For the past few weeks I’d been hearing all about “The Substance,” a movie that made its United States theatrical release on Sept. 20, all over Twitter (once again I’m never calling it X). I’d been seeing GIFs and short clips from the film, while also seeing people rant and rave about it, so obviously I had to see it. 

I walked into the screening pretty blind. The only thing I knew about the movie was that there was some drug, tThe Substance, that could make people younger. With that, I didn’t know what else to expect, and this led to the most enjoyable theater experience I’ve had in years. 

“The Substance” follows Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), a television aerobics star whose career has begun to wash up after her 50th birthday. She’s fired from her long-running television show on said birthday because the producer decided she’s too old to be on TV and a younger, prettier girl needs to take her spot. On the same day, Sparkle crashes her car. She’s taken to the hospital where she’s luckily fine and a young male nurse does one last check before she’s able to leave. Later that day, Sparkle finds a flash drive the nurse slid in her coat labeled ‘The Substance.’ The drive contains an advertisement for the Substance, a drug that makes you “younger, more beautiful, more perfect.”

Sparkle decides to order the Substance and injects herself with the activator serum. After injecting, her body begins to transform. She’s writhing in pain on the floor, her body is contorting itself in ways that seem inhuman, and we begin to see a slit form down her back as a human pushes its way out of her body. A younger girl (Margaret Qualley) steps out of Sparkle’s now bloody and unconscious body, taking the form of Sparkle’s younger self. 

We learn the two women, Sparkle and her younger self who goes by Sue, share the same mind. They must trade places every seven days with no exceptions. The unconscious body will be fed intravenously, and whenever Sue is the conscious party, she must inject herself with stabilizer fluid from Sparkle in order to stay alive. 

Sue quickly begins to live life to the fullest. She ends up being Sparkle’s replacement on her TV show, becoming a worldwide celebrity in what seems like days. Meanwhile, whenever Sparkle is conscious, she stays locked in her apartment, jealous of the life Sue has created and hating her own body. As Sue becomes more successful and hungry for life, she begins to abandon their switching schedule, leading to Sparkle’s deterioration.

I really want you all to see this, so that’s all I’ll say in fear of spoiling the insanity that was the last hour of this film. What I will say is that “The Substance” is a gorey body horror movie that addresses the very real issue of the pressure Hollywood puts on women’s bodies and women’s internalization of this pressure.

None of the events of the movie would have happened if Sparkle liked herself. If she liked her body and appreciated the fact that she was getting older, she would have never used the Substance. However, she likely would not have started to think poorly of herself if it weren’t for the fact that she was fired from her job simply because she was aging. So, the pressure of Hollywood, specifically the men who run Hollywood, made her perception of herself change, resulting in her believing that she needed the Substance to make her life better—even though the Substance worsened the body image issues she had and quite literally destroyed her.

I give “The Substance” five stars, I highly recommend it. I will say that this film is the definition of a body horror movie. There’s some incredibly gross imagery throughout the film, from the birthing scene of Sue to the entire final act of the film, but that’s what makes it so good. Whenever anything particular gorey happened, my theater was either filled with queasy noises or complete laughter. Also, Moore and Qualley gave remarkable performances in this film. Sparkle and Sue are the focal point of this story and they both stepped up and delivered with their performances. I will say that while Qualley did amazing, Moore completely stole the show for me. The more Sparkle’s body changed in the film, the meaner she got and Moore played mean very well. The entire film was terrifying and Moore’s portrayal of a deteriorating Sparkle was a big reason why.

You can watch “The Substance” in theaters or on the streaming platform Mubi. You likely don’t have Mubi (literally what is that?), but you can get a seven day free trial through Amazon Prime. Trust me, it’s worth the watch!