I was very intrigued when I saw this movie advertised. The basic premise wasn’t an entirely original one. After all, people have been obsessed with preserving youth and beauty for years…but the idea of the Substance was a pretty intriguing one, I have to admit.

I thought that the movie did a really good job of showing the decline Elisabeth was experiencing, due to those around her considering her ‘too old’ to continue being the face of the aerobics show she was part of. I was able to empathise her with a lot as a character…and all of her interactions with Harvey, and Harvey as a character, just made my skin crawl. In parts of the movie, he came across as larger than life, but in a really grotesque way that I felt worked really well.

When Elisabeth uses the Substance for the first time, I honestly thought it had killed her. I know she had a whole lot of stuff that implied the bodies continued to live while the ‘other self’ was in control, but I honestly couldn’t see how Elisabeth had managed to survive such a gruesome ‘birth’.

Very similar to most horror movies, the relationship between Elisabeth and her younger self, Sue, starts off as a symbiotic one; an arrangement that’s beneficial for both of them. It is sad that Elisabeth ends up not doing anything other than sitting around while she’s in control, but that also fits in with the feel of the movie, so it’s not that much of a surprise even if it is sad.

Obviously, things start going bad when Sue takes more than her fair share of time from Elisabeth. The results of just one day are immediate and intense, showing Elisabeth with an aged hand.

What doesn’t make a lot of sense to me is that whoever made the Substance basically gave up all responsibility. Elisabeth calls to complain about Sue; Sue calls to complain about Elisabeth. All the person on the other end tells them is that they need to remember they’re one. Considering how bad the effects of using more of the spinal fluid are on the original person, I would have thought that the Substance’s creator would be more strict with the possibility of taking too much. Then again, I’m not really sure what the organisation/person selling the Substance is getting out of it anyway.

I will say that, towards the end of this movie, it was very much body horror and pretty much over the top. By that point, I kind of lost some interest in the movie, as I felt it was shock value.

I will say that I enjoyed this movie for what it was, and there were some really good elements to it. I would have liked to see more of the world expanded upon…and more from those actually in control of the Substance.