Rent The Substance (2024)

On the edge of my seat! - The Substance review by KP

For once, a movie that actually kept me interested for its entire length. Demi Moore is brilliant in this blockbuster film. It's no wonder that it's won a string of awards. The film has no lull and moves at a fast pace - ending in a climax which is a mix of The Elephant Man, The Thing and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. I have to admit there are, however, some horrific scenes of violence and there are parts (especially towards the end) which are a little tongue in cheek but, all in all, a fantastic film. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

80s style body horror - The Substance review by SV

Essentially this is an 80s style Cronenberg body horror, so if the awards hype is what brought you here but you're not into over the top tongue in cheek gore, it's probably not for you.

As such, it's a solid entry in the genre, bringing together the styles not just of Cronenberg but Paul Verhoeven and perhaps Lynch and a few others who made distinctive 80s cult movies. There's an absurd sci-fi premise (but you suspend your disbelief, because all such movies have an absurd sci-fi premise), and the film has a lot of fun with it, and doesn't hold back from going beyond where you might expect the limits to be for a mainstream movie.

That said, a lot about this film only really makes sense when you learn the director is a French woman.

First of all, there's a lot of female nudity, and a lot of soft core, male-gazey lingering focus on the female body, which doesn't seem to have been called out - but of course in French culture, ideas of femininity and beauty and sex are traditionally all bound together, and to present them as so is totally uncontroversial. Obviously having a woman director makes it subjectively ok (whereas a male director would probably have been criticised for making exactly the same film). Of course, the 80s movies of the canon (which the director is exactly the right age to have grown up with) also had plenty of all that, so I didn't really find it jarring so much as surprisingly anachronistic.

Secondly, there is also a lot of absurd humour which falls flat, in the way that French absurdity does to an English viewer - there's a difference between ridiculous and ridiculously funny.

So the film is fundamentally dumb but fun, and veers between the two erratically - more fun for the first hour and more dumb for the second. It's certainly fairly predictable - you can foresee the exact ending about an hour in.

Nevertheless as a fan of the genre I enjoyed it, enough to think about it and write all this, which is I think the mark of an above average film.

Try not to be aroused - The Substance review by HW

I’m surprisingly enjoying modern horror at the moment. This might be the best, most savagely original horror film to come out in years. Yes, it’s stealing imagery from a LOT of classic horror films but it dissects (literally) a very relevant topic with the timeless message of ‘be careful what you wish for’. A very extreme criticism of beauty standards, feminine expectations and obsessing with perfection, paying tribute to gruesome 80s body-horror prosthetics with spectacular transformation and body warps. While you couldn’t call this subtle, it does deliver some truly unnerving and (dare I say) MOVING scenes and performances amidst the mayhem. A great concept, just not a great date movie. 

Could have been great - The Substance review by JR

It's really quite gross at times in a Cronenberg body horror way, sometimes in an overblown funny way especially towards the end. Stylishly directed, the sound track is great, but a good 30 minutes too long.

Overlong, Over-rated, Derivative Drivel B-Movie, a #metoo revenge famifantasy & deeply misandrist - The Substance review by PV

I hated this film, Do yourself a favour and watch the truly great Norwegian film SICK OF MYSELF (2023) which covers the same ground in a satire way more classy and well-written than this dross, or AMERICAN MARY (2013) about cosmetic surgery taken to extremes. OR the 1970s class film from a classic satirical novel THE STEPFORD WIVES. Read it too, great book. As is THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GREY by Oscar Wilde, Same idea. This movie is SO derivative and not original even a bit.

HOW on earth did this dreadful drivel get nominated for Oscars, ditto with its sister-film Barbie? Politics, that is why. These are #metoo femifantasies which diss men massively, portray all men as repulsive evil man-monsters (only white Western me though). It is hare misandry, the opposite of misogyny, Imagine a film that showed such cartoon character repulsive women throughout.

No doubt the target audience of self-pitying self-absorbed teenage girls and babywomen will love this revenge fantasy BUT who runs TV? Women. Most producers are female and also run the magazine and fashion industry; the TV audience is mostly female too, 70-80% for reality TV and dance shows as portrayed here,. So STOP the manblaming and look in the mirror, sisters. VANITY THY NAME IS WOMAN indeed.

OTT special effects (similar to Britflick MEN) in a gorefest as the absurd main character heads for a predictable climax.

Substance has NO substance; it is style over substance from beginning to end. FAR better GRASS IS GREENER/BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR films.

French director whose only other movie is equally manblaming (issues much?) but at least REVENGE was watchable (in French). This is SO full of plot holes it could be a cheese - Swiss, of course. Too many to list.

BRAVE NEW WORLD did this cloning idea better, as did WESTWORLD 1973 movie and recent TV series, and the on-trend TV drama series SEVERANCE. Maybe HANNIBAL TV drama series too which is classy and stylish in a way this is not. This is total dross and dangerous dross at that - the systemic misandry, boybashing, manblaming in our society grows and grows. Why? Is this a good thing? Why? It is bare sexism and I call out the bigotry of it.

If you like manhating B-movie bodyshock horror films that are style over substance and make no sense and come from a bitter place, watch it,. Otherwise, avoid.

Horrific dull gorefest of little substance - The Substance review by cr

I am amazed at the reviews this rubbish has received!

Now i am not a horror fan and certainly not a body horror fan but as this was so highly praised i tried it out.

Revelling in horrific violence gallons of blood and buckets of entrails this over long and over rated mess takes stamina to get through.

I ff'd through most of it (but not the scenes of margaret q in the shower...).

Reviews have said its "soo funny and wildy entertaining!"

Must have missed that....

I suspect that if it wasnt for the french female director and well known cast it would have sunk without a trace.

Only for hardcore horror fans.

Woman's place in Society or Hammer House of Horror - The Substance review by RP

Demi Moore lends the character of the fading personality that is being discarded way before her time. Some much needed depth and disillusionment. Dennis Quaid as the pantomime villain is a bit too simplistic and feels rushed as a character. However the idea that the often superficial way Women in the spotlight are treated in society is well observed. Especially when the lead decides to chase other peoples idea of her worth and fight to get her youth back through a miracle drug. 

The battle between vibrant youth and fading star is nicely done for three quarters of the film. Then the last quarter is very much the good old Hammer House of Horror body shock. A body literally torn between two ideas of what youth and hope really look like. 

In the end an enjoyable romp of mild horror and  thoughtful questions. Not quite the film it could have been but entertaining and fun none the less.