Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Horrorfest 2024: The Substance

The Substance
Written and Directed by Coralie Fargeat
Starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid
France/UK/USA, 2024

Demi Moore reminds us why she’s the queen and Margaret Qualley continues her climb to the top with a heaping helping of body horror in THE SUBSTANCE.

Moore stars (and takes no prisoners) as a once-hot, now washed up actress relegated to hosting a jazzercise show on TV. In an effort to keep what she (and her pig boss, delightfully disgusting Dennis Quaid) perceives as her fading looks, Moore takes a mysterious and experimental drug (the titular substance) and finds herself violently reborn young again. With several strings attached.

Qualley stars as Moore’s younger self, and while she doesn’t quite show the raw emotional range Moore brings to the picture, she’s equally as bold with her body, turning in an unabashedly physical performance that has to be seen to be believed.

This is the kind of movie that starts out over the top and only continues to climb from there, ending in a spectacular splatter of insanity the likes of which you’ve never seen before and will never see coming.


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