'The Substance' Completely Flips a Stale Horror Trend on Its Head

Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for The Substance.Writer/director Coralie Fargeats satirical body horror The Substance, which stars Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, explores the terror and desperation of aging through the feminine lens, which is a refreshing (albeit flawed at times) take on a not-so-fresh trope. Though it may feel like Hagsploitation, also known as Psycho-Biddy, has run its course in the genre since the days of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, the image of a deranged (usually naked) older woman is still being deployed for cheap scares in modern horror movies like X, The Visit, and Barbarian. Through the male lens, the less sexually desirable a woman is, the more grotesque she is, and thus, scary. In the age of social media, cosmetic surgery, and Ozempic, it seems that women have internalized the idea that their thinning hair, wrinkly skin, and sagging breasts are monstrous; a notion that is heavily explored by Fargeat. Though the film is not a perfect metaphor and has proven to be a bit divisive, the final act of the film is an exaggeratedly brutal, yet cathartic, visual representation of how women are treated once they are no longer perceived as young, beautiful, or desirable.