Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle in The Substance

I remember someone once telling me that “horror film fans are famously hard to please”, which I have to admit, is a sentiment that rings true.

Whether nostalgia has helped to age certain movies, we’re still a far cry from the horror that had a lasting legacy and influence on the filmmakers of today. However, if any modern-day riff can come close to scratching the same itch felt upon watching the aforementioned for the first time, it’s a gift to be celebrated. I can’t help but sometimes feel as if those riffs are, well, riffs? If a bundle of nods and references that can’t make something appropriately fresh out of a foundational recipe for success (Alien: Romulus springs to mind) is the bar, then it’s incredibly revitalising to say that The Substance is a film that wears influence on its sleeve, without compromising originality and gratuity. A film that is genuinely, beautifully revolting.

But what actually is the ‘substance’? Well, put simply, it’s a black market treatment plan with mortifyingly sinister complications. This is the ozempic alternative that only Satan himself could cook up. After a particularly bad day at the office, Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) - a once beloved superstar - thinks that this could be the helping hand she needs to solve all of those crippling, internalised doubts. The catch is, you share your life with a much younger, much better version of yourself (in this case it’s ‘Sue’, played by Qualley). One week on, one week off. Simple…right?

Moore has taken on this role, a fading icon trying desperately to contend with her dwindling self-perception and the gaze of those seeing her as spent produce, with full confidence. Not only is Sparkle handled with surprisingly strong emotional ground, but when the shit really hits the fan in the latter half, Moore is there to handle it with genuine intimidation. Qualley is also, similarly, impressive. Turning up the dials to the max level of rage and sweet, sickly pain. However, the real star of this project is, of course, Coralie Fargeat.

Margaret Qualley as Sue in The Substance

I knew from the opening scene - gradually depicting the deterioration of a Hollywood Walk of Fame star - that we’d be in the hands of a great visual storyteller. The Revenge director wastes no time, taking every morsel of runtime as an opportunity for devilish success. A sense of tongue-in-cheek playfulness and dark humour is spread generously throughout The Substance, with each hilarious optical innuendo (Dennis Quaid’s fabulously gross television exec character flaying a shrimp back and forth in his filthy, oily hands springs, hmm, reluctantly to mind…) being more gleefully grody than the last. However, there’s also no lack of sincerely nauseating moments in its full on gross out symbolism, scaling the intensity up scene by scene to a finale that will blow your socks off.

Fargeat has followed up her deconstruction of the rape revenge sub-genre with a powerfully extreme depiction of idealistic beauty standards. This is body dysmorphia horror in its purest, most unhinged form. Your stamina for lack of subtlety will be tested, but personally, that’s part-in-parcel for what you pay for. It’s exactly the rip-roaringly bloody direction the film leads you in from the go.

Don’t miss The Substance, it’ll change you for the better*

[*results may vary, The Substance may induce nausea and vomiting. Consult your doctor before taking]