Featured Image Credit: MUBI
Topics: TV And Film, Tyla Recommends
Rhiannon Ingle
There's a brand-new horror that's just hit cinemas and it's sparked quite the visceral reaction online.
Complete with a heavy dose of blood, flesh and spandex alongside a star-studded cast featuring the likes of Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid - this flick has already cemented itself as one of 2024's most provocative films yet.
In fact, it appears to be so 'horrifyingly disturbing’ that some people who couldn't handle the heavy graphic imagery were walking out of the cinema before it had even finished.
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Distributed by MUBI, the film follows Elisabeth Sparkle (Moore) who
was once thriving in La La Land hosting her own aerobics show before being sacked on her 50th birthday only to be replaced by someone 'younger and better' than her played by Qualley.
Clearly in distress at the whole ordeal, Elisabeth happens upon a mysterious laboratory that offers her a substance which promises to transform her into the 'more perfect' version of herself.
Now, I won't spoil too much about the gory ins and outs of the transformation process - nor the batsh*t insane end scene - but what I can tell you is that audiences were not prepared for what they saw up on the silver screen one bit.
Yep, in one London screening, LBC reports, as much as 20 people reportedly walked out.
After combining the in-your-face parodical allusions to cult horror predecessors like Carrie alongside a banging soundtrack and Moore's incredible performance all with a running trope of defiantly confronting unrealistic beauty standards with the subtlety of a chainsaw - you have The Substance.
After actually making it through the movie, people are rushing to social media in their thousands to share their verdicts on the 'otherworldly' horror flick.
Check out the official trailer here:
One X user urged: "See The Substance in the cinema. The ending is so operatically bloody & gross. Really felt good to watch it with a bunch of other people laughing and gagging."
"The last 20 minutes of The Substance was absolutely insane," reviewed a second while a third exclaimed: "IT CHANGED MY LIFE!"
A fourth weighed in: "The Substance is absolutely f*cking bonkers. Extremely heavy-handed and gratuitous, yet deeply immersive and compelling.
"Stellar practical effects work with an exceptional electronic score. Demi Moore is outstanding. An otherworldly tier of body horror."
"The Substance should have audience cams in every screening where you can take away a printed pic of your face on a keyring like they do on Disneyland rides lol," joked a fifth.
Another warned: "Watched The Substance. One of the most horrifyingly disturbing and disgusting movie experiences I've had in my whole life. I don't know how I can return as a functional member of society after this."
Same here, tbh.
And a final cinephile echoed: "The Substance is the film that other movies say that watching will make you ill but this one actually will."
Can definitely confirm.
The Substance is available to watch in selected cinemas across the UK now.