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It’s a truth universally acknowledged that the Academy doesn’t take horror movies that seriously. Even if they do give out a couple of coveted horror film nominations during the Oscars, horror and strange films almost never take home the grand prize, which is frustrating, to say the least; The horror genre is in a pretty good place at the time of this writing, and there are many great directors with vision and style working in it who create genuinely phenomenal, critically acclaimed work. Even though Coralie Fargeat’s brave, bloody, crazy horror film “The Substance” did won a single statue at the 2025 Oscar ceremony, it still didn’t have any wins in the so-called “above the line” categories, but now that it’s a hit on HBO Max (according to FlixPatrol‘s charts), you can investigate the matter yourself.
Produced by the streaming service Mubi, which allowed a theatrical release of “The Substance” and served as the film’s exclusive streaming home for some time, the film centers on Demi Moore’s fading star, Elisabeth Sparkle, who makes a deal with the proverbial devil to gain new youth and beauty using the titular “substance.” Obviously, there are a lot of rules involved, and even more obviously, Elisabeth breaks them, leading to one bloody disaster after another. So what else do you need to know about “The Substance” and, in a world where the Academy really values the horror genre, what ought Did you win at the 97th Academy Awards?
The Substance is gross, over-the-top, and surprisingly deep
The “substance” that Elisabeth Sparkle takes in “The Substance” is direct devilbut also allows Elisabeth to spend a week at a time (in theory) in the body of a younger, “more beautiful” woman known only as Sue (a ridiculously well-cast and deployed Margaret Qualley). Here’s the problem, and I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this: although Elisabeth is supposed to hook any body not currently in use up to the IVs and keep it on ice, so to speak, until she switches back after the prescribed week, she gets high on her own supply like Sue and gradually stops switching back into Elisabeth’s body. As Elisabeth’s body falls into disrepair from lack of use, we see it age rapidly each time Elisabeth reinhabits her “original” body, leading to a truly crazy and incredibly disturbing climax where Sue and Elisabeth merge into a hideous creature known as “the monstrous Elisasue.” To say all hell breaks loose is… an understatement.
On paper, this sounds like a pretty straightforward body horror, but thanks to writer-director Coralie Fargeat’s approach and sharp message, it’s anything but that in practice. Amid all the astonishingly rude scenes in “The Substance,” the most striking is a scene in which Elisabeth, in the body of Demi Moore, prepares for a date only to attack her own face and hair when she doesn’t feel she can meet the man’s (or her own) expectations. “The Substance” tells its story in a gruesome and exaggerated way, but its message is profound: women face impossible physical standards, and can take them to a point of no return.
Unfortunately, The Substance went unnoticed at the 2025 Academy Awards
Although “The Substance” racked up a truly impressive number of Academy Award nominations for a horror film (especially one this bold) at the end of the day, it only took home one Oscar for makeup and hairstyling. Although that was well deserved based solely on Elisasue’s aforementioned monstrous appearance, I’m not the first and I won’t be the last to say that Demi Moore really, In fact He deserved an Oscar for his leading role.
After an incredibly competitive awards season, Sean Baker’s wacky sex-worker drama “Anora” ended up anointed as the Oscar front-runner, taking home Best Picture (a category in which “The Substance” was nominated but never had a real shot at winning), as well as Best Actress, the category in which “Anora” ingenue Mikey Madison triumphed over industry veteran Moore. Moore, for her part, won the Golden Globe (although she and Madison competed there in different genre categories, between drama for Moore and comedy for Madison) and the Screen Actors Guild award for best actress. Still, a comeback narrative persists for Moore, who throughout her career was told she would never be a serious actress only to eventually earn an Academy Award nomination for one of the most delightfully strange films in recent memory. fair out of reach.
You can decide for yourself whether or not Moore deserved an Oscar for “The Substance,” because it’s now streaming on HBO Max and is just one of several big projects you should check out on the streamer this week.
