Easily one of the year’s most talked about films, it is truly an unforgettable watch.
The Substance, the brilliantly bonkers body horror satire released in cinemas just a few weeks ago, is now available to watch at home.
Streaming on the service Mubi, the film is the sophomore effort of visionary writer-director Coralie Fargeat (we here at JOE are huge fans of her debut action flick Revenge).
Her latest movie is headlined by Hollywood legend Demi Moore (Ghost) who plays Elizabeth Sparkle – the star of a popular aerobics show.
Elizabeth is fired by her boss (Dennis Quaid, The Day After Tomorrow) on her 50th birthday due to her age.
Feeling humiliated and with her morale at its lowest, the TV host out of the blue receives an invite to try a black market drug, one which could solve all of her problems.
After injecting the mysterious drug, dubbed ‘The Substance’, it temporarily creates a “younger, better version” of Elizabeth (played by rising star Margaret Qualley, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood).
While at first, The Substance works a charm, its usage comes with several rules – which if broken can cause devastating side effects.
Since its world premiere at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival earlier this year – winning the Best Screenplay Award at the event – the movie has been met with rapturous rave reviews, as well as word-of-mouth box-office success.
In particular, The Substance has been praised for Fargeat’s eye-popping visuals, the three fearless performances at its centre (particularly Moore’s) and the film’s masterful blend of laugh-out-loud Hollywood satire with immaculately staged visceral and unforgettable body horror.
Even weeks after seeing it in cinemas, we here at JOE – who called the movie “2024’s must-see horror” – still can’t stop thinking about its final act.
You can read some other raves for The Substance right here:
Deadline: “The perfect breakout genre movie of the year.”
IndieWire: “Fargeat’s movie escalates with the kind of ultra-confident audacity that leaves you laughing out loud at sights that would otherwise make you shriek instead.”
Total Film: “This is a smart, savage look at aging, beauty, and the male gaze. Quaid and Qualley are excellent, but Moore delivers arguably a career-best performance.”
Variety: “[Coralie Fargeat] draws on much of the hyperbolic flamboyance that’s come to define megaplex horror. But unlike 90 percent of those movies, The Substance is the work of a filmmaker with a vision. She’s got something primal to say to us.”
The Substance is streaming on Mubi right now.
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