Popular reviews

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  Review by Sethsreviews ★★★★½ 12

  From the first 30 minutes, it's evident that this film has no interest in dealing with female self-perception and beauty norms with any subtlety; it's a provocation from start to finish that only grows in grotesqueness as the film progresses. Doesn't play it safe and throws you right into the deep end, propelled by absolutely revolting moments of Cronenberg-esque body horror and highly satirical punchlines that will either completely work for you or not. A sparkling tale on the exterior and a deranged one on the inside—a fantastic duality. loads of fun but never loses its focus, regardless of how new the themes explored are (which they aren't), it simply fucking worked so well for me. should mention that seeing…

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  Review by Karsten ★★★★½

  new year new me

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  Review by davidehrlich ★★★★½

  An immensely, unstoppably, ecstatically demented fairy tale about female self-hatred, Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance” will stop at nothing — and I mean nothing — to explode the ruthless beauty standards that society has inflicted upon women for thousands of years, a burden this camp-adjacent instant classic aspires to cast off with some of the most spectacularly disgusting body horror this side of “The Fly” or the final minutes of “Akira.”

  If the “Revenge” director’s immaculately crafted debut tried to dismantle male toxicity with a shotgun blast square to the balls, Fargeat’s Cannes-approved follow-up turns that same attention inwards, allowing her to take aim at both the pointlessness she’s been conditioned to feel as a forty-something woman, and also at the…

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  Review by vasili ★★★★½ 9

  very mindful very demi moore

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  Review by ˗ˏˋ suspirliam ˊˎ˗ ★★★★★

  the cinema going experience of a lifetime. utterly unforgettable stuff

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  Review by SilentDawn ★★★★½ 6

  85

  If you're locked into Coralie Fargeat's whole deal, then you'll know that she's just about the greatest exploitation filmmaker in recent memory, mainly because she fucking delivers the goods in a way that most "midnight madness" entries end up fumbling. Revenge was a sun-baked hunt across a history of cinematic objectification, with sleek surfaces and unwavering brutality to match its often thorny ideas.

  The Substance is just as easy to dismiss looking in. These amped-up performances are matched with a decidedly un-subtle framework, but this is similar to Revenge in that it complicates the tropes we know and allows them to transform. This is a movie about the frustration of beauty, society's unfair expectations towards women, the fear and…

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  Review by Sophie Holsinger ★★★ 3

  This is what ozempic is secretly doing to y'all

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  Review by Thomas Flight ★★★★½ 2

  Violently weaponizes its gaze against the audience. Coralie Fargeat's full-body-horror attack on Hollywood's beauty standards for women has us in its sights as well. Slick neo-expressionism and just a dash of camp (when the time comes), with a very committed performance from Demi Moore, some stomach churning visual effects, and an (extremely valid) point it's hell bent on ramming viscously through your eye-sockets.

  This is certainly one of those love-it-or-hate-it kind of deals, you'll be uncomfortable either way, but it's the kind of bold half-arthouse, half-horror-shlock absolute swing for the fences I'm more than happy to see in theaters in 2024.

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  Review by Sydney🚀 ★★★ 15

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  People are going to say The Substance is the grossest movie in recent memory (it is) and that it knows how on the nose it is (it does), but after seeing it I don’t really understand how these things build it into some body horror masterpiece or the best of the year. I see the appeal of the Kubrickian world Coralie Fargeat has injected into a shiny modern LA, and Demi Moore gives a really brave performance that carries a lot of commentary in itself. I was just extremely let down by not only how thinly conceived and repetitive it is (I seriously think the central concept doesn’t make any sense?) but mostly its handling of what it’s like to…

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  Review by Matt Neglia ★★★★½ 6

  HOLY HELL!!! Coralie Fargeat just dropped one of the greatest body-horror films of all time with THE SUBSTANCE at Cannes. A total onslaught of sound, fury & grotesque gore laying waste to our preoccupied obsessions with beauty & self image. Confronts the inevitably of aging in a manner that will make you nauseous while horror fans take sick pleasure in its overwhelming sound design & practical makeup effects. Demi Moore is sensational in one of her best roles in years while Margaret Qualley continues to prove why she’s one of most fearless actresses working today. The third act is one of the most over-the-top, disgusting, recent best examples of what the genre has to offer combining elements of The Elephant Man, Scanners & many more I won’t spoil into something unforgettable.

  My full review here

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  Review by ivy wolk ★★★★★ 6

  hagsploitation for the adrenochrome era. completely perfect, shocking, and fearless filmmaking. unrelenting. disgusting and totally gorgeous. just amazing. i laughed, i gasped, i stimmed…. bitch i was losing my cool. this movie is going to mean a lot to people like me until the end of fucking time. my favorite genre: women transforming into and away from each other… when u have a foil-off with a bitch who is twin 😂😂😭😭LOVED IT

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  Review by Amanda the Jedi ★★★★

  Margaret Qualley screaming completes me