the Walk of Fame. Elisabeth has an exercise show but her popularity is waning despite the fact that she looks great for her age. She recently had a birthday and when she takes interest in an illegal substance that offers her life-changing results, she seizes the opportunity in this wonderfully constructed scarefest of a movie.
A man asks Elisabeth out. He’s a doofus, though, who was in her homeroom during her school years. Elisabeth has no interest in him as he makes a jerk out of himself and drops the paper with his number on it on the ground. Elisabeth moves forward to try to better herself after she’s belittled by the nasty Harvey (Dennis Quaid) who pretty much has the future of Elisabeth’s career in the palm of his hands.
There’s this safe deposit box which delivers “the substance” to her. This plot-driving substance which is injected into the body can help produce another version of Elisabeth which is her younger, better self. She’s called Sue (Qualley in a performance that could be remembered come Oscar nomination time). Elisabeth and Sue are, as we’re often reminded, one and the same even though they can function in two different bodies. There’s a catch, though: Only one of them can operate at any given time.
Sue becomes an overnight sensation which leads to her doing an exercise program that is both sexy and disturbing simultaneously. Sue is overloaded with personality and beauty and keeps viewers engaged much more than Elisabeth did, according to Harvey who just wants a younger, better looking person driving his career. Sue is all smiles and commands viewers of the exercise program’s attention. Soon, she’s the talk of the town and she’s set to be hosting an end-of-year TV special. Sounds pretty awesome, doesn’t it? Wrong.
Elisabeth is now struggling in her life because her body’s not being tended to properly by Sue who is taking full advantage of her newfound success. Sue doesn’t take care of Elisabeth and she ends up with old-looking body parts that jeopardize her future success. This switch back and forth between bodies takes a toll on both of them and at one point, Elisabeth goes “buck wild” in an effort to get revenge on Sue. Elisabeth pulls out a recipe book and, boy oh boy, watch her go to town in her attempts to thwart the wicked Sue’s plans for success.
Demi Moore is sensational. She has always picked independent movie projects well and this time is no exception. She made a movie called The Joneses back in 2010 which was absolutely brilliant. That was a dark comedy and now she’s making a horror movie which could also serve as a dark comedy to equal levels of success in terms of Moore’s wonderful work. However, the new film’s conclusion is very violent and threatens to undermine Moore’s incredible performance just a tad.
Sue “goes at” Elisabeth in devastating and brutal ways and the viewer may be a little put off by some of the gratuitous violence towards the film’s conclusion. Still, that violence is pivotal to the film’s plot threads and the violence still helps create an experience like no other. This movie is destined to become a midnight movie classic whether it is too over-the-top or not.
Qualley is the film’s MVP. She’s got Sue down pat with hilarious mannerisms and the actress captures her character’s determination to a tee. When Sue starts removing her teeth, though, one wonders how far Fargeat had to push to get the points across which the film makes in ways that are certainly not subtle at all. Qualley’s performance is a “star is born” one and even though she’s done other independent movies before that were really good, this will be her true breakout role.
The Substance has everything one would want to see in a frightening horror show with two great performances backing it up. Dennis Quaid’s turn as the slimy Harvey is like the icing on the cake. If not for the last fifteen minutes of brutality and gore, The Substance could have been a perfect movie. Instead, it serves as a really good, very scary reminder of how we’re all aging a bit every day and when it all ends for us, beauty is (and was) just temporary.
As the road to hell is paved with good intentions, watch the central character(s) in this movie try to preserve their beauty at the expense of their own well-being. By the time, they’re beating the crap out of one another, the audience is left to wonder what Elisabeth really wanted from “the substance.” What she actually gets from it makes for the most twisted thrill ride of the year.
Rating: 8.5/10
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