The Substance

Lauded as a career milestone for Demi Moore after its premiere at Cannes film festival with a 13-minute ovation, The Substance is body horror at its best (or is that worst?).

Rather than a specific song choice, as is the case for many horror trailers, the edit is light on melody and heavy on atmospheric soundscapes. From the outset, we hear camera shutters and the screams of adoring fans as we see a close-up on an acting award. We then cut to a scene with Demi’s character and what appears to be her agent having lunch, albeit everything is exaggerated in a grotesque manner. Close, ultrawide angles dominate, punctuated by the clattering of dishware and the sound of chewing food placed unsettlingly high in the mix, an unsubtle reference to the current craze for mukbang videos.

At 0:20, a blaring synth in the low end foreshadows the body horror to come, in tandem with a title card blasting the film’s best screenplay award at Cannes this year. This repeats at 0:33 with the director’s title card, between lines in an unsettling monologue about impossible beauty standards and the promise of a drug that rejuvenates in miraculous ways. At 0:35 this sound spears multiple times as a motif synched to a visual blackout as we see the protagonist inject herself with the substance.

Notice how a0:50, we hear a highly unusual sound effect synched to the moment of injection, with a cartoonish sound effect what would traditionally be associated with a magic wand used to signify the use of the drug. The contrast between the realistic visual and cartoonish sound provides an unsettling audiovisual counterpoint.

The protagonist says, “I am Sue” at 1:07 having transformed, which is met with the sound of creepy violins in the high register — a well-used effect in the horror repertoire, but no less effective here, over multiple screens. Later, at 1:38 we hear a ringing sound along with a muffled scream to emphasize Moore’s assertion that “there’s been a slight misuse of the substance.” A blood-curdling scream with the character off camera does much to promise what might happen without giving it away. This is followed by a rapid montage sequence with the words “would you like to stop?” in the monologue — with the implication being, of course, that she couldn’t if she tried. All of this is accompanied by creep[y sound design at the low end.

The last thirty seconds becomes harder to follow, as we see snippets of Moore lambasting herself while saying “Everything is Fine” and a suggestion of true body horror at 2:10 as Moore seems to grow extra pupils in her eye — for lack of a better description. The atmospheric soundscape engages in a continually rising crescendo here, climaxing at a difficult to see, split-second appearance of what looks like a body on fire, following by the title — stark, with an unusual black against white colour scheme.

While there’s not too much here that veers wholly off the path of horror trailer conventions, including the absence of a musical theme, the magic wand sound effect in particular is effective in its subversion. In addition, the use of mixing techniques to turn an otherwise ordinary lunch scene into an anxiety-ridden ordeal is similarly worthy of note. These relatively small editing decisions, taken together, really sell the insidious nature of the substance and those in the entertainment industry who abuse it.

The Substance hits theatres September 18th.

— Curtis Perry