
If you know me at all in any way, you will know im not a horror girl. I’ve only got into it recently & i very quickly realised im a psychological thriller horror girl & the one part of it i cant stand at all, is body horror. Therefore when The Substance originally came out, i avoided it the second i found out it was this type of horror. I was not going to sit there for over 2 hours watching something i knew i wouldnt enjoy. It helped that to start with i was on holiday for the first week & a bit & not in the country. But when i got back there was a bit of buzz around it. It was only showing at 8pm at my cineworld. I didnt want ot pay for something i wasnt going to like, so i didnt go & see it as i didnt want he nightmares having to go to work after seeing it. Then it started getting nominated & winning awards. So ive sat here patiently waiting for Cineworld to do their awards season films…
So here i am at 7:30pm on a saturday night at my cineworld, ready to watch it. Im glad its a saturday means i can get home & stay up late to calm down before bed, cos i know its going to be intense. Also so weird that yesterday screen 7 was where i was for the fun with Bridget & now im here for Horror with Demi. It almost sold out too. Im very impressed.
Trailers, Danny Dyers film, Death of a unicorn & then there was a pure horror movie, i cant remember what it was but i didnt enjoy it.
& then the film started… Im not watching that ever again.
Act 3 was far too much for me. It was just wrong on so many levels & there were people during act 3 who walked out of the cinema who it was too much for them for sure. I get their point, cos there were some bits i just didnt want to look at or watch. It was uncomfortable.
Demi & Margaret were amazing. I get why Demi got so much love & recognition at award season, but for Margaret to not get a supporting nod baffles me. She was better then a lot of the ladies up for supporting actress. I feel for her. But both gave stunning performances.
So do hollywood know that this play is about them? Talking about the aging out of showbiz & how some people just fade away & arent cared for after a certain age & are just kicked aside, especially women? & then they were sitting there awarding them for it? Did they not see that or did they see that & go ohh this is so hollywood lets praise it. Im not sure they got the point. Especially with the whole walk of fame bit I loved that metaphor.
The shrimp eating ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! fish are friends not food.
How did she have the room & capability to build that secret room, seriously? Madness.
This film shows the real dangers of fame & addiction & the want for glory & what it can do to you. We all wish for out 15mins of fame as Andy famously said, but at what cost? At this cost.
This film really is blunt at points & properly goes for the audience & the viewer as well as the industry. It wasnt afraid to get gross when i t had too, yes act 3 went to far, but much like the voice on the end of the phone, it was very to the point. You felt guilty looking in at what was going on.
I also liked how it showed someone elses’ use of the substance too, i liked that. We didnt see their whole story but the snippets were very clever & good & you werent sure how it was going to end for them.
The score at points was very haunting & chilling, it added to keep you on edge for sure.
The make up & effects were good. Even though it wasnt stuff i like to watch, i can still appreciate the art of it all
It also shows how vulnerable & also shallow we can all be at points which is a brilliant way to show the failures of humanity & how we can be strong & not weak at points.
Im glad i have seen this but i will not be watching it again. The body horror was a bit to much for me along with the gore, but i can see why this is gettign praised. Hopefully thisisnta one off for the academy & horror being rewarded. Lets hope it continues. Yea this wasnt my kind of film at all, but i got through it.