The Substance

January 12th, 2025 (22 days ago) • 2 minutes

I watched The Substance today, and it was surprisingly good. From the trailer, it seemed all gory and scary, but the movie itself was more of a cinematic piece than a horror film. It has many good shots, and things were straight to the point (look at the instructions for the drugs she took). The way the movie was shot reminded me of Asteroid City.

My favorite part (and also the saddest part) was when Elisabeth kept going back to the closet and washroom to make herself prettier, adding more lipstick, more mascara, more of everything. She did that just because Sue was on the billboard, and she wanted so badly to be like her. I think that's where it reflects reality a lot more than the rest of the movie. The beauty industry is a very cutthroat industry, and comparison is always at the back of your mind because beauty determines your worth in the career.

I didn't like the ending, though. It made it seem like the original director was fired, and now they just wanted to end it as dramatically as possible. It lacked a lot of the essence from earlier.

Overall, I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good cinematic thriller. It's not really family-friendly, though.