Article written by Ava O’Connor. Header illustration also created by Ava O’Connor (@avawasastar on Instagram)
Warning: this article contains spoilers!
11:00pm, I sit in my bed curled up against my wall, eyes wide and mind racing a hundred miles an hour. There are tear stains on the pillow under my head, dripping off my jaw in slow, methodical drips. I breathe slow, but the feelings gripping my chest are anything but tranquil. It’s such a deeply troubling and fascinating thing to be so moved by something you can’t put into words, something you cannot understand in its entirety. Rarely do I come across works that elicit such a strong, visceral catharsis in me, but I can confidently say that “The Substance” was one of those pieces of art that pulled forth something deep that I didn’t even know was there.
As an avid lover of all things macabre, grotesque and downright disturbing, there are few pieces of media that genuinely make me feel sick to my stomach anymore. So, when I went to see “The Substance” in theaters, only armed with the knowledge that it was just another body horror movie, I was profoundly unprepared for what I was about to go through. The plot follows an old, fading Hollywood star named Elizabeth Sparkle that is given access to a drug that allows her to become a younger, more youthful version of herself, Sue. Sue is quickly able to overtake Elizabeth’s vacancy in show business, skyrocketing into fame and fortune. The substance itself requires the two to switch consciousness every 7 days in order to keep them both alive and healthy, but as they start to pull apart and think of themselves as entirely separate entities, Sue starts to push the limits and drain the life out of Elizabeth. The older of the two is left as a horrific hunchback covered in grotesque boils and hair, but Sue remains dedicated to staying in her body as long as possible. At the end, Sue is set to host Hollywood’s biggest New Year’s Eve party, but because of her blatant hubris, her body starts to slowly fall apart. In a moment of desperation, she injects herself with the Activator, only meant to be a one-time use product, resulting in the creation of “Monstro Elisasue,” a hulking amalgamation of both Elizabeth and Sue. This homunculus marches on stage wearing a paper mask of who Elizabeth once was, soon falling off to the audience’s horror. As this creature starts to fall apart, it drenches the audience in hot red blood in one of the most disturbing and beautiful horror scenes I have ever witnessed. It ends with the complete dissolution of Elisasue, leaving its face to rest atop Elizabeth Sparkle’s defaced Hollywood star, basking in the light of the fading moon. And in the morning, her blood is cleaned off the star, leaving the movie with a full circle ending that ties the bow on this mess of flesh, blood and viscera.
After leaving the theater, I could barely speak or think clearly. Hours later, I was still shaken, feeling as though something had been pulled from deep within me to the surface. With more perspective now, I feel as though I can speak on it more clearly. As a woman who, like many, struggles relentlessly against the ever changing tide of smaller and tighter molds to fill, this movie felt like a cathartic rage against this never ending cycle of unattainable beauty. The body horror serves a deeper purpose below just being grotesque for the sake of being grotesque. It is a knife through the face, describing how Hollywood and its disgusting executives expect women to constantly face horrifying transformations to “keep their appearances up.” I have never seen a movie come this close to conveying the rage, the hatred, the immense fury so many women have over constantly having to perform for the masses in such a way, to change themselves so much they end up sacrificing everything they had unto the machine. I almost lost myself in this cycle. I’m sure many of you feel the same. The executive in this movie, played by the incredible Dennis Quaid, feels like a personification of the blind, evil greed that exists amongst society’s trendsetters, chewing up and spitting out women like dogs getting bored with their chew toys. Demi Moore gives an incredible heart wrenching performance as she undertakes this journey to find herself again amongst the puddle of flesh and blood she has torn apart, all in the name of appeasing a shallow desire placed within her by soulless individuals in pursuit of nothing more than a pretty body and a submissive mind. On the flip side, Margaret Qualley exemplifies the maddening cycle of constantly searching for something greater outside the self, fueled by the surface level love and support from those uninterested in anything beneath the skin, utterly unwilling to be satisfied. There is so much in this movie that wonderfully treads the thin line between beauty and hideousness.
I’m of the understanding that the ending of this movie is one of the most controversial parts. However, I feel like it was a perfect way to release all of the tension building up throughout the entire thing. It’s over the top. It’s absolutely ridiculous. It’s insane. But in a way, it’s what so many of us feel like after being subjected to the likes of the shallow culture we grew up in. In that moment, watching that ending on the screen, I saw the faces of everyone who judged me for being the big kid in school, and I saw my own blotchy red face in the mirror, gripping so hard onto my sides so that they might rip off of my body. I saw every iteration of myself, wishing to be something other than me.
Body horror is one of those genres that turn people off because of its tendency to be so over the top and gross for the sake of being gross. However, “The Substance” leverages these incredibly executed scenes of violence and gore to demonstrate the truly horrifying reality of not fitting into the ever changing standard of what it looks like to be a real woman. It reminded me of my own desire to rip out of myself, to shed the layers of me that I was taught to hate, and become something entirely empty, but beautiful. It had an incredibly profound impact on me, and it is my deepest hope that any individual looking for an intense release of this multi-generational rage will go see it.
And remember…take care of yourself.
