First things first, this movie and Helter Skelter (2012) aren't twins, or sisters, but they sure as hell are cousins.

Vivid color palette, a dangerous cosmetic surgery/medicine, a movie that HOWLS AND SCREAMS that beauty standards are eating people alive, a absurdly beautiful lead that undercuts the meaning the film. (But if you go into meta, then it makes sense again.)

The Substance is a more on the gore and Helter Skelter hits harder with the commentary, imo.

also. Sue, forget about Aerobics, go into carpentry.

Also the show turning from a kinda cheesy, but kinda realistic aerobic fitness show under Elizabeth to the type of shit down bad dudes use as porn when the going gets rough under Sue.

Man, this movie has hella PC Music energy, that's a compliment btw.

'Remember there is no she and you, you are one.'

God, the fact the nurse that gave Elizabeth The Substance plug, but he kinda regrets it.

this shit is an addiction

Another thing that connects the two movies: a female director. which you know... they know what they are talking about.

Elizabeth going on a date: I'mma fight these beauty standards. /sees Sue DAMN, THESE BEAUTY STANDARDS GOT HANDS!

You like showing off that tight ahh until it gets scrutinized by HD cameras.

'Remember there is no she and you, you are one.'

Girl, AT LEAST get your spinal fluid from another place PLEASE.

"Would you like to stop?"

Sue is totally Lizzy's fucking id.

Man, you will lose your appetite watching this. why must you make food look disgusting?

Damn Lizzie, you live like this?

Jars? Oh this is not gonna be good..

fuck around and find out, Sue.

...TikTok OH GREAT HEAVENS SFX

Honestly, it's well within Elizabeth right to literally toss that bitch out the window.

T_T the fact after everything she can't kill Sue.

'You're the only lovable part of me, you have to come back.'

You should've killed that bitch, Lizzie.

Remember you are one.

The symbolism of a powder blue gown in the midnight of a glass slipper of a person, I see you, The Substance.

WHAT IN THE FUCK IS THAT?!

Ok... once the initial shock is gone... she's strangely cute.

"She is my most beautiful creation, I have shaped her for success."

No fucking shit.

She threw up a fucking TIDDY.

SPRAYING ALL THAT BLOOD.

Ok, I kinda love this movie now. Like it's horrifying, but camp as all hell.

That ending was perfect, sad, camp, disgusting, and perfect.

Honestly, I kinda suggest a Death Becomes Her/Helter Skelter/The Substance triple billing. And in that order, to prepare you.

Tbh I was enjoying the movie but once Elisasue happened I went into love and that ending is flawless

How can a movie be so smart and so stupid all at once? It’s good camp

it should be studied.

the shot in which Elisasue is twirling around spilling blood on everybody is brillant and stupid and camp and strangely beautiful.

i would die for elisasue

honestly.

who among us hasn't wanted to barf up a breast

like the crowd reaction sells it.

does this shit happen all the time in which the crowd KNOWS what Elisasue is and to kill her immediately?

then again, they hired Sue on the spot. No ss number or anything.

Don't think the about the logic, Pash. Just get absorbed in the camp.

lol right the movie falls apart logically (I love how vague all the instructions in the Substance kit were) but who cares it was so much fun

the Substance kit like

"hope you know what to do with this mysterious tube, bitch"

the voice on the phone is almost sarcastic.

the extreme sketchiness of how high-tech/low-tech the Substance address was was also hilarious

like every detail of that building and its insides was so extremely sketchy beyond belief

you didn't freak out at getting your anti-aging treatments from A SKETCHY ASS PLACE, you know what you to got yourself into.

i mean it was probably a nod to how many women get sick or deformed from black market BBLs and the like

the sets need to talked about, because sometimes it's like looking in a funhouse mirror

that the shining lookin ahh hallway.

that hallway was amaaaaazing

long ass hallways, this movie LOVES those.

the scene of elisabeth making turkey was amazing

also apparently both women know how to create hidden rooms in their home.

the part where there was the flash of flambé fire and she goes "ah!" in delight made me smile

lol yeah that was a perfect hidden room

once again, sue. fuck aerobics, go into construction.

a crew is missing a THE BADDEST foreman

my god and her kicks?

like certain parts of the movie look like some sort of brightly colored uncanny commercial with sue, and that's probably the point.

once again, HELLA PC MUSIC CODED.

extremely PC Music coded

/pokes the Editors. Y'all can make edits to Charli, and that's cool. GIMMIE SOPHIE.

and honestly, along with the gore, the silliness and all that shit. like it's sad. yes, elizabeth was part of the system that makes women feel terrible about themselves. but like she has no one to tell her that. she's isolated.

Yeah, we really know very little about her except for her self-hatred and insecurity because she has no friends, no one but herself and her boss to bounce off of

like the hallway scene as Elisasue, fucked me up. Like imagining what you needed to hear as your original self.

Ugh that broke my heart

the fact after everything Sue did to her, literally drain all of the youth and beauty away, she can't kill her.

god I love this movie

'You're the only lovable part of me, you have to come back.'

Like... I don't have the most high of self esteem, but like... after watching this and once the the body horror and editing zoomies went away, like... I thought... maybe I should try to be kinder to myself.

Because if that shit can eat away at a character played by a stone cold fox like Demi, what about the rest of us?

The details: In the beginning, the posters on the studio hallways are filled with Elizabeth over the years. Taken from Demi Moore's photos, meaning she's been at this for 35-40 something years. Like obsessing over your appearance for that long.

Also if the producer wasn't an actual factual pig that focuses on the young, the attractive and disposable, he would notice: ol girl got longevity. Maybe she needs more opportunity than that workout show?

Another detail: The more Lizzy visits the place to refill The Substance there are fewer and fewer lockers. Which either people came to their fucking senses and canceled as soon as another person came out of them or... Elizabeth's story is common.

Man how in the hell does the people that make The Substance make money with that business model?

we don't even really see her paying for the substance

like it seems like a black market experiment where the payment is that the creators get to see what happens, but even then there isn't any reporting?

that's even more fucked up

and it's a word of mouth type thing.

Now that I think about it, The Substance takes place in a world where culturally, the Eighties/Early Nineties never ended. Network TV is still relevant, you can still catch Aerobics classes on TV, and just a lot of shit about Sue's style.

shit, Sue probably dresses retro like that because when was the last time Elizabeth was a young hot thing?, the eighties.

tbh at one point my friend i saw it with asked if the film was set in the 80's

i do like that it was kind of time period-agnostic? like it's in the modern day but a lot of the visual imagery is very 80's/90's

the director: anything that looks sleek and cool, we putting that in there.

me trying to describe the film: bubblegum bass in a kinda seedy funhouse mirror drenched in gore.

sometimes it looks like a demented ass music video.

all of this is a compliment, btw.

some more fun facts, that icky ass producer's name is Harvey. On the fucking nose, but fitting for the ACTUAL villain of this movie.

Also the director made the screenplay having her own crisis about turning 40. Which fuck, that woman had some demons to exorcise.