Standing as one of the best horror movies of 2024, as well as one of the most gruesome,The Substanceis undoubtedly worth checking out for those with strong stomachs. The premise is out there but works surprisingly well, following an aging actress who’s given the opportunity to effectively create a new, younger body… but both bodies have to share the same mind, only one can be awake at a time, and they have to alternate 50/50 between being awake and unconscious.
Anyone who’s seenGremlinswill know that in a movie like this, rules are established to be broken, and chaos erupts when things ultimately go awry.It’s not so much if things will get chaotic, but how chaotic they’ll get, andThe Substancehas numerous scenes that need to be seen to be believed. It’s also a movie that feels as though it borrows elements from other films, especially those in the horror genre, and blends all those things into its own gooey, messy, and fascinating experience. There are various influences from older movies at hand, and other films that scratch the same itchThe Substancedoes because of their content and/or thematic material. Some of these are outlined below, all being worthwhile watches for anyone who likedThe Substance.
10’Re-Animator’ (1985)
Director: Stuart Gordon
Put simply,Re-Animatoris one of the more extreme body horror movies out there, at least so far as “mass-appeal” (massive quotation marks there) blood-soaked horror movies go. It’sgot the capacity to appeal to everyone who likes a good B-movie that pulls very few – if any – punches, but at the same time, it’s probably too gross for various other potential viewers. Naturally, comparable things could be said aboutThe Substance.
The two movies don’t really share plot similarities, but both have amazing practical effects, dark senses of humor, and varioussequences that effectively emphasize body horror.Re-Animatoris one of the best “scientist doing things they shouldn’t” horror movies of its era, updating elements ofFrankensteinwith an extra layer of sometimes funny gruesomeness and explicit content for good measure.
Re-Animator
9’Revenge' (2017)
Director: Coralie Fargeat
GivenCoralie Fargeatdirected bothThe SubstanceandRevenge, the latter is one of the easiest movies to recommend to people who appreciated the former. Essentially, this 2017 film is an action/thriller movie that’s as no-nonsense as it is brutal, following a woman who’s horrifically attacked and left for dead in the desert, but somehow survives and then turns into an unstoppable killing machine seeking vengeance.
Its plot is as straightforward as it gets, and there are only a handful of characters: one young woman, and three older men who need to pay for what they’ve done.Revengeis arguably less of a horror movie thanThe Substance, but itdoes prove just as gory and relentless. It’s less darkly comedic, too, but there’s definitely a feeling of things being heightened at times, and the action is tough and relentless in a way that genuinely feels rather fresh.
Watch on Shudder
8’X' (2022)
Director: Ti West
The title implies as much, butXis certainly extreme, and pushes boundaries that would’ve been considered debatably un-pushable some decades earlier. It’s a slasher movie that takes place largely on a farm, and involves a group of young people shooting an adult film, the news of which prompts the elderly couple who own the farm to react violently to the whole thing, given they consider it immoral, to say the least.
Xand The Substance are both modern-day horror movies that have plenty of gruesome moments alongside unapologetic sex and/or nudity-filled scenes, and aging is a central theme to both. In both films,the exploration of growing old has a potentially more drastic impact than the more in-your-face scenes of violence. Also,Xgot a prequel withPearland a sequel withMaXXXine, the latter of which looks at showbiz and the drastic expectations within it for women, perhaps a little like The Substance.
7’Tetsuo: The Iron Man' (1989)
Director: Shinya Tsukamoto
Scratching a similar itch to the aforementionedRe-Animatorwhile having a completely different style,Tetsuo: The Iron Manis one of the most uniquely nightmarish sci-fi body horror films ever made. It’s thankfully short, given how full-on it is, but those 67 minutes really feel like an assault on the senses, with the story itself being relatively simple: there’s a man, and he’s slowly becoming less organic and more metallic.
The idea of someone turning into a non-superheroIron Manmight sound silly, but it’s genuinely pretty horrifying, thanks tothe execution and commitment to sheer abrasivenessfound inTetsuo: The Iron Man. It’s one of the more visceral and relentlessly unpleasant body horror movies out there, and so for anyone who didn’t mind the extremity ofThe Substanceand admired where it was willing to go,this 1989 Japanese moviemight also be up your alley.
Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)
6’Malignant' (2021)
Director: James Wan
To even suggest thatMalignantmight be about doubles in some waycould be giving too much away, but the places it goes with the story it eventually tells prove near-impossible to spoil. It begins as a film about a young woman having horrible visions of various murders being committed, but thenends up being about the same woman having a parasitic twin who’s able to take control of the young woman’s body. That being is, in essence, a malignant presence.
