The Substance (18)

★★★★ Demi Moore plays a fading Hollywood star whose career is set to be axed by misogynists when she’s offered a secret new medical procedure in this grisly body horror caper. ~ The Guardian.

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Deliriously entertaining and ruthlessly satirical, Coralie Fargeat’s Cannes sensation turns toxic beauty culture inside out with a be-careful-what-you-wish-for fable for the ages. Explosive, provocative and twisted, The Substance marks the arrival of a thrillingly visionary filmmaker.

Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself?

You. Only better in every way.

You’ve got to try this product: The Substance.

It changed my life.

Demi Moore gives a career-best performance as Elisabeth Sparkle, a former A-lister past her prime and suddenly fired from her fitness TV show by repellent studio head Harvey.

Elisabeth is soon drawn to the opportunity presented by a mysterious new drug: The Substance. All it takes is one injection and she is reborn – temporarily – as the gorgeous, twentysomething Sue.

The only rule? Time needs to be split: exactly one week in one body, then one week in the other. No exceptions. A perfect balance. What could go wrong?

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★★★★★ Demi Moore goes full Cronenberg in 2024's best – and goriest – film so far.
This body horror instant classic is a pulsing, pumping blitzkrieg of pure entertainment. ~ Evening Standard.

★★★★★ In Coralie Fargeat’s riveting film, Moore’s has-been actress clones herself in an attempt to stay relevant – with sinister results. ~ The Telegraph.

★★★★★ This magnificent shocker heralds the squelchy, sick-making birth of a new horror maestro. ~ Time Out.

★★★★★ Fargeat’s wild, wigged-out, satirical body-horror movie takes a flamethrower to the misogynistic beauty standards of the entertainment industry and has plenty of fun doing it. ~ The Scotsman.

★★★★★  A spectacularly disgusting body horror, this hugely entertaining spasm is a two-finger rebuke to the beauty industry which favours a full-frontal attack on the targets of its incensed satire. ~ Irish Times.

★★★★★ A sickening satire of society’s obsession with youth and beauty, it is a bombastic body horror with plenty to say. ~ NME.

★★★★✭ ~ RTE.

★★★★ ~ The Observer.

★★★★ ~ Radio Times.

★★★★ ~ Total Film.

★★★★ ~ Empire.

★★★★ ~ The i.

★★★★ ~ BBC.