The Substance

Biggest takeaway is that everyone should own a cunty yellow coat in their closet cause wow the power that coat has!

I'm not good with horror at all but I braved it to the cinema as I just had to see what all the hype was about, and was really looking for a riving body horror which also had cutting commentary...and I was disappointed? I think this sadly was one of those films which glossy aesthetics covered up how simplistic its commentary really is.

It's bizarre to say that about a film which I think had a practically perfect first half. I've read a lot of "The last 40 minutes will blow your mind" or other commentaries to that effect, that the ending is some of the most fucked up, and powerful cinema people have seen and I just couldn't disagree more. I thought the first hour of this movie was far more powerful.

We start of and are completely immersed in how Elizabeth Sparkle (great name btw) feels. Her dwindling career and being shoved out for new, hotter bodies, the disposability she feels at her age being a woman, specifically in this industry is so powerfully displayed and it's done so with very little dialogue, it's simply Demi Moore acting in these very explicit situations but she giving a degree of nuance which makes it feel so real.

When the horror of The Substance begins, the movie shines. The contrasting of the glossy visuals of the ads for the service and the pulsating club music with the clinical and unnaturalness of the procedure was phenomenal. Getting to sit with Elizabeth from the moment she watches the first ad all the way to taking the substance is a delight. It's her struggling with her internal dilemma of craving the feeling she had when she was younger and the knowledge she has that this is clearly a bad idea, but if it gives her that feeling again, she has to do it.

The entire prolonged sequence of the first taking of the substance, the clean-up, and the maintenance which has to be done is the best part of the movie. The filmmaking is so clinical and visceral I genuinely felt horrible watching these sequences (complimentary). The movie really puts you in the situation of both Elizabeth and the new reality they're faced with. They don't shy away from anything and it's in this relentlessness that the film shines.

It really is emphasises in this scene in particular, or in any scene in that horrible looking bathroom, but really could be said about the film as a whole, but the sterileness of the film, the blocking, the push-ins and close-ups, the want to show flesh as clinical and medical and the saturation of colours in all the sets, really adds to the aesthetics this film builds and really adds to the horror as the filmmaking is also putting you off ease.

However, all this good will which is built up in the start just slowly starts to dissipate as the film isn't interested in deepening or furthering its commentary more, which is a real shame. It's interesting to begin with, and is so in your face it's very hard to miss what's being said, but as the middle of the film begins to meander and repeat itself, it just loses a lot of the impact the start of the film built up. I think the film is aware of this as well as there's a moment halfway through the repetitiveness where a cheap scare is included, which logically has nothing to do with the film, as a way to keep people invested.

If the film is not offering anything of substance both thematically and as a horror it really deflates itself. It really loses what made it so strong in the beginning as it had both of these qualities and subsequentially loses them both for the majority of the rest of the film.

I think there's also a difference in a film being unsubtle and being shallow, and I sadly think the more I think about this movie, it really is quite shallow. I didn't walk away chewing on much from this film, perhaps this is since the start is so strong and has a degree of seriousness to it that when it opts to just purely be satire and disregard the seriousness of the start, it just doesn't feel satisfying.

Speaking off, the mad finale everyone has been speaking about I thought was such a bland way for this film to go. Sure, it's weird and mad, but I didn't find it scary nor was it really adding any sort of substance to the film, it was far scarier the build-up to this scene.

I don't want to be really negative as I really did love half of this film, and there's plenty to love as well, from the stellar filmmaking on offer, which all works as a way to enhance the themes of the film - even if this is then sadly detrimental in the latter half - some incredible makeup, some stunning production design and a fun score. Undoubtably Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are phenomenal, the pair of them really lay bare everything in this film and it's the reason it's so compelling as they are able to do so much. I just sadly wanted more