The Substance

The Substance had the potential to be a gripping commentary on beauty and the grotesque, but it relies too much on excessive gore to deliver its message. The film's visual effects are impressive, but the horror becomes repetitive and gratuitous, detracting from the deeper themes it initially sets up. Rather than building tension, the shock value feels forced and overdone, leaving the story lacking in impact.

While there are moments of brilliance in its direction and performance, particularly from Demi Moore, the film doesn't capitalize on its strong start. The unnecessary violence overshadows the nuanced points about vanity and societal expectations, making the film feel hollow. A 5 out of 10 reflects its strong visuals but missed narrative potential.

This is a desperately overrated film. It's an interesting watch, for sure, but as a whole it falls flat. While the director utilizes artistry for the story, ultimately the plot holes are undeniable, and worst of all, the ending is just ridiculous to the point where everything good that they were selling for the first hour about it devolves into a mess of a movie.

Have you ever heard of the term 'reaching'? That is what the people praising this are doing. They are reaching because in the first hour of the film, the movie showed promise, and they are ignoring everything that came after, which is plot holes galore.

Also, spiritually, it is a negative movie experience. The energy is negative and pointless by the end. There are no moral lessons here of which should have been if they stuck with the depth and substance of the first hour of a woman trying to regain her youth. Instead, it just devolves into a vapid gore fest in the third act that is just meant to stir up publicity and cause shock.

The first hour was pretty decent, but if this is what passes as a "good movie" or a "classic" these days as many reviews are trying to push, then we are in trouble. It has those very few elements at times of a masterpiece like many movies that try to push boundaries do, but ultimately it's a bad movie that doesn't even come close to a Wes Craven Scream film, and those aren't even masterpieces.

We need to cut down the hyperbole these days. Being different is not enough to be a masterpiece, and I feel bad for people who think this is anything great. They must have only seen twenty films in their lifetimes.

Was an enjoyable watch but the last 20-30 minutes got kinda silly and dumb, it lost its intelligence and subtlety too say the least and went to pure dumb gross out scenery, completely unnecessary especially when the messaging wasn't exactly subtle and was evident throughout the entire movie, from the very premise itself tbh, point is they could a ended on a much stronger note before the final change as it added nothing too what it was trying to say or show, not that it should turn anyone off from watching it, it's a good movie that will keep you interested from start too finish but should've been 20 min shorter.

This movie really stuck with me for a while and was thought provoking. Luckily at the grotesque bits I was looking away so I wasn't plagued by nightmares like the other person I watched it with. There are very graphic scenes, but I feel it added to the campiness and I didn't see the really gross ones. The message was clear cut and necessary in this day and age. My only real question that I never felt was addressed was how separate and connected their minds were, overall they both acted as entirely separate beings and I thought part of the point was that they were the same being but the disconnect between the characters mentally and their actions and how they affected each other was surprising.

The movie starts off strong, with a solid story that suggests a clear narrative. However, as the plot unfolds, it begins to lose focus. Midway through, the film becomes disjointed and chaotic. Initially, it seems like the two main characters are connected, perhaps sharing a mind, but then the story abruptly shifts, revealing them as separate individuals in conflict with each other. By the time you reach the end, the movie veers completely off course, diving into B-movie absurdity.

This had the potential to be a great film, but the third act desperately needed a rewrite. The overall execution feels as if Rob Zombie was brought in for rewrites and reshoots, lending it an uneven tone. Despite its flaws, Demi Moore delivers a strong performance, portraying her character with conviction. While the movie is okay, it ultimately falls short of its potential.