An aging movie star makes a Faustian pact to regain her youth and beauty in Corelie Fargeat’s smart, funny, and sensationally entertaining body horror that, amid the gleefully grotesque set-pieces, offers genuine insight into the lengths women are forced to go in the entertainment industry to remain relevant or even employable. Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) may once have been an award-winning actress, but as she turns 50, she must settle for hosting a cheap TV workout show for sleazy producer Harvey (Dennis Quaid), who ousts her for a younger replacement. Despondent, she learns of The Substance, a treatment which promises to gift her a younger version of herself, all she has to do is follow a specific set of instructions and she and her younger incarnation, played by Margaret Qualley, will live in harmony. Needless to say, complications ensue.

This film contains flashing lights that may affect those with photosensitive epilepsy.

Notes by David O’Mahony