EARLY ACCESS: The Substance FULL REACTION

And I workout to “MadFit” on YouTube and I love her for this short https://youtube.com/shorts/Ce_gIbQt3iU?feature=shared

Ebony

Holy shit, I usually hate body horror movies. This was an incredible message. As a gen X, I’ve noticed a few wrinkles and under eye circles. And I get hard on myself sometimes for it. Aside from vanity, it’s a reminder that life is short and I sometimes feel that I haven’t reached life’s milestones that I should have by now. I think in the movie, her self hate took over when she stood Fred up due to vanity. That’s not when it started, but when it fully took over and dictated her finding any enjoyment in life. The scene when Sue was beating Liz up, was a metaphor for the hatred of mortality and aging. Ever young person at one point has dreaded getting old. I will rock it when I turn 50. Until then (and after) I will workout, eat healthy, take care of my teeth and drink my water. And Demi is f’ing beautiful, it’s a blessing to live a long life and we can’t let the natural processes the body goes through ruin our enjoyment of life.

Ebony

yeah… the last 20 minutes were very unnecessary &.. strange. Beyond that it was a good movie. Very unique

Malik Currie

Wow... it's my first time watching this with all of you, and oh boy... amazing. By the way, at the beginning, when it focuses on her Hollywood star name and some random person spills his burger with ketchup, smudging the ketchup all over her name, it’s already foreshadowing the third act. The message in this movie is absolutely wild, and it's true how Hollywood works.

Arudorin

Much like the human centipede this movie has no right to exist 🤣 And just like the human centipede this is definitely a 1 and done for me. Fuck this movie. Due to the sheer grossness of it I'm giving this a 1/5 I can handle gore, I can't do nasty.

I'm Batman

My bad, I should have waited.

Rhiannon

We do mention her actual age just a little bit after this 😁🤘

Badd Medicine

Rhiannon

Oak gets it like always. Great reaction everyone! It was so much fun watching it along with you all.

Celes

I forgot to say, during the eating scene at the start when everyone turned towards DD, that was hilarious 😂😂😂

Aria Isara

I was super curious about this one, loved watching with your reaction but the movie lost me totally at the end 😭 I feel like the tone shift makes the movie sort of self destructs. The last segment feels comical and parodic, so the message loses its impact for me. Most of the film would be a 4 for me, because of the unique direction, editing, set design etc + the themes (and the sci fi treatment of these themes), but the last segment being a complete miss I'll give it a 2.5 I guess 🤷‍♀️ The movie was unique and original right from the start so it didn't need that last segment IMO.

Aria Isara

A theme I noticed is you don’t realise how good you have something until it's over, Elizabeth wished she could go back to her life when she was younger, although Sue loved her experience but said she hated that she was working hard whilst Elizabeth is relaxing all day, towards the end when Elizabeth has become older she looks back at the photo from before she took the substance and wants to go back to being how she was then

Zoe S

wasnt really a fan of this one, I liked the effects but the plot was pretty lame to me. Like celebrities need to get over themselves.

Garrett Gee

Ending of this movie made it a 0/10 lmao

Jacob

First time watching it. I actually really liked it.

Dana Sow

Answers comment around 55:00 made me laugh hard how did the other 3 not acknowledge it😂 (I guess mason quinn kind of set up the joke) “what are you doing honey?” “Pump it up”😂😂

Angel Griffin

Coralie Fargeat is a Writer/Director that is just going from strength to strength. Her visuals alone are simply outstanding. She's responsible for another female lead movie named 'Revenge', which I expect is unsuitable for the channel as it's a full on Rape/Revenge (which I normally loathe) flick that doesn't pull it's punches much like The Substance doesn't on body image commentary. But 'Revenge' is just as gritty and utilises the same close ups to make us uneasy, uncomfortable, disoriented, disgusted. She's making us FEEL with her movies and she's not afraid to 'go there'. She's asking us not to turn away from hard subjects. I cannot wait to see what she does next. As a horror fanatic, The Substance was my movie of the year. With Demi Vs Smile 2's Naomi Scott for horror performance of the year.

