Premiere watched at Vega Scene in Oslo

WOW WOW WOW

This is brave, cathartic and reinvigorating cinema. I urge everyone to watch it. Even if you don’t like body horror please challenge yourself to watch this magnificent piece of auteur, genre filmmaking. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley put it all on the line in service of art with a purpose, and I am sure Coralie Fargeat will go on to become one of the defining directors of the upcoming times. She is a true cinema buff and it is clear to see in every frame.

I am so incredibly happy to have watched Naked Lunch prior to this movie. I feel like it informed so much my understanding of genre filmmaking and of body horror in itself as an exploration of the universal frustrations of humanity, and it prepared me for The Substance in such a constructive way.

Lately I am not enjoying writing too much about the movies that I watch because I don’t like to review or critique, I just like to praise, and that gets repetitive for a single movie. I generally enjoy most movies so it is hard for me to signal when I like a movie more than others. It is easy to fall in the trap of this is the best of… However, I truly think that this movie is the best movie that I have seen this year which was released this year. I truly hope that it sustains a rich, consistent campaign until the awards season, so that hopefully it can get the recognition that this type of films should get. Don’t we all just want to see true, unhinged art on the screen thrive and succeed?