Beautiful, bold, and provocative. Those are the best words to describe The Substance with Demi Moore delivering a career-defining performance in a shocking body horror flick that explores themes regarding aging, beauty standards, and the female experience. The plot has fading actress Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) becoming distressed when her chauvinistic boss (Dennis Quaid) fires her from her aerobics show. Desperate to stay relevant, she injects herself with a mysterious serum that produces a younger, better version of herself (Played by Margaret Qualley), but in doing so, things go horribly wrong. What makes The Substances story standout is not only the fact that it's emotionally charged but how deeply personal and globally relevant it feels to its female audience. The performances from the cast really sell this one with Demi Moore providing the films heart with her emotionally powerful performance that's as shocking as the films gruesome bits. One can really tell that this role spoke to her and she gives her all here along with showing how undervalued she is as a performer. She masterfully switches from possessing initial fear of being shut out of the entrainment industry to her age and her desperation to stay relevant. Her eventual descent into a terrifying and almost monstrous figure is both thrilling and heartbreaking to witness.
