Scary movie fans have been living well in 2024. There have been some duds for sure, but in just the summer alone, we have been gifted with incredible treats like Osgood Perkins' five star-worthy Longlegs, Tilman Singer's Cuckoo and Fede Álvarez's Alien: Romulus (in theaters this Friday). That being said, I can tell you right now that the best has yet to come, as audiences are just a little over a month away from the release of the unforgettable, breathtaking, and brilliantly fucked up cinematic experience that is The Substance.
At present, the movie-going public is not yet prepared for the wild ride that this film is – but it can be said that the brand new trailer above offers a delicious taste.
Written and directed by Coralie Fargeat (who previously made critically acclaimed 2017 film Revenge), The Substance stars Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle, the host of a TV aerobics show who gets fired by her network's disgusting, chauvinist CEO Harvey (Dennis Quaid) on her 50th birthday. Her confidence and ego shattered, she finds herself lured by the exciting promises of a mysterious new medical treatment. With the injection of a special new serum, a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of Elisabeth (literally) emerges and is able to live a separate life with the name Sue (Margaret Qualley). They're told that they have to trade off weeks living their respective lives, understanding that they are one, but they fail to respect the rules, and it causes... problems.
The Substance premiered earlier this year in competition at the Cannes Film Festival (it took home the Best Screenplay award), and Demi Moore earned great acclaim for her bold and revealing performance. Following the creepy teaser that arrived online earlier this summer, this new trailer provides a more substantive (no pun intended) look at the upcoming horror movie, but I can promise you that it only barely scratches the surface of the insanity that this work delivers.
There are some brief glimpses at the intense body horror that Coralie Fargeat delivered (look for plenty of blood splatter, splitting eyeballs and spine stitches), but even doing a frame-by-frame analysis of this preview will still leave you with plenty to witness and be wowed by when the film arrives. It's disgusting, nightmarish and obscene, but also incredibly smart and hilarious.
So when can you actually see The Substance? Set to be distributed by Mubi (which acquired it just before its Cannes premiere), the film is scheduled to arrive in theaters on September 20. It's a title you should mark on your calendar now, as there's a very good chance you're hopefully going to be hearing a lot more about it in the months ahead as award season percolates and critics and film groups start reflecting on the best movies of 2024.
