The Reel Rejects - THE SUBSTANCE IS INSANE! MOVIE REVIEW! First Time Watching

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Starting point is 00:01:00 Don't worry, though. Sierra also has yoga gear. It might be a good place to find your zen. Discover top brands at unexpectedly low prices. Sierra, let's get moving. Greg, how are you today, my dear? Doing fantastic. Every Thursday horror movie reactions, keep a lookout. Oh, that's the thing. Yeah, that's the thing I said for you to say, but you didn't say it. Well, you don't know that I wasn't gonna. You were, you were not.

Starting point is 00:01:24 I just want to be clear right now. Here's where we're at. We're about to watch this up since, and Greg is playing with fire. Let's go. That was so good. That was disgusting. That's so good. All right, Greg. So we just watched the substance. Yeah?

Starting point is 00:01:49 Yeah, we did. Is that how you're feeling about it? That's how I'm feeling about it. Before we get into it, guys, don't forget if you are over on Apple, Spotify, give us that five-star, like, comment. We want to know what you guys are. to say especially about a movie like this because this movie was bazonkers in the best way

Starting point is 00:02:04 possible and we want to hear from you but now i want to hear from gregg just having finished it what is your initial reaction to this movie i feel like it was uh absolutely disgusting in all the right ways it was repulsive actually got nauseous it was a fun horror movie that was not only unsettling due to its visuals but just due to its context you know i didn't find it to be disgusting as much as heartbreaking. You didn't think it was disgusting. You're not wrong, but it is interesting

Starting point is 00:02:37 because you've had me watching Terrifier and Evil Dead and a lot of movies that are horror more for horror's sake. And not that they don't have a commentary on society, but this movie, it feels like the most horrifying part of this movie

Starting point is 00:02:52 is how we treat women as they're aging and how we treat people in Hollywood and how we throw people out like they're garbage and how it's very hard to come to terms with the aging process because of how the world treats you like that was horrifying but heartbreaking so the body horror was to me the second scariest part of the movie that's what was clever about it yeah was that the context itself like the actual experience of the journey she's going on so much of the time when i was so uncomfortable was just from like the choices she might potentially make as sue um

Starting point is 00:03:29 Or, oh, my God, what's Demi Moore's, uh, the prime personnel I've already forgot it. It's Jennifer. Jennifer's body. It was called Demi Moore. Jennifer's body. But yeah. Remember when they merge their names at the end? Monster.

Starting point is 00:03:43 Rose's, yeah. It's, I like when the movie, um, you went to get a little campy. Uh, but yeah, the, the, the, you, just knowing what choices she might make were the parts that I thought were the scariest stuff. Like, you can kind of see that when they set up the rules of, what it is for the substance that, okay, it's... Sparkle. Sparkle.

Starting point is 00:04:03 Jennifer Sparkle? Catherine Sparkles? Elizabeth. Elizabeth. That... We did it. When they're sending up the rules of what it takes for the substance to keep working, they're like, okay, at some point, one of them's going to want to, like, just presumably

Starting point is 00:04:19 the younger one will want to just stay in that form at some point. But it's weird even hearing you say that because the whole thing of the movie kept saying that it's not one of the. them, they are one, but they weren't. Yes. Because the body you're in helps dictate who you are. What do you take that as for a commentary as a woman? I do think that it is so upsetting.

Starting point is 00:04:45 As somebody who hangs out with people of all different ages, you know, I take care of two different women, one in their 80s and one in their 90s. And I also am just around a lot of elderly people a lot. Right, right. And to watch as people go through the aging process, how people treat women, like even if it's at a grocery store behind a counter or if you're driving next to them and the things that people will say to you or do, which we saw in this movie very clearly with the guy who just slept with Sue, but then sees Elizabeth and is like, watch it. Yeah. that how you act also depends on your privilege in which body, there is such thing as young privilege. There is such thing as pretty privilege. And I'm not saying that that is something that

Starting point is 00:05:41 should dictate how you act in every scenario or how you call people out. But Margaret Quali is viewed by the world differently. And that won't last forever. But we did see that. Yeah. And it's a, It's a story that obviously is dealing a lot with difficulty of accepting yourself. Like it is at the end of the day, like this external validation in the most simplistic terms that she's ultimately seeking because she feels alone. She's very, she's really lonely. And I think. Which one? Demi Moore.