JenVonLee

Diamond Dave... I gave this movie 3 stars the first time I watched it. I thought it was confused and unfocused. Then I realized that I was the one confused. Today marks my seventh rewatch and my first five star rating after four straight 4 1/2s. 🤣 I totally get what you mean.

J Knight

a little innocent bathwater is crazy 😭

Jaylen

Might want to get Oak a bucket for when you watch the Terrifier movies 😂

Katie

The Dennis Quaid “ASMR” shots fucking with DD was very entertaining 😂😂😂

Steven Warner

Wow, first time watch, totally saw that coming with the plot, for a second there i thought they were the same mind, but transferring from body to body, but holy shit the end result was fantastic, these types of horror films are my shit (i think this is on the same level as Smile 2)

Steven Warner

With the crazy censorship in my country, even IF this movie made it to theater, it would be just 1,5 hours movie 😁

Fajar Kurniawan

The Curious George jacket 😂😂😂

Steven Warner

LOOOOVED THIS MOVIE!!! This was my third time watching it. I resonated a lot with Oak's after thoughts and his insight in the fitness industry, I apreciate that you guys get into whatever you're watching and can give a serious and thoughtful take about it. I too think saltburn is worse lol that one was just frustrating and pointless!!! Glad that you guys gave it a chance and YES!! Demi is still a babe!! she's gorg<3 I felt proud when DD did an aot comparison hahah

Daniela Robles

I actually haven't watched this yet lol so I'll watch along with you guys

rwie

I loved this movie so much. As a woman, it resonated so much to me. I think the last twenty minutes are supposed to represent catharsis for the character. Everything just goes bonkers, haha! I love whenever you guys reaction to horror films. It's always so much fun!

Megan Schnese

the way the week schedule got sent showing you were gonna be watching this, while i was watching it is nuts! DD is a real one for this. This is def a great 'reaction movie' and remember yall, comparison is the thief of joy. dont forget to look after yourself ;)

GillyBean

This was probably the worst movie of 2024 for me tbh simply because its not my sort of movie although i can understand if people like it because of the hidden messages about society

Bloop

I also got nauseous watching this for the first time haha glad I wasn’t alone ! 🙈

Lily

Lol well, I picked what everyone recommended 😂🤘

Badd Medicine

I laughed so hard at DD saying 'We picked this!' .... 'I picked this :D' This film really moved me. To me, it felt like at the very end, the one time Elisabeth was comfortable going outside being 'ugly' she got called a monster. And she finally seems happy when she has NO body :(

Katie Madsen

Well, there are so many things I want to start with, but I’ll begin with the least serious one, hahaha. Watching the reaction and seeing Oak and DD (especially Oak) so sensitive and suffering from what they were watching just in the beginning made me laugh thinking, “and you have NO IDEA what’s coming, hahaha!” Seeing The Answer with such an excited expression, typical reaction of someone who loves watching slashers haha and Mason Q with such a neutral look paying close attention to everything. It’s great that in the end, you were able to make so many observations and not just hate on the movie. And it’s exactly as you said: opinions range from “I hate it!” to “It’s the best thing I’ve ever seen!” And it already has its Golden Globe nominations and will likely be an Oscar nominee. There’s so much to discuss, but you guys summarized it really well—a movie that clearly aims to unsettle and impact viewers, addressing feminist themes in a visceral way, showing the "disgusting" as a symbolic critique of the industry and its treatment of women as objects, the obsession with physical perfection, objectification, and dehumanization. And what a way to leave an impact and hammer it into someone’s head, as Oak said, by making us feel so grotesquely uncomfortable. Watching it in the theater was an experience! I had dozens of people around me screaming, disgusted, laughing, some got up angry and left! Others were yelling for it to end already! And honestly, when I finished watching it, I did feel like it dragged too much at the end, that the last 15 minutes were "too much." But then, while talking with a friend about the movie, she said something like: There are women in the industry or in their lives who have endured this treatment for decades! And we can’t handle the discomfort for a couple of hours? And I was like... oh.. wow ok. I think that was the point. The narrative and visual design of movies like this, isn’t just to generate superficial disgust but to force you, as a viewer, to confront, almost viscerally, the issues the story tackles. And as Oak said at the end: BRILLIANT!!

