“Have you ever dreamt of a better version of yourself?” So asks the trailer for The Substance, the upcoming body horror film from Revenge writer/director Coralie Fargeat.
Winner of the Best Screenplay award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, The Substance stars Demi Moore as former A-list actress Elisabeth Sparkle, who’s been fired from her fitness TV program for being “past her prime.” In search of a new opportunity, she takes a mysterious new drug known simply as “the Substance.” One injection is all it takes for Elisabeth to be reborn as the younger-looking Sue (Margaret Qualley, Kinds of Kindness, Drive-Away Dolls), who begins her own rise through Hollywood.
The catch? To use the Substance, you have to split time between your bodies. Elisabeth must spend exactly one week as herself, then exactly one week as Sue. But what happens if you mess with this balance? Based on the trailer, things get bloody, fast.
The Substance hits theaters Sept. 20.
