Over the weekend, my wife and I watched Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same. Fargeat’s unnerving body-horror thriller goes to the extreme, and I’m not ashamed to admit that I hid behind a pile of pillows for 40% of the film. What? Fingernail and teeth “stuff” is my horror movie kryptonite, and The Substance gives audiences no quarter with its approach to gross-out scenes and unforgiving self-reflection. Luckily, I watched the movie in the comfort of my home, but now those brave enough to watch The Substance in public can do so at the cinema when the film returns to US theaters on January 17, 2025.

In The Substance, a fading celebrity called Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) takes a black-market drug: a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself. When Elisabeth’s other self, Sue (Margaret Qualley), disobeys the rules of the transformation, the give-and-take of the effects of the drug begin wreaking havoc on Elisabeth’s body, the struggle to maintain dominance between the two goes out of control.

Here’s the official synopsis for The Substance:

“It generates another you. A new, younger, more beautiful, more perfect you. And there’s only one rule: You share time. One week for you. One week for the new you. Seven days each. A perfect balance. Easy. Right? If you respect the balance… what could possibly go wrong?”

The Substance is a fascinating, unconventional, and unapologetic downward spiral of self-image, paranoia, and body dysmorphia. As I’d said, I spent some of the film hiding from my screen. Fargeat’s movie makes aspects of David Cronenberg’s work feel like child’s play, giving the thriller genre a new queen as Fargeat promises to make bold, surprising, and original films.

Fargeat says there will not be a sequel to The Substance. Speaking with Variety, she addressed her next steps as a filmmaker, saying, “For now I’m not discussing anything. I’m just enjoying the moment and taking some time as I really want to write my next project. It’s slowly starting to be put in motion in the back of my brain and when things calm down I’ll take it from there.” That next project is “going to be totally different but with a lot of similarities (to The Substance). I love to make bold and surprising films with things that you don’t expect, so definitely that’s what I want to do. And I love the freedom that I gave myself for this film and that’s certainly something I want to keep doing. That was the greatest thing for me on The Substance.”

The Substance returns to US theaters on January 17, 2025.

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