A fading celebrity takes a black-market drug: a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.A fading celebrity takes a black-market drug: a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.A fading celebrity takes a black-market drug: a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.
- Nominated for 5 Oscars
- 87 wins & 240 nominations total
Edward Hamilton-Clark
- Fred
- (as Edward Hamilton Clark)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRay Liotta was cast in the film in February 2022, but he died in May that year before he could film his scenes. Dennis Quaid replaced him, but Liotta is still mentioned in the director's "Thank You Notes" during the credits.
- GoofsThe toilet mirror reappears intact after being repeatedly smashed during the fight sequence.
- Quotes
Elisabeth Sparkle: There's been a slight misuse of the Substance.
- Crazy creditsA special thanks in the credits is given to the many extras in the theater scene, who got covered in blood.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The Project: Episode dated 20 September 2024 (2024)
- SoundtracksPump It Up
Written by Michael Hall, Leonardo Stella
Performed by Earl Gregory
Produced by Julien Deguines
Featured review
We live in an amazing time. After seeing a film with a score of 8, and even with 2 famous actresses, and even with a woman director, whom I had never heard of before, and even in the horror genre, and even in the body horror subgenre.
Wow! I told myself and immediately turned on the inflated ratings, waiting, not yet knowing why.
I won't hide it for long. That's exactly what happened.
The subgenre itself is very niche. Well, judge for yourself: open fractures, blood, intestines. The human body is mutating into something absolutely disgusting. By the way, it is not always only the human body that gets in this format.
As a subgenre, why not, but it has never been massive, but this film...
The film's wrapper is very attractive. An incomprehensible description and a bright, beautiful, dynamic trailer. You can understand what is depicted there only after viewing, so if the viewer has not familiarized himself with the genre on the profile resource, he will most likely be unpleasantly surprised.
But the ratings are high, so the audience was lured by the picture, they slipped an absolute abomination. By the standards of modern sleek mass cinema, that's for sure. And the viewer was satisfied?
I would bet that the viewer was just shocked + the film has a message and some kind of morality, so positive ratings still prevail.
But I, as a person for whom this genre has existed for 40 years, was satisfied only because of the acting and very cool makeup. They really molded this something at the end out of I don't even want to guess what.
But if you delve into the plot, the behavior of the characters sometimes, then the picture begins to float.
The fact that all men are goats, objectification of women is bad and that chasing beauty at the sacrifice of health is bad, I realized in the first 15 minutes. Why do I need 2 more hours?
Yes, the camera hitting the interesting places of women is cool done, but I did not come to an adult film.
The ending is so-so. The scene in the hall is deliberately slipping into trash. You understand that, so it was and it was. It feels like the film deliberately tried to be something sublime and about meaning until the last moment, so as to surprise so much in the end. It surprised me wonderfully.
It's a shame for the line with the classmate of the main character. It gets its logical conclusion, but in the middle of the film I thought that the authors would go away, but this is already subjective.
Objectively, if you evaluate and compare with others, not even the best representatives of the genre. This movie is just average. But it must be borne in mind that for a film like this, a score of 7 is already a wow success. For understanding, The Thing film has a score of 8.2, and after it there are films of the 30s and only after that the films of Cronenberg begin.
Just so you understand. If the score of a horror story is from 7 points, then this is already a masterpiece, but here ... 8 ... I do not understand. I'm blocking it.
Wow! I told myself and immediately turned on the inflated ratings, waiting, not yet knowing why.
I won't hide it for long. That's exactly what happened.
The subgenre itself is very niche. Well, judge for yourself: open fractures, blood, intestines. The human body is mutating into something absolutely disgusting. By the way, it is not always only the human body that gets in this format.
As a subgenre, why not, but it has never been massive, but this film...
The film's wrapper is very attractive. An incomprehensible description and a bright, beautiful, dynamic trailer. You can understand what is depicted there only after viewing, so if the viewer has not familiarized himself with the genre on the profile resource, he will most likely be unpleasantly surprised.
But the ratings are high, so the audience was lured by the picture, they slipped an absolute abomination. By the standards of modern sleek mass cinema, that's for sure. And the viewer was satisfied?
I would bet that the viewer was just shocked + the film has a message and some kind of morality, so positive ratings still prevail.
But I, as a person for whom this genre has existed for 40 years, was satisfied only because of the acting and very cool makeup. They really molded this something at the end out of I don't even want to guess what.
But if you delve into the plot, the behavior of the characters sometimes, then the picture begins to float.
The fact that all men are goats, objectification of women is bad and that chasing beauty at the sacrifice of health is bad, I realized in the first 15 minutes. Why do I need 2 more hours?
Yes, the camera hitting the interesting places of women is cool done, but I did not come to an adult film.
The ending is so-so. The scene in the hall is deliberately slipping into trash. You understand that, so it was and it was. It feels like the film deliberately tried to be something sublime and about meaning until the last moment, so as to surprise so much in the end. It surprised me wonderfully.
It's a shame for the line with the classmate of the main character. It gets its logical conclusion, but in the middle of the film I thought that the authors would go away, but this is already subjective.
Objectively, if you evaluate and compare with others, not even the best representatives of the genre. This movie is just average. But it must be borne in mind that for a film like this, a score of 7 is already a wow success. For understanding, The Thing film has a score of 8.2, and after it there are films of the 30s and only after that the films of Cronenberg begin.
Just so you understand. If the score of a horror story is from 7 points, then this is already a masterpiece, but here ... 8 ... I do not understand. I'm blocking it.
2025 Oscars: IMDb Editors' Predictions
2025 Oscars: IMDb Editors' Predictions
The IMDb editors take a look at six of the top Oscar categories and make their picks for who might be nominated, and who might end up a big winner.
- How long is The Substance?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- La Sustancia
- Filming locations
- La Maison du Caviar - 21 Rue Quentin Bauchart, Paris 8, Paris, France(Elisabeth and Harvey at the restaurant)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $17,500,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $17,204,265
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $3,205,212
- Sep 22, 2024
- Gross worldwide
- $76,936,282
- Runtime2 hours 21 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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