‘The Substance,’ ‘A Different Man’: What lessons does body horror try to teach?
LA TimesWe miss the way things used to be, or we long for something that never was. “The Substance,” Coralie Fargeat’s Cannes breakout that brings a career-best performance from Demi Moore, leans harder into the “horror” part of body horror than “A Different Man,” which says quite a bit given that the latter film shows us a man’s face gradually peeling off. “A Different Man” is essentially a parable of authenticity, and the value of being comfortable in one’s own skin — like Oswald. After peeling away his disfigured face, Sebastian Stan discovers he is not attractive on the inside in “A Different Man.” The twist of Edward’s fate — taking desperate medical measures in vying for “normalcy,” success and romance, only to meet unexpected results — is actually reminiscent of one of the oldest body-horror movies, Tod Browning’s “The Unknown”. Angry and desperate, she tries the Substance, a back-alley medical regimen that makes a younger version of Elisabeth, named Sue, emerge, “Alien”-like, from Elisabeth’s spine.
History of this topic
Blood, sweat and fears: Inside the rise of body horror
Hindustan Times
The Substance viewers argue over ‘plot hole’ that threatens to spoil new body horror film
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