Film Review - The Substance (2024)

The Substance is a new film by Coralie Fargeat and stars Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle the host of a morning fitness TV show but who is fired by her boss (Dennis Quaid) as the network wants someone new and younger as the host instead, feeling down she orders a mysterious drug known as the Substance and she creates a new younger version of herself known as Sue (Margaret Qualley) but as with these drugs there are rules attached and those rules will soon be broken.

The Substance is a film with a lot of hype behind it and while I think it is very good I don’t think it lived to all of that hype, firstly I will give Fargeat her dues here she does a very good job directing the film and while this runs for 140 minutes I didn’t really feel the runtime all that much save for the ending, she keeps a tight grip on the reins and gets good performances out of all her actors as well as creates some very nice Verhoeven-esque Body Horror that in one instance reminded me of Total Recall.

As for the performances, the 3 leads here are excellent, Moore delivers some of her best work in a long time as Elisabeth who was once a bright star but is now fading due to the river of time and one suspects there is a lot of truth in that from Moore’s performance given her own stardom over the years, Qualley has become a good young actress since I first saw her in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and she is very good here as the young Sue while Dennis Quaid steals the show as the head of the TV network.

He combines that winning smile with this very slimy personality and he completely understands the role he is playing in this movie as that boss who always wants the next bright young thing and then will happily throw them away once they’ve reached their use by date, there is one in particular with a plate of shrimp that really helps to sell his character well.

Speaking of that shrimp scene this movie has some excellent sound design highlighting the disturbing nature of the Substance and the effect it has on those who use it and while the end of the film runs a little long and at times hammer’s the point regarding ageism and women I wasn’t hugely bothered by it all.

And so that was the Substance and while it isn’t one of my favourite films of the year it is a very good one indeed that will please horror fans, 3 and a half out of 5.