By Antonio Machado Staff Writer In a year so incredibly packed with horror films, “The Substance” managed to shine brightly above its peers, even winning Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival before its release on Sept. 20. Directed by Coralie Fargeat, the film tackles body horror in every possible sense of the phrase. The film follows Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), a dimming Hollywood star, after she is fired from her job starring in an aerobic workout daytime TV show in favor of a younger, sexier alternative. Heartbroken, Sparkle comes across a mysterious black market drug unceremoniously named The Substance, said to create “a younger, more beautiful, more perfect” you. Which, of course, she orders for herself. The instructions of The Substance are clear - the new version can only be sustained for seven days at a time, after which you must swap back for another seven days without exception, and most importantly, always remember that “the two of you are one.” After examining herself in the mirror for a brief moment with pure disdain, Elisabeth injects herself with The Substance and soon finds herself on the bathroom floor in an incredibly gruesome sequence as we see the new her begin to unzip herself out from Elisabeth’s spine. It’s impossible to look away, yet so indescribably hard to watch - and it only gets worse from here. What follows is younger, more beautiful, more perfect - Sue (Margaret Qualley). Sue auditions to replace Elisabeth and quickly rises to fame after getting immediately cast in her very own TV show. Sue exudes everything Elisabeth was told she no longer had, and as the thrill of being a newborn star begins to outshine her life as Elisabeth, she begins to test the limits of The Substance’s rules. Simply put, “The Substance” is camp. Certain things don’t make sense at all, but they don’t need to. The absurdity of the film is what makes it good horror, at times eliciting laughs from the audience because the only alternative is succumbing to the nausea. As the film progresses, the body horror becomes exceedingly difficult to watch, but the hardest scenes to sit through were not the ones plagued by what is easily the best body horror featured in film since the era of David Cronenberg, but rather the ones where Elisabeth’s self-hatred is placed on display. The scene in which Elisabeth struggles to leave the house while she’s getting ready for a date is easily the scariest moment in the film - because it’s a moment so many people have experienced. Moore’s stellar performance is lived-in and filled with unbridled disdain - for both herself and the world. With some of the best line deliveries in the entire film, Qualley perfectly inhabits the hypersexualized, bright neon’s of Sue. She's an inhuman representation of beauty and she owns it, so when that is challenged and the bright pink colors of her star are dimmed, Qualley shines in a new way that spells out “Best Supporting Actress.” Going into the film, my only expectation was nausea-inducing horror, and though I most certainly received that, what truly struck me was how very clearly the film had a voice and how very loudly it spoke. Although the TV executive, Harvey (Dennis Quaid), is portrayed to be the antagonist of the film, the true antagonist is the collective consciousness of women’s value diminishing as they age and subsequently the insane measures taken to retain desirability. We empathize with both women in their moments of frustration and self-hatred, yet we are also brought to detest them for their weaknesses. “The Substance” blends its campy stomach-turning horror sequences that will undoubtedly leave you appalled with poignant feminist commentary incredibly well. The film is furious and has so much to say, so if you have not yet had a chance to hear its message, I urge you to do so, but until then, take care of yourself. Rating: A- Don’t buy popcorn