Synopsis: Elisabeth, an actress who has the audacity to age, buys an experimental, well, substance, that clones a younger version of herself. The two have to trade places in stasis mode once a week, and things go downhill once they have difficulty switching.

What is the appeal to Elisabeth, exactly? I get that she’s trying to live vicariously through her clone, but they’re not sharing a consciousness, they just sort of exist adjacent to each other. *Later note: after a lengthy discussion about the film with my sister Leslie, we decided that she wasn’t given enough information about what exactly would happen with the Substance; she’s offered it purposely during an emotionally vulnerable time, and she’s not thinking clearly at all when she signed up for it.

Soooooo beautiful. And disgusting! But beautiful.



Damn, this tirade about objectifying women and only valuing them for their looks hits hard to a female who has never measured up to traditional standards of beauty. Yos, spray that firehose of fake blood! Take that, Hollywood!

The wife turned this on. We really enjoyed it, even if things got weird toward the end. I didn’t mind the runtime at all. In fact I wished it was longer. I appreciate how mysterious they kept the substance and the company that produces it, instead of trying to answer all those questions. I heard young people on TikTok were identifying with Sue as the hero. Hard to believe anybody could read the movie that way. As a dad in his 30s, I found Demi Moore, well, more “appealing” than her counterpart anyway.
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Right? You can’t take your eyes off her! Ugh another reason to stay off Tik Tok. I liked the weird end, it was funny but angry too, in a way that was satisfying.
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I want to see this but haven’t wanted to pay for it. I like Margaret Qualley but I mainly just know her from the leftovers I think. Body horror isn’t usually my thing but I bet I’ll live.
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I got it from the library. I liked Qualley in Drive Away Dolls. You probably will live, but warning, it is almost two and a half hours long, so you might wish you didn’t if body horror isn’t your thing lol.
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I have the day off today so I watched this and thought it was pretty good and not overly gross-y. I didn’t mind the length but the last 20 minutes or so seemed kind of, um, weird. Still better than a lot of the shit I watch all the time.
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Ha ha pretty weird for sure. My sister posited that maybe they could have cut that whole Sue cloning herself part. I could go either way; I kinda like how bonkers it got.
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This one is definitely on my list to see at some point. That it reportedly gets “weird” at the end only makes me want to see it more.
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