Starting point is 00:06:14 The way she. Did you find the both to be lonely? I think, yeah, that's the point. It's like they're both one and the same. It's just like the demeanor and the way you behave. It's like Margaret Quali's or Sue. her time will be so short-lived as being accepted as her beauty starts to, you know, not be as beautiful as youthful, you know, and that's, like, there's so much a way a person can just be beautiful beyond just their physicality, but going off of like, especially the way that, like, the satirical version of what I feel like Dennis Quaid really embodies of being that satirical, over-exaggerated version of what the Hollywood suit to man, what's supposed to. propel up on front of the camera for people because sex cells and all that while looking the way

Starting point is 00:06:59 he does you know like being so harsh on demi moore's looks while he's sitting there with gunk and yellow in between his teeth yes you know and that and that was really interesting too that was one of the more interesting parts to me was because there was a sensory vibe that i was really getting with the movie and that's part of what made it so like icky who was how sensory of an experience this was especially being able to hop back and forth between both of them, but there was this consistency with food that... Oh, my God, the food, Greg. I wasn't even 100% sure what it was doing

Starting point is 00:07:33 because it was, like, off-putting the way how they would handle the food. Like, the food never looked appetizing. There was always... And there is a thing about, like, food and consumption. The movie doesn't really talk about weight, but it does talk about, like, comments on, like, being in shape. And, like, that's one thing that they keep consuming. in on the like demi moore's butt and margot quality's but like i don't know what it is the firmness

Starting point is 00:07:58 elasticity to their skin and stuff the youth to it and they also and like with food they talk about like you are what you eat and then of course in like the industry there's so much pressure on being a certain weight and looking a certain way based off what you consume and i liked how they kind of pull like from both positions whether you're demi more or margot quality both versions are like food is kind of an enemy in some way. I think that also it was just a commentary on binging. Yes, absolutely, which I really identify. Well, I think a lot of us do, whether it's about food or something else, we all, I don't

Starting point is 00:08:38 know anybody who's not addicted to something in some form, whether it's media, alcohol, sugar, food in general, you know, all of us go through life and find things that we do in times that we're more stressed or times that we're sad or times when we hate ourselves. And I think that the food here, as we watch her, punish herself by in taking all that food, and not only is she, it's worth it to punish herself because she's punishing this other younger version of herself, too. Kind of what that speaks to on ourselves, like when we are hurting ourselves, who are we really hurting?

Starting point is 00:09:15 Yeah. And when we do things, who is it that it really affects? Yeah. Yeah, you know, like sometimes I see like older celebrities, they might talk about their younger self as if they were, because, you know, I feel like I'm a different person every two to three years. Every two or three years, I'm like, I'm a completely different person than who it was. As I'm constantly learning. Why is it that time period? It's like the combination of life experience and, and the combination of I'm constantly learning stuff about me or learning other things and trying to expand my point of view or my perspective. they say every seven years that's what the the experts say about um like on a cellular level yeah yeah yeah like you got a totally different body yeah yeah yeah i think just like mental wise i'm always like man who i was two to three years ago was like i'm so much more and i always feel like i've i'm so much more and i'm an enhanced version of who i was two three years ago and i forgot

Starting point is 00:10:12 why i brought that up oh yeah well then they're talking about the that's why this helps this little notepad here is the i'm so happy i have mine the older person talking about their younger self as if they're a separate person and early on in the movie when she does crack that photo of her that's like draped in the background like she cracks that when she's just regular demi more before she takes the substance like hating that younger version of herself as if it's a completely separate person but that is her and that's i love this commentary of like Like, this identity you're forming is still, you're doing it. Like, you still have the responsibility in this.

Starting point is 00:10:50 So as much as there's like this blame of, like, the Marco Quality character is sort of this embodiment of blame of when you are like, this is what I have to be because this is what the world wants me to be. And then it becomes a separation when you're like, remember, you are one. So there is this level of you can't accept some type of accountability and responsibility because at the end of the day, Demi Moore, is still responsible because she does take these choices and she still is one in this they are one in the same so i love the the many layers to that of like it's not a separate person but the movie's even having you feel like they are separate people but they're not separate people yeah yeah and and i think that that becomes blurry to them as well um is that me because then when they start using she it becomes very apparent it's not i think it's also commentary to people our age gregg

Starting point is 00:11:41 because we are right between these two, we're between our 20s and our 50s. And I think that sometimes, I don't know how you feel, but sometimes at 33, I will feel like, wow, I'm not young enough. I'm not pretty enough.

Starting point is 00:11:57 There's always somebody else coming up in this industry who is better than me. But who I am today is the youngest and probably the hottest that I ever will be. and it only you only get older maybe you get hotter because technology and if you take good care of your skin but i think that when demi more at 50 is looking in the mirror and not liking what she sees if she had by comparison seen where she ends up looking like her little old lady's self she was on the phone she's begging to go back to where she was yeah so it's like finding comfortability

Starting point is 00:12:35 and where you are knowing that one day you'll wish you were again where you are today no matter what age you are whether that's when you're 90 you wish that you were 70 yeah um and maybe you don't wish that maybe you find comfort in where you are because there's so much more wisdom and freedom and flexibility um but i don't know any as somebody who spends time with so many elderly people i don't know anybody who doesn't long for their youth they all do because what comes with age is pain and heartache you either live long enough to see the everybody else pass or you yourself are the one to pain and passing. So I do think that this was the whole thing on aging just really spoke to me.

