The Substance and It's Body Horror Has Set a New Bar For the Future of Cinema and Film Making

The Substance was released in September 2024 by Mubi, directed by French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat, starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid. The film won Best Screenplay at the Cannes festival, and grossed about $80 million dollars on a $18 million dollar production. This film shockingly is Fargeat’s second major feature film, after she released her rape revenge film in 2017 under the title “Revenge” starring Matilda Lutz. I also love this film and think it pairs brilliantly with The Substance, exploring women’s issues, femininity, violence, and the world women have to navigate. Fargeat is a tour de force to watch out for. 

The Substance had a massive global effect with Halloween 2024 being dominated by Substance cosplays and costumes, tattoos, music remixes, drag queen shows, and more. The film additionally was nominated for five Oscars, ultimately winning one for best makeup in hair in March of this year. How did this film spring out of nowhere and have such an impact, even if it was culturally polarizing at times? Let’s take a look.

The first topic I want to cover is Fargeat’s AMAZING use of prosthetics. In a world of CGI, AI, and filming on blue and green screens, almost every facet of this production was done practically, like 80s horror. Fargeat and her team thought outside of the box in ways that were so practical and fascinating, yet so effective on screen. On the MUBI special that explores the behind the scenes of the making of the film, the featurete beautifully captures Fargeat and her team a thousand percent involved and invested in every shot, all the way down to creating multiple body doubles for the birth of Sue, filming toy motorcycles, and spraying gallons and gallons of fake blood for the film’s gory finale! This sort of film making is not only innovative and creative, but it hearkens back to the origins of genre and horror films that shocked the hell out of audiences decades ago, like Cronenberg’s The Fly, and Carpenter’s The Thing (both of whom are influences of Fargeat). Additionally, it shows great dedication to the filmmaking craft, and the art of story telling in a way that is fresh and innovative, even if we’ve think we’ve seen it all on screen in this modern era. The Oscars the team received for makeup and hair was SO deserved-they put the work in and it truly shows! 

So what else makes this film stand out and raise the bar for the future of cinema and filmmaking? This story, it’s idea and it’s execution and how FRESH And original it is. We are living in a world of reboots, remakes, live action versions, and sequels that are dry, unnecessary, and lifeless if I’m being honest. While Fargeat’s concept is fresh, bizarre, disgusting, heartbreaking, and timely, it simultaneously honors filmmakers and directors of the past-you can see the influence easily, whether it’s the light sequence in Elizabeth’s eyeball that mirrors 2001’s Space Odyssey, Sue falling apart in a similar sequence to Seth in Cronenberg’s The Fly, the orange hallway that semi mimics Kubrick’s The Shining, the list goes on and on. But Fargeat doesn’t take these elements and just copy paste them. They are woven seamlessly in her film in ways that work beautifully with these fresh concepts, so it honors the greats, but does not imitate them. It is clear there is no ego with Fargeat-she heavily respects those who came before her, while simultaneously adding her own flair and making her own mark in cinema with her own signature choices ( like both Sue and Jen from Revenge wearing similar star earrings!) 

Finally, The Substance will stand the time AND raise the bar for cinema because the film is bold, controversial, and leaves a lasting impact. This concept is so bizarre, disgusting, heartbreaking, and timely- the cinematography, editing and soundscape is immersive and terrifying. The films last act is so out of the box and horrifying, every time I saw this film in theatre, most people didn’t budge out of their seats for the credits out of pure shock. THIS is what cinema is about. THIS Is what people want to see in the theatre. When I saw this film, I’ll put some footage here from my instagram story, I did not drive my car for ten minutes after I left the theatre because I was so overwhelmed and shocked and moved by the story. And of course, like all film/genres, this isn’t for everyone. The Substance received plenty of criticism and hate as much as it did praise. But ideas like this that are bold, fresh, innovative, and have something to say, is so, so rare to see these days, that I think over time the Substance will become a cult classic and a film to remember for these reasons. And hey, even the folks who abhorred it or found it offensive? I get it-but shock and fresh and original ideas go both ways-even if it receives negative attention, that shows it had IMPACT, and that’s what matters. 

I am immensely excited to see what Fargeat does next. Another time I’ll do a think piece on her rape revenge film ,“Revenge”, and why I think it’s the best in it’s genre.