Magda Ch

This was fun, my stomach hurts from laughing so hard man. Anyone else got Punisher vibes with the mirror just a tad

Dy'Nasha

What the hell did i just watch, i never watch these kind of movies so this was a surprise to say the least.

Nomad

how can i love 4 strangers that much...... geez

vertebra

I absolutely loved this movie- I thought it was brilliant and loved how it totally leaned into the absurd levels of body horror at the end to, in my opinion, make it’s statement on the lengths some people feel compelled to alter their appearance love themselves and have society love them. Its commentary on beauty standards and how toxic the industry and society can be was so well executed in my eyes. I can see how the movie isn’t for everyone but to me it’s a 5/5 answer movie. 🤘😊

Paul Yu

I love this up until the ending 😂

dredre8424

Absolutely love this movie! I agree Coralie is brilliant! Its unique, but really shows how beauty standards in Hollywood and just society in general pressure people to extremes to stay “perfect”. The mirror scene where she smears her makeup really hit hard. Absolute powerhouse of a movie. Btw: Margret Qualley(Sue) was actually in the Monstro Elisasue suit!

Ari

Reading this, it makes me think of the relationship we have with ourselves. That can be pretty hard as well but like Oak said, with pictures. A picture of us 5 or 10 years ago. This movie can make us talk over hours and hours

Alexiani Gollarza

Wow, that review was something else. I would like to thank Oak for opening his heart about the topic of how we look at this and that age. Actually, with only the scene of Demi and the makeup was enough to have a conversation of hours, easy. I see that with my mom, she's 52 and looks stunning, I say that to her and she tells me "I don't feel like that" and it hurts to hear her say that so body image is something to talk about. And yes Oak, we the audience need to be mindful of what we put out there. P.s DD you can share your rate on a post here on Patreon and then Edit your score for the YT cut (just a thought)

Alexiani Gollarza

I love that Oak understood this film and appreciated the messages that it put forward (despite the needle cringing lol). Also, this is totally Kubrick & Cronenberg's love child.

Simon

I was halfway through this reaction and my mom came into my room with chicken, like, 5 minutes after Demi was pulling the guts off the chicken. Suffice to say, I'm not hungry. Now with the movie, I agree with MQ, this is a compact story that didn't need to be this long, that being said, yes we can pull a lot of things out of this movie and all of them are important to talk about. Right about the time DD said to roll credits that's when I hit bottom with the movie. Also, the part where DD said "we chose this" and Oak said "WE!?" the "I!" killed me 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Alexiani Gollarza

No oak we haven’t had those kinds of dreams before 😂😂😂

Jake Austin

I didn't realise Oak was sooo squeamish......almost as entertaining as the movie itself! XD

Mr H Aziz

body transfiguration

accomplice

this movie made me feel uneasy the entire time 😭

Belly p.

I love this movie!! Yes it's campy and the body horror can be much for some folks but there's a lot of emotional truth in it. I felt the relationship between Elisabeth and Sue mirrored relationships irl that are super toxic but that folks don't leave because they don't want to be alone, even though they'd be better off alone. I felt so sad for Elisabeth cus she was so beautiful to begin with but just couldn't see it herself.

Christina Chilin

I was in a sold out cinema in Germany during the Fantasy Filmfest with about 300 other people and it was a blast🤘

DustinEatWorld

Been waiting to watch this with ya'll

Alyssa Dyson

This movie was a trip to watch in theaters

Jihad Lee

Oh here we go🫣🤣

Angel Griffin