The substance
- Thread starter Simmz
- Start date
Caporegime
I was planning to watch this but does this need to be seen on the big screen?
If Squeamish then it's definitely one for the home, otherwise it will definitely enhance the experience, especially one scene with the sound. I went with my Dad and he said it took him back to seeing the fly at the cinema for the first time a few weeks before I was born, heh.
Went to see this last night and we both enjoyed it. It gave me the vibes of Cronenbergs surreal horror mixed with Aranofski's visual style and acerbic social commentary mixed with early Peter Jackson OTT splatter! (Think Braindead)
Soldato
God I love that film, the "baby making its way through a persons head" scene is the first time I was nearly sick watching a film. I saw it around a mates house when I was young teen IIRC after his dad had left it out alongside a few other "video nasties" as the genre was called back then
Don
The lift scene at the end “borrows” heavily from The Fly, and it’s that sort of body shock that makes me boak, the bit with the nail in particular.
Also leans heavily on 2001 of all films with the body switching and then obviously the music choice at the very end. The soundtrack in general I thought was fantastic.
I thought it was a fantastic film overall, both leads are great, it looks amazing particularly the early scenes with Sue (Diet Coke scene lol), giving this idea of youthful beauty perfection.
8/10 for most of the movie.
1/10 for final 20mins.
They could have ended this on the final bathroom scene and it would have been a very disturbing, classic movie, showing the (graphic!) lengths people will go to keep their youth. However, the movie makers chose to keep going and it got more ridiculous and tedious.
Demi Moore was fantastic, fair play to her as an actress.
1/10 for final 20mins.
They could have ended this on the final bathroom scene and it would have been a very disturbing, classic movie, showing the (graphic!) lengths people will go to keep their youth. However, the movie makers chose to keep going and it got more ridiculous and tedious.
If they had stopped when the 'mutant' appeared from Sue, it would have been perfect - very Cronenberg-esque. But both the wifey and i had eye rolling and couldn't wait for it end. The dream scene and The Thing face crawler was a step too far
Demi Moore was fantastic, fair play to her as an actress.
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Soldato
Just wow at this film, didn't think it would go all in on the theme but couldn't stop watching it, Demi & Margaret both played their roles really well in this.
Soldato
Pretty good film I thought, but the last act let it down.
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Heard good things about it, will defo give it a go
I'm sure there is a word for this but I don't think there ever really was a younger version. I kinda got the impression that the old version was having to do things like botox or boob jobs etc to look younger or that it was imply that she was to stay youthful and appreciated in Hollywood. The young girl to me was just a representation and never existed.
It then basically got the point that she had, had so much work done that she seem monstrous and almost Cronenberg'd, this was the toil it was taking on her each time she did.
The people kept cheering at the end even though there was a monster on stage, because they didn't see it. It's how she saw herself mostly and the fact that to much plastic surgery always goes to far.
Did I think to much into this and it should have been more of a face value horror?
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That's an interesting take. But Elisabeth was 'let go' by the network, we see them casting, hiring and producing a Sue - or was all this part of Elisabeth's mind too?
Thinking about if after, what irks me was that, what was the point of Demi becoming a younger self? We were told that they were the same person, but there was no mind share. For me, the younger self should have been Demi's mind in the younger body too. But in this, it was literally 2 separate people. If Demi couldn't enjoy the young version, what was the point?
Thinking about if after, what irks me was that, what was the point of Demi becoming a younger self? We were told that they were the same person, but there was no mind share. For me, the younger self should have been Demi's mind in the younger body too. But in this, it was literally 2 separate people. If Demi couldn't enjoy the young version, what was the point?
Don
I think the idea of the young and old being the same person is more to do with the concept that you, in your youth, will do things that are detrimental to your older self - even going as far as recogising that you would sacrifice your older self for your 15 minutes of fame (just look at Liam Payne for example).
yeah that's the impression I got. When you get to old they cast you aside, so you seek miracle cures. Which is where the substance first appeared. She got treatments of any type, represented by the substance, which made her into a new person and then the industry was interested again, but each time she did it exacted a heavy toll on her mentally and physically.
I went down the same rabbit hole last night and it led me to this Reddit thread
I see adverts all the time that can help you with that.
Soldato
Agree with most of what has been said. Enjoyed it but wish they had ended it in the bathroom rather than the final 15ish minutes which just went over the top. Subtle and suggestive isn't bad. Some films rely on it too much but this didn't but then they went further which was just unnecessary. Still for 'horror' 8/10.
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Soldato
It was good until the ending which then turned into a comedy.