The Substance Is Disgusting And Gross And I Will Never Forget It
I Hated It So Why Can't I Stop Thinking About It?
I haven’t slept in two nights. Not a wink. I can still see Monstro Elisasue from The Substance in my mind’s eye. There’s no sleeping with that horrific image roaming around up there like Godzilla through Tokyo. I started watching The Substance with no warning at all. No one told me what I was in for. During the movie’s brilliant second act I was so impressed with Demi Moore’s courage at letting us see her look absolutely horrible that I went on Bluesky and wrote, “Just give Demi all the awards.”
A voice inside me said you should wait until the end to praise this film in public but everything was going along so well that I pressed send. An hour later, as I suffered through the film’s third act, I went back on Bluesky and wrote, “This movie is disgusting. Do not recommend.”
The Substance is brilliant at times. It’s an amazing dark comedy at times. It is a powerful comment on modern society and our obsession with youth and beauty and our disdain for the realities of aging. The concept of switching bodies via some medical kit you use at home is a satirical comment on capitalism—anything is available for a price, even a DIY new body. There’s so much about this movie that’s great. But the conflict of act two—where Sue (Margaret Qualley) takes and takes and takes from Elisabeth (Demi)—leads to the abomination that dominates act three: Monstro Elisasue. This is the moment when they lost me.