Youth in Revulsion

The Substance (Trailer)

Coralie Fargeat, 2024

Excited to finally see a proper trailer after that short clip from a few months back for Coralie Fargeat's upcoming film The Substance (2024). The short blurb about it reads: "A fading celebrity decides to use a black market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself." With a sixty-something Demi Moore being in it, I'm expecting some satire/commentary on the beauty industry along with the inevitable shock factor.

Seeing a bunch of early reviews mention other famous body horror movies like The Fly (1986), Society (1989) and... The Nutty Professor films in the same breath as The Substance, has me eagerly anticipating its release next month.

Revenge (Trailer)

Coralie Fargeat, 2017

 

Neither anything helmed by acclaimed, femme New French Extremity directors Claire Denis or Julia Ducournau made me rush out to the cinema like Fargeat's captivating debut, the rape revenge thriller Revenge (2017). Ended up having to drive miles away to see it in an art house cinema after Mark Kermode's review. In the wake of the #MeToo movement, the film gained a cult following amongst horror audiences. Personally, I consider it an insult to most people's intelligence (there is no way the protagonist would have survived in the desert), but it's incredibly entertaining, regardless. I'm kind of expecting the same deal with Fargeat's latest film. Bound to be better than the highly overrated and soporific Titane (2021) at least.

Going full circle: what links the notorious rape revenge exploitation film I Spit on Your Grave (1978) with Demi Moore? Answer: Demi Moore is the model posing in that iconic film poster. An interesting tidbit I learned whilst watching a documentary on the film during lockdown.