Possible Spoilers in my Review. Please disregard my review if you are not wishing to have the movie spoiled for you.
‘The Substance’ directed by Coralie Fargeat is about Elisabeth Sparkle, renowned for an aerobics show, who faces a devastating blow on her 50th birthday. Amid her distress, a laboratory offers her a substance which promises to transform her into an enhanced version of herself.
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My Review: I was so excited for this movie, to the point that Denver and I spent 2 hours at the mall just to see it. However, I did not love it as much as I thought I was going to and wish we didn’t spend the money or time to watch it.
Act I and Act II, I enjoyed and found that the message of the movie was being portrayed well. I thought The Substance was really shining a light on the recent uptick of new fads and recent uptick in body modifications (plastic surgery and adjacent). It was interesting to see how the message was being delivered to the audience with the use of body horror and an non-approved FDA substance.
I don’t think that the script was the strongest, which is fine, because it was made up for by the gore and overall design of the movie. I was able to overall forgive the poor writing.
I believe the movie would’ve had a stronger ending, and possibly stronger message if it were to have ended at Act II with both Elisabeth and Sue dying rather than Sue taking the Activation substance again. Although, I can understand how Act III can play a role in this story as many people have had so many surgeries and fillers that they ultimately look disfigured (I mean… have you seen the show Botched?)
When the movie came out, my main interest was the body horror and discussion around female beauty standards. The body horror was spectacular, and I think the discussion between aging, female beauty standards, the sexualization of women, and the discussion about being obsessed with the concept of fame was fantastic. However, it fell flat whenever we entered the third act with the Elisabeth/Sue monster.
All in all, it did not live up to my expectations, but I still overall enjoyed it. I just did not enjoy it near as much as I wanted to.
Would I Recommend This Movie?
If someone is wanting to watch it, I say watch it, but I probably wouldn’t recommend it to someone unless they are wanting to see insane body horror!
Living With B 
What are your thoughts?