The Substance - A Negative Review

This Review is of course my personal opinion, and as such represents my thoughts on the movie as I watched it and my thoughts alone.

I went into this movie almost entirely blind. I had seen that it had been getting a lot of discussion, that it's body horror sequences were shocking and revered and that it was making several lists for the top releases of 2024, but besides that I never really knew a single thing about it going in and had no idea what to expect.

Somehow, still, it managed to prove bitterly disappointing.

I'll start first with some of the things I enjoyed about it however, as it's not entirely without merit. The performances are fantastic, both Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley are supreme in their roles, fully encapsulating their characters.

Demi shines as Elisabeth Sparkle, the lead superstar now struggling with her fading stardom amid the rampant ageism that encapsulates not just Hollywood, but much of society. She truly creates a realistic and believable portrayal of a woman who has spent much of her life with the spotlight cast on her, left desperate to feel its warmth again as it swivels over to light up the newer, younger star.

As that younger star, Margaret Qualley is stunning. Her performance is unflinching throughout the grotesque body-horror scenes she winds up a central part of. Contrastingly, she manages to convincingly ooze a charm that enthralls not just the world around her inside the movie, but also the audience.

The one performance I actually wasn't particularly impressed with was that of Dennis Quaid. While I usually find him an enjoyably menacing character in many movies, he felt overly cartoonish in this. A caricature of a sleazy Harvey Weinstein-type figure. This was clearly what the movie was aiming for, even going so far as to name Quaid's character as Harvey, but regardless, it felt extremely over the top in his portrayal of his character's sleaze to a point of hamfisted self-indulgence.

And that takes us onto the main issue with this movie throughout its runtime: The sheer level of absolutely hamfisted attempts at beating the audience around the head with the same messages, over and over again.

Repeatedly, the film treats the audience as if it is unbelievably stupid. It falls foul of the old and golden rule of "show, don't tell." At every attempt to send the audience a message, then insists on doubling down. In case you still don't get it, it then doubles down on it again. And again. And again.

It reaches a level of absolutely exhausting repetition on every point, as if the director is trying to reach through the screen and shake you around, screaming in your face, "DO YOU GET IT YET? YOU BIG FUCKING IDIOT? DO YOU FUCKING GET IT?!"

This by itself is an extremely annoying way to watch a movie with such repetitive hamfisted messaging, yet it's made far worse by the messaging being unsure of what it even wants to say itself. Are we looking at a satire of Hollywood, the media and the way aging female stars often find themselves cast aside? It seems like it would very much like to be that, yet if so, not only does it fall massively short at being in any way a sharp or biting satire, it then goes as far as to completely undermine itself as it revels in turning the main characters into some kind of freak-show, presented without empathy or compassion, to be mocked, pointed and laughed at.

While I have no issue with a homage to the classic horror films that without doubt inspired this movie, The Substance is happy to repeatedly jab you in the side with an elbow as it leans towards you, asking, "Hey, remember The Shining? Remember how good that movie is? Remember the halls in The Overlook? Do you remember-" as it shoves a "Best Horror Movies" photo album down your gullet and kicks you in the teeth for good measure, just to make sure you don't miss any of the references.

Besides the performances however, my favourite parts of this movie were undoubtedly the body horror sequences. The performances and the effects alone are what earned The Substance all of it's star rating from me as it delivers truly disgusting, unflinching body horror that is downright vile and revolting, a true trainwreck you simply can't turn away from.

Unfortunately however, excellent performances and body horror pieces do not spin nearly 2.5 hours of mostly dull, hamfisted and repetitive messaging into a good movie. The constant need to treat the audience as so beyond stupid whilst regularly undermining what it seems to want as the movie's message leads to a movie that is narratively defeating, self-sabotaging and ideologically incoherent.

Sadly, despite excellent performances and truly grotesque and unflinching body horror, the only place you will find any Substance here is, ironically, in the title card.

Overall Rating: 2.5★/5