When is “The Substance” coming to theaters? Demi Moore’s body-horror film release date

“Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself? Younger, more beautiful. more perfect... ” Demi Moore stars as Elizabeth Sparkle, an aging, Oscar-winning actress who is struggling to come to terms with the ravages of time on her fading looks and a career in slow but steep decline in Coralie Fargeat’s disturbingly graphic body-horror movie, The Substance.

Elisabeth has hosted an aerobics workout TV show but the producers feel that she has run her course and it’s time for her to replaced by a younger, more visually appealing presenter. It’s nothing personal, her boss Harvey (played by Dennis Quaid) ham-fistedly explains - it’s just the way it goes in the world of visual media. But that doesn’t make it any easier for Elisabeth to come to terms with.

One review describes Moore as “fearless in parodying her public image; [Margaret] Qualley showcases a wicked sense of humour as Barbie’s evil twin, and Quaid hams it up joyously as an obnoxious, flashy-suited impresario”.

DNA modification and body image in ‘The Substance’

Despondent, she sits alone in her apartment wondering where her professional life is heading until she plugs a pendrive into the USB port of her smart TV and is seduced by its contents. The mysterious pendrive, labelled The Substance, contains a slick, stylish promotional video, offering an opportunity to reverse the aging process: “One single injection unlocks your DNA, starting a new celluar division that will release another version of yourself” a seductive male voiceover coos.

Feeling she has nothing left to lose, Elisabeth decides to take the plunge and starts a DIY course of The Substance. It soon becomes apparent that the treatment is not having the desired effect - in fact, rather than slowing the aging process, it accelerates it. At this point, co-lead Sue (Margaret Qualley) enters the story, bursting out of her spine in full gruesome glory.

“There are aspects of this that are ride, that are thrilling, bloody... those who love gore, I think, y’know, run don’t walk. It’s totally for you. It’s also setting up for those who are really interested into delving into the subjects of aging and our pursuits of perfection,” Moore explained in an interview.

“This is just a very interesting unique way of kind of going at the subject. For me, it was not about feeling my most attractive or my lost glamorous, or the best lighting to highlight the things you like and darken the things you don’t like. This is a journey that is also about that trait that can happen so often by chasing something that you think is better. It’s really about accepting yourself as you are”.

Demi Moore’s nude scenes

The Substance, in which both Moore and Qualley bare all in nude scenes, is a nod to other works about aging, eternal youth and the pursuit of perfection such as Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray and Alejandro Amenábar’s Abre Los Ojos (re-made as Vanilla Sky in the US) along with darker films such as David Cronenberg’s The Fly. Aside from the guts and gore, there is plenty of dark humor and light moments too.

With a running time of two hours and 10 minutes, The Substance premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival on 19 May and received a rousing, 13-minute ovation. It goes on general release in the US, United Kingdom, Latin America, Germany, Canada and Netherlands on Friday 20 September with early screenings starting a day earlier. Release dates are expected for Turkey and India.

In Cannes back in May, Moore said of the film: “You just show up and you face what’s in front of you to the best of your ability. I think what’s most important is how you hold yourself not how the world is holding you… which is exactly what The Substance is about – this male perspective of the idealized woman, that we as women have bought into… and I think we are changing. We are living the change right now”.