About

The Substance is an absurdist body horror film co-produced, written and directed by Coralie Fargeat, starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid. The plot follows the story of a fading celebrity (Moore) who decides to use a black market drug that temporarily makes her a younger, better version of herself (Qualley), unknowingly giving herself horrifying side effects. The film premiered in May 2024 at the 77th Cannes Film Festival and was released theatrically in the United Kingdom and the United States by Mubi in September 2024. Online, the movie amassed an array of positive reviews, while also sparking memes and jokes focused on usage of "the substance," often comparing old and young celebrities that look alike.

Origin

The Substance's production was announced on January 31st, 2022, by the Deadline^[1] news outlet, writing that Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley will star in the French director Coralie Fargeat’s "explosive feminist take on body horror."

On May 17th, 2024, Mubi^[2] released the first teaser of the film (seen below), amassing more than 1.6 million views and 2,100 likes in five months.

The film opened in theaters in the United States, United Kingdom, Latin America, Germany, Canada and the Netherlands on September 20th, 2024.

Spread

Discussions about The Substance spread online in the months after its highly praised debut at the 77th Cannes Film Festival,^[3] with a particular focus on the creative and absurd body horror displayed in the film. For example, on September 20th, 2024, X^[4] user @C05M1C57R4N63R posted a Family Guy clip (seen below), captioned "The Substance (2024, dir. Coralie Fargeat)," which amassed over 628,000 views and 10,000 likes in a week.

Netizens also started a trend on TikTok filming them before and after watching the movie. For instance, on September 29th, 2024, TikTok^[5] user @itsmezumy uploaded a video (seen below) comparing man and woman's reaction after seeing The Substance. The post garnered over 900,000 plays and 130,000 likes in a day.

The Substance's official X^[6] account @TryTheSubstance would occasionally post memes created by fans of the film. For example, on September 30th, 2024, the account uploaded a version of the ""Don't kill yourself you're so sexy aha":https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dont-kill-yourself-youre-so-sexy-aha meme, recaptioning the phrase as "Nooo don't take the substance your so sexy aha." The tweet (seen below) received roughly 9,100 likes and 796 reposts in a few hours.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References