I had heard much about this new sci-fi horror from French director Coraline Fargeat, who gave us the 2017 horror Revenge. This award-winner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, taking best screenplay, had quite a few walkouts due to the nature of the content. The talk was a body horror that goes to the extreme and beyond. Entering the screening, I wondered if this would be a tough watch, like Titane a few years ago. I have to say that this is a full-on, unstoppable attack on the senses that is as bizarre and brutal as they get. And I absolutely loved it.

Elizabeth Sparkle is an ageing fitness guru whose exercise TV show is like a step back to the 80s, with leg warmers and leotards. As a significant birthday approaches, she is dropped. After surviving a car crash, she discovers a USB drive dropped into her pocket by a doctor. It invites her to use something called The Substance. This will split her DNA and produce a newer, younger version. However, entering into this world, there are rules to be followed. When Elizabeth’s younger version, Sue, wins her old job and slowly becomes a star, the rules begin to be broken, and a war starts between Elizabeth and her younger self.

Before I really start, this film is not for everyone. It is incredibly tough to watch, and if you cannot stomach blood and guts and buckets of gore, then it is best to avoid it. For everyone else, this is a must-see. The film starts brilliantly with an overhead shot of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, from the laying of the stone, and through the years, being neglected, stamped upon, cracks appearing, and foodstuff being dropped over it. We then meet Elizabeth, a woman who has made exercising her career, lives in a lavish apartment and loves her life. When she is dumped by the station, which is looking for a younger version of herself, she wants to find a way of keeping hold of her position.

This is a film about beauty and the lengths people will go to to maintain their youth. Except here, it is extreme. Once Elizabeth injects herself with the substance, she literally gives birth to a newer version of herself, Sue. The rules are that they are one and that after a week, Sue must return, and Elizabeth has a week, and so on. As Elizabeth lies in a coma for seven days, Sue makes her mark. Yet Sue loves the attention and wants more, which is where the trouble begins.

Fargeat has nods to so many other movies and books that you could spend time trying to connect with other source materials. The first act introduces the concept as Elizabeth has to go to a sleazy part of town to pick up her box of tubes and injections. The second act is the conflict between the two selves and how Sue’s act affects Elizabeth most unpleasantly. By the final act, it goes all-out in its grossness and horror, and what works so well is that this is all physical effects and not relying on CGI. It reminds me of David Cronenberg’s The Fly; there is a level of sympathy for the main character, even if the transformation is pretty shocking.

Along the way, there are nods to John Carpenter’s The Thing, the grunginess of the 80s horror, Society and The Elephant Man, and Dr Jykell and Mr Hyde. By the end, you can compare it to Carrie and even the carpets from The Shining. It is a reference-laden movie that makes it even more enjoyable. Yet the film works because it keeps its eye on the story and subject matter. Keeping hold of your looks can be something that people will go to extremes to hold onto, and they can become almost unrecognisable, especially in the celebrity world.

Fargeat’s filmmaking style is full-on. There are unsettling close-ups and a soundscape that gets under your skin, and when you think she can’t go any further with the horror, she does. It is fearless filmmaking. She even manages to make shrimp eating the most disgusting thing you will ever see. The score by Raffertie is fantastic and helps with the unsettling nature of the piece.

In a triumph return to form, Demi Moore as Elizabeth is magnificent. She is a woman torn between wanting to keep her looks and will go all the way to do it. She has never been an actress that has stood out among her peers, but here, she shines in a performance of many levels. It’s great to see her leading a movie again, and I’m so happy that she was the lead of such a great movie. As Sue, Margaret Qualley is a revelation. She has made some interesting movies in the past, including Kinds of Kindness, but this should make her a massive star. She carries some audacious scenes with aplomb. It’s great to see actresses able to shine without taking the edge off each other’s performances.

The Substance is shocking, funny, intelligent, original filmmaking that, if you can watch between your fingers, you will come out shaken but having the time of your life. It’s one of the best horrors in years, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s not in my top ten by the end of the year.

5 out of 5

Director: Coraline Fargeat

Starring: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Hugo Diago Garcia, Oscar Lesage, Alexandra Barton

Written by Coraline Fargeat

Running Time: 141 mins

Cert: 18

Release date: 20th September 2024