Starting point is 00:13:17 I think it was really beautiful. And sorry to ramble a little bit, but the other thing that I feel is looking at it for me wholeheartedly, not saying this because we're on camera, saying this because I really feel this way, Demi Moore and Margaret Quali are equally beautiful. From an outside perspective, I looked at their bodies, I looked at their faces, I looked at their, um, what they had done in the industry. I looked at the full package and I was like, these are two stunning women. And yet,

Starting point is 00:13:47 that's not how society makes people who are 50 feel, even though she was as beautiful as the 25-year-old version of her. And that's crazy. And what's crazy, too, is this version of Demi Moore that she's playing,

Starting point is 00:14:01 I can imagine there's, she relates to the character on, she's got to relate to the character on some level. I spilled it again, Greg. Oh, yeah, take the substance. You got to imagine that she relates to the character on some level. Do you leave? Right on the, right on the spot.

Starting point is 00:14:17 Right on the exact spot you don't want to spell. Keep going. You shouldn't wear white when you're here. Well, I think it's like these lit. I don't know. Okay, she relates it all the end afterwards. It's the lid. This is a movie about loving yourself and taking accountability for heroine actions.

Starting point is 00:14:37 That wasn't me. That was the lid, Greg. I'll just go like this. I think Demi Moore, whenever I see her in interviews or pop up anywhere, she doesn't come across like this at all. Like she comes across as someone with so much confidence. She really does. Which is what's so sexy about her.

Starting point is 00:14:55 Exactly. Like that whole, when she was with Ashton Coucher and the whole age difference thing, I was like, yeah, I get it. I think a lot of people got it when you're like, yeah, she's still freaking hot. And a big part of that is not just her physicality. but the way she also carries herself. So I was loving her. I think what a lot of people might take away

Starting point is 00:15:13 with her performance here is more of the bigger moments, like when she's like started really aged up half of her body and she's going big and more vocal. But even before that, I was so like dazzled by her performance here. Like this level of vulnerability

Starting point is 00:15:26 and the hinting at the past of who she might have been like. Like her character lives so much in the past that she has no friends or family of today. Like nothing. None that we see. Yeah. I mean, no one checks up on her.

Starting point is 00:15:39 No photos anywhere. Yeah, it's totally. She didn't have kids. And I love that of like how internal her performance was. And the more the younger version or better version, quote unquote, was on the rise, the more she deteriorated not only physically, but she'll start becoming like more vocal, like her true emotions that were like repressed were coming out of her as it was also coming out on her body as well. That's a good point. Disgust with herself. It was such a psychological performance on both their ends.

Starting point is 00:16:11 And even like the Margaret Quality version and Demi Moore, they represent two different sides of the same person on not just a physical level, but on a really deep psychological level. Like the younger version hates the older version. They hate the way she looks. Like when the thought of going in her body for a day, the first time Margaret Quality hears that after three months, she gags at the thought of that.

Starting point is 00:16:33 And she's not really like, you're the same person. That's you. yeah a couple of questions for you number one is there any world in which demi more is nominated for an oscar for this uh i don't think though they'll do it which sucks i mean i feel like this should be makeup as well like on on a on a makeup level i these kind of movies do get ignored especially because it's to come out in like october time too it's so such a bummer because i'm trying to i'm hard pressed to think of a better performance that i saw this year than demi more in this movie and live action it's um i haven't seen too many i feel like i've

Starting point is 00:17:11 why did you say in live action was there an animated performance that you well i was for some reason i when i think about like female led performances i can't having a hard time actually recalling outside of like supporting is there a female led that's actually falls on me i saw amelia peres um and and i think that right now um zoe saldana is gonna is a front runner for actress but yeah i i mean like it is hard to know sometimes where they're going to go supporting where they're going to go with lead um but yeah i can't think of a performance that i thought was more powerful than this this year yeah she was amazing margoyle great too and uh dennis quade awesome he was awesome i love the effects too like the maybe florence pew i think that

Starting point is 00:18:00 the andrew garfield one yeah she because i think that she's going to be up as well for But honestly, Demi Moore was so moving in this. Yeah, and like the way she transforms not just physically, but a lot of that's with the makeup, but she does change her whole body language and that desperation. Like I love when she's like trying to terminate her younger self and then she realizes like, I can't do it. You're like, oh, fuck.

