The Substance (2024)

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Demi Moore takes a huge risk in this bonkers sci-fi/horror flick about just how far people will go to remain beautiful.

Not sure what I was expecting, but there was a smorgasboard offered here:  Dark comedy, drama, absurdity, '80s gore, dance and major Hitchcock-esque tension. 

The story just keeps ratcheting up as it moves along, building both musically and visually.  

The last twenty minutes will leave you open-mouthed.  It's going to be polarizing to today's audiences, but I found it a lot of fun and a scathing commentary on the Hollywood machine.

[Rod Hagen]

Just too stupid for me.  Felt the same way about Nothing, Everywhere, all At Once.  Not my cups of tea.  Oh well.

[Stormy]

57 minutes ago, Rod Hagen said:

Just too stupid for me.  Felt the same way about Nothing, Everywhere, all At Once.  Not my cups of tea.  Oh well.

I really hated “The Substance” too.  Gross movie 

[Manhattan]

A writer/director who is a woman makes a really long, gross movie in which she exploits women's bodies. 
 

Women seem to love being horrible to other women and pretending it's about patriarchy. 
 

Boring. 

[d.anders]

I tend to like risk takers. I always thought Demi Moore had talent, but went a bit wayward with her choices. I enjoyed her in the Capote Swan thing. I plan on seeing The Substance out of curiosity. I like Hitchcockian suspense.

[+ EVdude]

I didn’t know much about the movie until Friday night’s Critic Choice awards where Coralie Fargeat took the award for best screenplay, said to be based on her own life experience, and Demi Moore took best actress. So I’ll check it out. 

[Rod Hagen]

On 2/8/2025 at 3:58 AM, d.anders said:

I tend to like risk takers. I always thought Demi Moore had talent, but went a bit wayward with her choices. I enjoyed her in the Capote Swan thing. I plan on seeing The Substance out of curiosity. I like Hitchcockian suspense.

It is not Hichcockian.  If Hitch saw it he'd throw up (and then quickly make reservations at Chasen's)

[d.anders]

Since I hate most everything out of Hollywood, it's quite possible I will hate this movie. I see Critics Choice awarded Demi best actress. That's not an easy feat if the movie is really bad. Have to wait for streaming.

Edited February 10 by d.anders

[d.anders]

I finally saw this film recently on Netflix. Holy shit. 

I guess there is something to be said for a film that grabs you by the balls and sort of forces you to watch. It's clever in the way it holds and manipulates you, keeping you curious for what could possibly come next. And then they eventually hit you with that ending, slap, slap, slapping you in the face with colored silly putty. At a certain point I questioned whether I was on LSD.

"Hollywood machine" mentioned earlier seems apt to me. This movie seems very Hollywood to me, from naked head to toe.

Demi Moore is very brave. At my age, I'm very careful who sees my ass. I'm OK with the front, but the back is nothing like it used to be. Her nipples are quite remarkable, made for porn movies. I don't think this part deserved any acting awards, so all the "acting" attention that she got for making this film seems kind of silly now that time has passed. I suspect the attention had more to do with her full-on nudity than it did for her lying comatose on a floor throughout most of the film. Then, there is that ending. It does deserve something.

I did enjoy Margaret Qualley's performance. I thought the casting was spot-on. Would I ever watch it again? I'm reluctant to say maybe, but I doubt it.