THE SUBSTANCE

Director: Coralie Fargeat.
With: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Hugo Diego Garcia.
USA/France/UK 2024. 140 mins.

CLOSING FILM - ENGLISH PREMIERE - Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? You. Only better in every way. Seriously. You've got to try this new product. It's called The Substance. IT CHANGED MY LIFE. 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?

FrightFest is delighted to present the Cannes 2024 award-winning sensation, a Visionary Feminist Body Horror, the second thrilling shocker (after REVENGE) from French writer/director Coralie Fargeat. Shocking and resonant, disarmingly grotesque and weirdly fun,

THE SUBSTANCE received overwhelming critical acclaim when shown at Cannes. Called a cartoon grindhouse Stanley Kubrick or DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE meets SHOWGIRLS, others recognised John Carpenter, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM and Brian De Palma influences laced throughout its blood-soaked aesthetic.

Drawing on stylish flamboyance and accessible visual extremes, Fargeat’s primal screamer highlights a perceptive filmmaker with something important to say. Helping her put that strong message across are two of the most extraordinary genre performances this year. Fearless Demi Moore rockets back into the probable Oscar limelight as fading celebrity Elizabeth Sparkle who uses a black market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself. And an incandescent Margaret Qualley (KINDS OF KINDNESS, ONCE UPON A TIME…IN HOLLYWOOD) is her rejuvenated alter-ego in this epic, and audacious masterpiece.