The year's biggest horror hit is also turning out to be more than quite a few viewers can handle. If you go to see "The Substance," make sure you have a strong stomach.
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00:00The year's biggest horror hit is also turning out to be more than quite a few viewers can
00:04handle.
00:05If you go to see The Substance, make sure you have a strong stomach.
00:09Viewers who are squeamish around needles, fleshy deterioration, and infected wounds
00:13might want to steer clear of director Coralie Fargeat's horror masterpiece.
00:17The film's final 20 minutes provide a glorious, gloppy phantasmagoria of monsters and blood
00:23featuring gnarly body mutations.
00:25Of course, the film isn't just glop for its own sake.
00:28It's actually a wry melodrama about impossible beauty standards as they are unfairly applied
00:32to women in Hollywood.
00:33Demi Moore plays an Academy Award-winning actress-turned-fitness guru Elizabeth, who
00:38is about to be fired from her daily workout show merely because she's turned 50 and the
00:42studio wants someone half her age.
00:45People always ask for something new.
00:48It's inevitable.
00:49Elizabeth learns about a mysterious de-aging drug nicknamed The Substance, which she picks
00:54up from a secret hidden locker deep in Los Angeles.
00:57When she injects herself, she falls on the ground and her back splits open like a carapace.
01:02Out hatches Margaret Qualley, Elizabeth's youthful duplicate.
01:05Calling herself Sue, the new Elizabeth gets her old workout job back.
01:09She adores her lovely, vibrant body, as does the rest of the world.
01:13Thank you so much, everybody.
01:16I'll see you next week.
01:17There are rules, however.
01:19Elizabeth has to switch back and forth between her two bodies every seven days without exception.
01:23Also, in her younger form, she has to milk spinal fluid from her unconscious older body
01:28and inject herself daily, also without exception.
01:31Naturally, Sue breaks both of these rules with the grossest possible consequences.
01:36Horror fans will likely be on the same wavelength as The Substance, although more unassuming
01:40audiences have been blindsided.
01:42Some viewers have registered their disgust on social media.
01:45Irish News Talk radio host Simon Tierney noted that much of the audience fled the theater
01:50at his showing when the really horrid thing started to happen, adding,
01:53"'One of the most violent films I've ever seen.
01:56The last hour is pretty much unwatchable.
01:58The first hour is brilliant."
01:59Another ex-user was unguarded in his pray, saying,
02:02"'I've seen thousands of films and it's very hard to shock me.
02:05But this gloriously demented movie was cray-cray on 11.
02:09The Substance is not for the faint of heart.
02:11During my viewing, several people walked out mid-film, but it's an instant cult classic.
02:16You've been warned.'"
02:17"'There's been a slight misuse of The Substance.'"
02:21The reaction has been much the same on Reddit, where one user wrote,
02:24"'I am nowhere near squeamish when it comes to gore nowadays, but the scene where Demi
02:28Moore has to practically break her knee to walk is one of the most disgusting things
02:32I've seen in a long time.'"
02:33Another Reddit user wrote that they had a bit of a delayed reaction, saying,
02:37"'I only started feeling nauseous after I exited the theater.
02:40It's like there was so much to process throughout the movie that my mind had to play catch-up.'"
02:45As far as SlashFilm has been able to determine, no one has actually thrown up inside any of
02:49the theaters playing The Substance, but some apparently did get sick after the fact.
02:54One ex-user said they went to see The Substance with a date, but she refused to let her date
02:58drive her home because they didn't yet know each other well enough to puke in each other's
03:01presence.
03:02She wrote,
03:03"'He literally just walked home in the rain to vomit with dignity.
03:06Five-star movie.
03:07The Substance is a striking and confrontational film that aims to make audiences queasy and,
03:12from the sound of it, is succeeding.
03:14Such extreme films usually face rumors of people passing out from fright or throwing
03:18up in disgust, but such reports are usually rumors or hearsay.
03:22The only way to make sure they are real is to go to the theater yourself and test your
03:26mettle.
03:27If you can stand the body horror and gore, then observe the others in the theater around
03:30you.
03:31Be sure to share any reports if you witness any actual upchucking."