The Substance: Heavy horror film hits Vietnamese theaters, audience's hair stands on end

The Substance is a horror film that will hit Vietnamese theaters early this November. The film is highly anticipated by cinema fans, because of its extremely heavy, terrifying plot that will make your hair stand on end.

Before its official release at box offices nationwide, The Substance has created a storm across social networks, attracting a lot of attention and discussion from netizens. Exploiting the theme of body horror, the film has successfully brought a terrifying, hair-raising feast in the context of the superhero - psychological - murder horror film market gradually declining and no longer attracting audiences.

The film marks the return of talented director Coralie Fargeat, who recently won the Best Screenplay award at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

The film tells the story of a Hollywood superstar Elisabeth Sparkle (played by Demi Moore) who is past her prime. Unable to accept the harsh rules of showbiz dismissal due to age, Elisabeth accepts the game of changing her fate through cosmetic surgery.

For Elisabeth, the journey to restore her beauty was a journey to restore her glory. Living in the praise of her fans, she felt she had value, even if all that value was her own creation.

In The Substance, Elisabeth trades her life to regain her youthful beauty. Viewers will be led by Demi Moore's extraordinary acting ability to the path of rejuvenation through cosmetic surgery and the consequences caused by excessive cosmetic surgery.

The Substance also sends viewers a more powerful message. The entertainment industry around the world, including Vietnam, contains an irresistible magic. That is the allure of fame. Many people in the entertainment industry calmly share that "fame comes as a fate and I have accepted it as a lucky blessing" and there are also people who do not hesitate to admit their ambition of "tomorrow being better (meaning famous) than yesterday and always working tirelessly towards their destination".

In 2024, A24 and Neon studios are leading the horror film race, far surpassing other competitors in the same category. However, with the blockbuster The Substance just released not long ago, MUBI is of course a potential face, even difficult to compete with the two "giants" in the horror film industry. The work of Coralie Fargeat, a French female director who only has 2 film projects under her belt, was once "turned" extremely harshly by Universal Pictures because the original script did not bring about a profitable factor, so this will be a rather risky gamble. Thanks to that, the MUBI streaming platform quickly "took" its own "warhorse".

The film has grossed nearly $15 million domestically and $39 million overseas, bringing its global total to nearly $53.6 million, a very positive number. Compared to its initial budget of $17 million, The Substance is expected to break even and start making a profit, marking a new milestone at the theaters.

The Substance vividly depicts the miserable life of women, especially celebrities. For individuals who depend on public recognition, being labeled as "outdated" is an unwanted career bottleneck. When the name of the female lead Elizabeth (Demi Moore) no longer holds weight in the hearts of the public, it means that she has somewhat lost herself, lost the source of life that once nurtured her when she was at the peak of glory.

With over 40 years in the industry, Demi Moore's acting is beyond dispute. Her aging, worn-out appearance in a "must-see" situation makes viewers both terrified and amazed by the film's heavy-handedness. Some say that if The Substance had been filmed in the early 2000s, it would have been like a stroke of fate for Demi Moore, because she had already gone through a career crisis for more than two decades, and audiences and fans were no longer interested in the actress's entertainment activities.

Movie Cam: Beautiful enough setting, scary enough, engaging enough acting, but minus 1 point Thảo Mai16:56:20 19/09/2024Tam Cam is a national fairy tale that everyone knows by heart. Turning the film version of Cam into a horror film is a curious move, but also risky because if done poorly, the audience will react.