Most likely due to my love of horror desensitising me, any time I hear word of a film being “hard to watch” or “gruesome” I normally shrug my shoulders when I finally get to see it.
But The Substance is a real stomach-churner – in a beautifully told, shot and performed way.
Demi Moore stars as fading celebrity Elisabeth , who takes a black-market cell-replicating substance to temporarily create a “younger, better version of herself”, Margaret Qualley’s Sue .
Writer-director Coralie Fargeat, in remarkably only her second feature-length flick after 2017’s Revenge , has created a true body horror classic.
Moore is an actress that has never made too much of an impression on me – good or bad – however, it’s clear to see why she has been Oscar-nommed for her tremendous turn.
Horror is a genre that doesn’t often get crowned by the Academy but Moore’s selfless, physically and mentally unabashed, age-reflecting powerful performance is worthy of the Best Actress gong.
Qualley has a difficult part to play too as for most of her screen time she’s a selfish, sexualised presence, and she nails acidic ambition underneath a seemingly airy, friendly exterior.
Dennis Quaid makes an impression with short screen time as smarmy, slimy TV producer Harvey , while the early scene of him stuffing his face with shrimp is almost as uncomfortable to watch as anything that comes later on.
Fargeat takes aim at ageism, the male gaze, the price of fame, performance-enhancing drugs and cosmetic surgery while using a breathless shooting style packed with vibrant colours, close-ups and several moments where you think – or maybe that should be hope – the camera will cut away but it doesn’t.
The prosthetics, designed by make-up artist Pierre-Olivier Persin, are out-of-this-world and will test your gross-out tolerance to the max.
This is no more apparent than during a jaw-dropping finale that shreds the senses and features a crackingly callous call-back to the opening scene.
The Substance is definitely hard to watch, but try and keep your hands away from your eyes to sample a modern masterpiece led by a monstrously magical Moore.
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● The Substance is available to buy or rent on Sky Store.
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