*SPOILERS*
It’s no mystery that this movie was influenced by David Cronenberg. I’ll even go so far as to say the influence is slightly deeper than just surface-level visuals. Most filmmakers that claim to be influenced by Cronenberg have this naive understanding of his movies that’s kind of embarrassing. Much like how a shot of a dark road at night or something “weird” doesn’t automatically equate “Lynchian” or a tense shot of a doorknob slowly turning doesn’t equate “Hitchcockian”, something “gross” or gory doesn’t automatically mean it’s Cronenberg-ian.
The Substance straddles the line. On one hand you cant deny the filmmaker’s own words and inspirations:
One of the filmmakers that really impacted me as a teen was David Cronenberg, all those relationships to the flesh and to transforming the body and how that changes how you can be seen, Coralie Fargeat, Film School Rejects
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| Videodrome / The Substance |
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Videodrome / The Substance
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a movie like THE FLY is a perfect example of this. And movies like eXistenZ, which had a very weird way of dealing with the body, with sexuality and with violence - Coralie Fargeat, Film School Rejects
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The Fly / The Substance
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The Fly / The Substance
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| eXistenZ / The Substance |
Cronenberg who opened the door for me to do weirder stuff - Coralie Fargeat, James Whale Blake
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Naked Lunch / The Substance
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Scanners / The Substance
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Shivers / The Substance
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Rabid / The Substance
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Naked Lunch / The Substance
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Shivers / The Substance
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Crash / The Substance
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And not to contradict what I said earlier but there
is an understandable surface-level amount of David Lynch in
The Substance as well. I think it’s wrong to label Joseph Merrick as a “monster” (that would mean you completely missed the point of
Elephant Man) but the visual similarities are there…
The Elephant Man was a very strong representation of a monstrous figure, especially because the film was based on someone who existed – Coarlie Fargeat, rogerebert.com
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Elephant Man / The Substance
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Eraserhead / The Substance
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Kubrick
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The Shining / The Substance
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Carpenter
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The Thing / The Substance
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But at the same time – the comparison is also kind of lazy. David Cronenberg didn’t invent “body horror”. He might be the greatest at conveying it on the big screen but he certainly doesn’t own it. If anything, The Substance should fit in more with films like Freaked, Parents, Society, Tetsuo The Ironman, The Dark Backward, etc. Horror comedies don’t take themselves seriously…
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Freaked / The Substance
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The Dark Backward / The Substance
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Tetsuo The Ironman / The Substance
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I can’t stress how much this film really reminded me of Brian Yuzna’s work (
Society)…
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Society / The Substance
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I’d also throw Stuart Gordon’s work in there also.
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From Beyond / The Substance
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I guess that’s my only other grip with this movie.
The Substance should be a dark horror comedy that doesn’t take itself seriously but unfortunately it does. You don’t need me to tell you what it’s about. Anyone that’s seen the trailer or just read a synopsis knows this is a movie about the ugly side of aging in Hollywood mixed with Jekyll & Hyde. The commentary is so on the nose that it should’ve been a completely silly goofball comedy. The director's vision of America is also very intentionally cartoon-ish. Why not just stay in that pocket for the whole movie? Unfortunately I’m pretty sure the director thinks she’s expressing some new revolutionary message when she isn’t. The packaging and presentation might be new-
ish, but the basic tale is as old as time. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the movie stars two veteran A-list actors (Demi Moore & Denis Quaid) with quite a bit of real life plastic surgery. This isn’t a judgement towards either of them. You do what you have to do to keep working. It’s just the surgery they’ve had done is very obvious to someone like myself that grew up watching them over the years. Demi Moore is certainly the star of the film and it’s told from a women’s perspective but it would be foolish to not mention Denis Quaid and his obvious plastic surgery.
So much of Demi Moore’s career has revolved around her looks and her age. I really couldn’t imagine anyone else playing the lead in this movie. That’s actually one of the most interesting things about The Substance - before the movie goes off the deep end, the close up shots of all the aging plastic surgery faces comes off just as visceral as the intense body horror elements in the second half.
No matter what criticisms I may have about this film, Coarlie Fargeat still swung for the fences and caught a nice piece of the ball. I have the upmost respect for that. No matter how important this movie thinks it is, it's definitely different from anything else out right now.
