{"id":1251,"date":"2024-11-03T10:21:27","date_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:21:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/?p=1251"},"modified":"2025-03-26T16:15:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T20:15:33","slug":"the-substance-hollywood-monster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/2024\/11\/03\/the-substance-hollywood-monster\/","title":{"rendered":"The Substance: Hollywood Monsters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Substance<\/em> provides nothing short of spectacle. Featuring the iconic Demi Moore alongside rising star Margaret Qualley, the cast also includes Dennis Quaid, who stepped into the role of Harvey after original actor Ray Liotta\u2019s passing in 2022. The Substance, <\/em>now \u201ccertified fresh\u201d on Rotten Tomatoes, premiered to a standing ovation at its international debut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Substance<\/em> sets itself apart with its reliance on visuals over dialogue, a stroke that creates tension through a masterful blend of sound and imagery. The film’s cinematography stands out with its frequent use of unconventional camera angles and close ups. The ability to see individual pores (or lack thereof) on a character’s face really reveals so much about their character and adds to the intensity of their emotions. The almost otherworldly color grading only enhances this effect.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In scenes with no dialogue, the background music reverberated through my own body to the degree that I couldn\u2019t help but be on the edge of my seat the entire time. I found director Coralie Fargeat\u2019s genius decision to have the actors interact with the camera without breaking the fourth wall unsettling but captivating, and the distorted visuals and sound made me share in the distress of the characters. The whole movie feels utterly different to what we typically see in theaters today. I am going to need behind the scenes footage of The Substance<\/em> as soon as possible to understand the astounding secrets behind its unique production. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real draw of The Substance<\/em>, for me, was its abundance of practical effects. I consider the movie a body horror flick \u2013 so I find the fact that the creative team was able to successfully pull off the feat of the climax\u2019s Monstro Elisasue (you\u2019ll know once you see the movie for yourself)  one of the most impressive accomplishments I\u2019ve seen in recent Hollywood. Knowing that it was all practical made so much sense to me after seeing the movie, because it just reminded me so much of older horror movies such as The Blob<\/em> and The Fly<\/em> in addition to many other retro horror movies from the 80\u2019s and 90\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I should note that the practical effects make it harder for me to watch without cringing. The overall aesthetic of the gore feels just intense enough for my brain to fail to distinguish how realistic it would look if that were to happen in our world. I went in blind to how absurd the body horror would become, and in retrospect I should have seen The Substance<\/em> on an empty stomach. Despite my own comfort levels being pushed beyond their limit (in a good way; it highlighted the ultimate point of the movie), It found it refreshing to see that kind of love and care put into a film. I know I\u2019m not the only one tired of the CGI phone-ins we get from a lot of movies today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something I noticed when researching the film after seeing it in theaters was that the spiral of Elisabeth Sparkle, set into five different stages by prosthetics expert Persin of the company Pop FX, appears increasingly \u201cworse\u201d as the film progresses. This corresponds with Sparkle\u2019s treatment by the world as she ages \u2013 so, in a way, each section of Elisabeth\u2019s deconstruction represents a decade of her life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The topic of the film itself made me want to review it in the first place, as it comments on how society looks down upon women after they reach old age. The idea stems from director Fargeat\u2019s own life crisis as she reached the age of 40, and her understanding that many other women experience the self loathing that aging brings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I thought that having Elsabeth and Sue be connected without sharing a consciousness is a great choice, as it physically portrays how older women tend to feel insecure about themselves above all else. I find it admirable that Fargeat does not judge older women for their self loathing, nor does she force women to feel better about themselves. She simply acknowledges how the male gaze uses women up until they age out of what is considered attractive, leaving nothing left. \u201cYou Can\u2019t Escape From Yourself,\u201d one of the movie\u2019s many razor-sharp quotes, embodies the whole point of The Substance<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Substance<\/em> does its very best to earn its R rating with its frequent excursions into nudity, strong language, sexual content, and  gore. I could say so much about this movie. I think it is genius, nostalgic, and completely absurd. I absolutely love the message, and I think that the cast and crew do a great job \u2013 but unless I had a point to make to someone else about beauty standards, I doubt I would watch it again, purely because the body horror was too much for me. The Substance<\/em> was one of the best horror films I\u2019ve seen coming from 2024, and I recommend any horror fan to give it a shot. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Substance provides nothing short of spectacle. Featuring the iconic Demi Moore alongside rising star Margaret Qualley, the cast also includes Dennis Quaid, who stepped into the role of Harvey after original actor Ray Liotta\u2019s passing in 2022. The Substance, now \u201ccertified fresh\u201d on Rotten Tomatoes, premiered to a standing ovation at its international debut. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":1255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[27,19],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1251"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1779,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251\/revisions\/1779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/arouseosu.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}