EnterThe Substance, which also sees one person becoming two, though inThe Substance, the two versions of the main character have different bodies but need to share their overall consciousness.Malignantis more about two forces within the same body, both capable (or not capable) of very different things. Also, likeThe Substance,Malignanthas an absolutely wild final act that the movie takes its time building to. The ride to that ending isn’t as smooth or engaging asThe Substance’s first two acts are, but you have to admire both films for really going for broke as they approach their respective endings.
5’Face/Off' (1997)
Director: John Woo
Yes,Face/Offis in no way a horror movie likeThe Substanceis, but both films deal with excess and there is a central conflict in both that kind of pits characters against themselves. InFace/Off, it’s allaboutJohn Travolta’s charactergoing upagainstNicolas Cage’s character, though both men swap faces and lives, effectively, with Cage’s villainous character stealing Travolta’s character’s identity and life, with Travolta’s character forced to get those things back while wearing Cage’s character’s face.
Confusing and convoluted? Maybe. ButFace/Offis also awesome, seeingJohn Wooat his heroic bloodshed-heavy best. The conflict between two beings who have similar appearances is done in a very different way inThe Substance, butboth movies provide an interesting look at conflict within oneself, or “between” oneself, as strange as that might sound. Both make it work, it’s just that one’s a great action movie and one’s a bold and impressively made horror film.
4’Terrifier 2' (2022)
Director: Damien Leone
IfTerrifier 2isn’t quite one ofthe best movie sequels of all time, then it has a shot at being a contender for the most improved movie sequel of all time. The firstTerrifiermovie is a relatively forgettable affair, being repetitive and not that interestingoutside of having a promisingly creepy villainand some effectively grisly moments. Maybe that’s enough for some, but there really wasn’t much to that one.
Terrifier 2, on the other hand, goes bigger and bloodier, and tells a story worth getting at least a little invested in. It’s somewhat infamous for its runtime of 138 minutes, which it almost shares withThe Substance, which clocks in at 140 minutes (the two are, it might go without saying, quite long by horror movie standards). But both films use their runtimes pretty well, andanother trait shared by the two ishow unbelievably gruesome they can getat times.
Terrifier 2
3’The Fly' (1986)
Director: David Cronenberg
It would be wild to talk about body horror movies without mentioning something byDavid Cronenberg, who’sarguably the king of this type of horror, as far as cinema’s concerned. Of his most body horror-focused movies, the most effective is probablyThe Fly, which takes the premise found inthe 1958 film of the same nameand makes it significantly more gruesome, heartbreaking, and visceral.
LikeTetsuo: The Iron Man, it takes what could be a hokey premise (man slowly turns into a fly) and makes it surprisingly horrifying, helped by the efficiency of the storytelling, the believability of the performances, andthe effectiveness of the special effects. For as great asThe Substanceis, time will have to tell whether it still unnerves and surprises viewers several decades from now. WithThe Fly, it’s clear when watched today that it’s lost little of its power in the nearly 40 years since its release.
Okay, here’s another David Cronenberg film, but this one feels somewhat reminiscent ofThe Substancefor reasons not necessarily related to body horror. The movie in question isDead Ringers, and it’s more concerned with being apsychological thriller/horror movie, and an unashamedly strange one, too, with a uniquely unsettling atmosphere pervading throughout, while the narrative focuses on a pair of twin brothers who use their identical looks to toy with women while pretending to be one another.
Things go wrong, as they almost always do in movies like this,andDead Ringersends up exploring some very dark things surrounding two people who almost function like one unit. There isn’t a literal sharing of the same mind, like inThe Substance, but it almost feels that way at times, and both movies prove unsettling in their own unique ways. Indeed, withDead Ringers,twoJeremy Irons’ prove more unnervingthan a single Jeremy Irons could ever be.
Dead Ringers
1’Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' (1931)
Director: Rouben Mamoulian
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hydeis old enough that it’s not going to shock in quite the same wayThe Substanceand some of the aforementioned movies do, but it still packs something of a punch considering its age. What it can’t show concerning violence it makes up for with atmosphere, proving to be one ofthe eeriest gothic horror films of its timebased on how it looks/feels alone.
Its story is a familiar one, following a man who divides his good and bad sides, with two distinct and very different personalities controlling the one body at different times.The Substancefeels like it borrows something from this classic tale for obvious reasons, but it undoubtedly does more than enough things different to simply feel like a straightforward retelling ofDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.Sometimes, borrowing from the classics (especially if you borrow very small things from many classics and remix them in interesting ways) pays off.
