My Stance on the “The Substance”

I know that The Substance came out last year, but I am constantly late to the game when it comes to watching new movies, so here we are. This will contain spoilers so if you haven’t seen it, and plan to, I would recommend waiting on reading this article. 

This movie had a really strong start. The colors are vibrant, and the intense camera angles draw the viewer in. The main character Elizabeth Sparkle, played by Demi Moore, is a former movie star turned TV aerobics instructor. Even though her talent and athleticism have stayed intact, once she turns fifty, she is fired because she is considered too old for this role. It moves fast and grabs your attention, so I was hooked. 

She goes on to acquire a drug called “The Substance”, that will separate her into a younger version of herself, who she names Sue, played by Margaret Qualley. She switches consciousness between these two bodies on a weekly basis, having to maintain the stagnant body while she lives her life. This becomes an analogy for the aging of the mind, compared to the aging of the body. Many people struggle with coming to terms with their own mortality and aging, whether it is because of their physical looks, their mental state, or both. By separating these two, she has to figure out how to deal with being old and ignored half of the time, and young and loved the other half.

As the movie goes on, she begins to mentally separate the two bodies as well. Sue continues to take time, youth, and beauty from Elizabeth so that she can stay younger longer. Every time that Sue takes from Elizabeth, Elizabeth wakes up physically older, and resents Sue. As normal people, we will do things that will hurt us in the long run in order for satisfaction in the present. Being mad at your past self may be valid, but is pointless as you have no choice but to deal with the consequences of your own actions and keep moving forward. Elizabeth and Sue have trouble dealing with this fact, and try to get back at each other when it is their turn to be awake. Elizabeth will trash the apartment, and be destructive, and Sue will get her revenge by taking more time and youth from Elizabeth. They also call the Substance help line, blaming each other for their actions, but are reminded that they are one person, and are liable for their separate-but-not actions.

This is about where I started to lose interest. I was really into the movie, and the body horror was done very well. This is definitely not a movie for the squeamish. The special effects and make-up department better have gotten the pay that they deserved, because it was truly amazing how they created the effects and looks in this movie. 

I think that the movie could have satisfyingly ended here, but it seemed to drag on. If I was in charge, in my very unprofessional and unqualified opinion, it could have ended with Elizabeth or Sue killing the other body, or themselves, and having to deal with the fact that they will die without the other. 

However, it kept going. After about another 45 minutes of them going back and forth, Sue finally takes too much from Elizabeth. Sue has to host a New Year’s Eve TV program that will make or break her career. However, if she doesn’t take more life from Elizabeth she will die and won’t make it through the program. Her body starts to fall apart and she is panicking. She decides to use the rest of the Substance that originally separated Elizabeth’s body into Sue, in hopes of making another, better version of herself. However, the Substance was very clear that this was a one use only product. 

The body that emerges from Sue is a monster that is a deformed combined version of Elizabeth, Sue, and a bunch of tumors holding all the parts together in the wrong places. While the special effects were very impressive, this part seemed to be unnecessary. It felt like the creators were grasping at physically horrifying imagery instead of writing a better ending. This combined creature ends up dying after being exposed to the world, but wasn’t the dramatic ending I was hoping for.

When it comes to horror movie endings, sometimes the unsatisfying is what makes the movie good. I feel like the whole time, we knew that she was going to take it too far and end up dying in some dramatic way, but the creators could have really surprised the audience and taken it in a completely different direction. 

Three horror movies that have good endings in my opinion are Creep (2014), Saw (2004), and Midsommar (2019), so consider watching those if you were also disappointed by the ending of this movie.

Movies nowadays also seem to feel the need to be 2 and a half to three hours long. I think that we should bring back 90-minute movies that people feel that they can reasonably watch in an afternoon without having to commit a substantial chunk of their life to watching and having some deep opinion about. At the end of the day, Hollywood movies are about entertaining people and making money. The artistry gets swept under the rug if it means better ratings, so take that into consideration when wondering why certain choices were made during the film-making process.

This is not a criticism of the cast or crew of the movie, as the acting, set, and other effects were incredible. As an avid horror movie watcher, I would have liked to see this taken in another direction, but still enjoyed watching this and wouldn’t say no to a rewatch. 

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