‘The Substance’ reviews: Demi Moore is ‘astonishing,’ but can body horror break through on awards stage?

The provocative new film “The Substance,” about an aging celebrity (Demi Moore) who takes an illicit drug to be young again, opened on September 20 following its May premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, where writer-director Coralie Fargeat won Best Screenplay. So we know what the festival jury thought. But what do critics think?

As of this writing the film has a MetaCritic score of 77 based on 51 reviews counted. Of those, 43 are classified as positive, six are mixed reviews, and two are pans. Over on Rotten Tomatoes, where reviews are counted simply as positive or negative, the film is rated 88% fresh based on 176 reviews; out of all those, only 22 critics give the film a thumbs down. The RT critics consensus says, “Audaciously gross, wickedly clever, and possibly Demi Moore’s finest hour, ‘The Substance’ is a gasp-inducing feat from writer-director Coralie Fargeat.”

Several MetaCritic reviewers give the film a perfect score, including Tim Robey (The Telegraph), who calls this an “astonishing role” for Moore. “‘The Substance’ is a humdinger of a satirical horror-thriller, by turns hilarious, affecting and jaw-droppingly grotesque. Moore, making a mighty comeback, seizes the role as if her life depended on it.” Phil de Semlyen (Time Out) also gives the film a perfect rating, and “it’s Moore who glues it all together, going full Isabelle Adjani-in-‘Possession’ in a vanity-free performance full of bruised ego, dawning horror and vulnerability.”

David Ehrlich (IndieWire) says “The Substance” is “an immensely, unstoppably, ecstatically demented fairy tale about female self-hatred … with some of the most spectacularly disgusting body horror this side of ‘The Fly’ or the final minutes of ‘Akira'” — that review is also a rave, if that wasn’t clear. Monica Castillo (RogerEbert.com), meanwhile, comments that it “may use horror trappings to critique the entertainment business and the multibillion dollar industry cashing in on people’s search for the fountain of youth, but it does so with such panache that it’s still having its share of fun.”

Maureen Lee Lenker (Entertainment Weekly) agrees that the film is “so over-the-top as to verge on camp,” but “it is also a chillingly pointed expression of the madness that ensues in pursuit of impossible standards.” However, Clarisse Loughrey (The Independent), in a more ambivalent take, says “‘The Substance’ doesn’t quite gel as it should,” though “it’s potent.” Zachary Barnes (Wall street Journal) shares those mixed feelings: “The result is impressively if overbearingly grotesque, boasting an ecstatic surface of blood, guts and deformities. But it’s all in service of obvious ideas.” And in the most withering assessment, Dana Stevens (Slate) is “disappointed to report that I found ‘The Substance’ lacking in both departments: the oh-no-they-didn’t gross-out quotient and the intellectual heft.”

So what can we take from these reviews regarding the film’s upcoming awards chances? Well, despite the motion picture academy’s recent embrace of fantasy (“The Shape of Water“) and sci-fi (“Everything Everywhere All at Once“), horror is still a tough sell for the motion picture academy. For every “Get Out” that manages to break through with major nominations and wins, there’s a “Hereditary,” “The Witch,” or “Us” that gets left out despite ample acclaim for their filmmaking and performances. And graphic body horror is an even tougher sell.

But as “Get Out” showed, the genre can be embraced when it has a hefty thematic purpose, and chasing unattainable female beauty standards may be the kind of subject matter that resonates. It also has the benefit of a performance by a movie star who was known for her beauty but often dismissed for her acting, and she has the Razzie Awards track record to prove it. Nevertheless, she’s a two-time Golden Globe nominee — for “Ghost” and the HBO telefilm “If These Walls Could Talk” — an Emmy-nominated producer and a DGA Award-nominated director, so it may be time to reevaluate her career the same way pop culture has vindicated tabloid queens like Pamela Anderson and Britney Spears in recent years. Perhaps she’s a performer with more substance than we’ve given her credit for.