Starting point is 00:18:26 It's so painful. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. One of the things that I, that when we're watching this, I was thinking about is my friends who have seen this movie um and everybody says like don't spoil it for yourself going in don't watch anything don't know anything going into this but i didn't really feel like there was like what could you have spoiled that much the premise of it um there's nothing anybody could have told me that would

Starting point is 00:18:52 have got me prepared for this it was so so good but i don't think that anybody could have ruined it for me because it's like watching it is the creepy part i mean the simple plot is someone takes us injects themselves with some type of secret substance that allows them to birth a younger I mean how do you explain this actually I was trying to like think of like what's the simple log line to this movie right also in the yoke is the second yoke a younger egg maybe and did they invent a way for food to replicate and it's not expired and could they solve world hunger I thought that was a combination on like a comment on female eggs, you know. What came first? The chicken or the female egg?

Starting point is 00:19:46 That is what the movie was definitely trying to say. So I looked up quickly the filmmaker of this. Yes. And you had actually seen a previous movie of hers. Yeah, she had an indie darling film, Revenge. So she had done shorts before that, but I think the old. only other one revenge is our only other feature which you said was much more violent or no no it was a really violent movie really violent yeah she's not afraid of like violence and

Starting point is 00:20:13 sexuality at all if you had said like gun to your head is this a woman director male director woman writer male writer like you just know with movies like this i just knew that this was a woman that wrote absolutely i'd be shocked if it was it is so in touch with the my personal experience out here in Hollywood, but also with my experience as a woman in the world. And even now being looked at differently than when I was 22, yeah, I just feel like she just really opened up her soul for this. And it's not, I don't want to say this as a negative.

Starting point is 00:20:50 Like, it's not just a horror movie. It was really... Well, the best horror movies are usually a different genre first. Totally. That's what I mean. And then horror. And usually if you go with the inverse, they're never as effective. Yeah. And the reason this is, I think, has made an impact is because at the end of the day, when it comes to the horror, they actually really deliver on it.

Starting point is 00:21:10 You know, like, a lot of horror movies, like, elevated horror often have, like, poor audience scores because the trailers promise one thing. And instead, you just get some, like, slow drama with a little bit of horror. Like, hereditary wasn't well received by audiences when it first came out. How did audience receive this? Do you know what the Rotten Tomato Scores? I'm pretty sure they like this. Because the movie actually delivers on the horror. They really, the last like 20 minutes of this is nuts.

Starting point is 00:21:34 This is a, it's an insane, like, I'm watching this. Like, even when we watch Terrifier, I was like, okay, I know we can blur and cut around. This would be a wild in-theater experience. I'd imagine it would be. I feel like it very vocal. Take a guess on what this has for the tomato meter and what it has for the popcorn meter. Tomato, I would say, 80. Okay.

Starting point is 00:21:55 And popcorn, I would say. 90 Okay, flip them on their head Tomato meter 91 Popcorn meter 74 Pretty surprised by that That's pretty That's honestly pretty high

Starting point is 00:22:09 Popcorn meter for an elevated horror movie Yeah but 91's an extremely high For a horror movie For the tomato meter Elevated horror it makes sense Elevated horror movies like this Or whatever that genre is of elevated horror Which is a film like this

Starting point is 00:22:25 They do well with the critics tend to love Really wow well they did love this 91 is extremely high yeah um and i get why that was a big win for me um gregg i want to see your notepad and see if we okay hold on let me let me check this out have you spoken about f cers effects greg where's the what is the what is that what is that let's letter only okay have you spoken about the effects yes have you spoken about beanie starburst standards yeah we've talked about that did you speak about

Starting point is 00:23:01 ulnarol vulnerability tell me more we've talked about it did you speak about camp we touched on that did you talk about intendin intentin self identity and self acceptance

Starting point is 00:23:18 oh my god space out your words my dude and music the music part we were both enthralled by music was amazing it was like a heartbeat there you go anything else you want to tell the people uh i know it's probably one of my favorite movies of the year yeah me too

Starting point is 00:23:33 me too that was exciting genuinely that was that was gross i get the hype all right we get some and see that was a long review i know that's a good review oh it's a good review good thing we did it good thing we reviewed good thing we'll see you guys soon let us know if there's other movies you want to cover we right now are doing a whole have a whole list of things that we're thinking about um gregg and i have a couple i know i'm with my she jack typically for horror but we actually have a couple of things that we're thinking of doing that are more in this vein strange darling

Starting point is 00:24:04 you want to just tell i hear she is amazing in that film a lot of people have been like i don't know who's in it i don't know who it is either but i've heard whoever the lead actresses in it is like incredible i haven't seen one thing about that one i also hear to go in that blind so i shall um but you guys thank you for watching and we will see you next time later rejects Thank you.

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The Reel Rejects - THE SUBSTANCE IS INSANE! MOVIE REVIEW! First Time Watching

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