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Cinema

Not for the squeamish: The Substance reviewed

21 September 2024

9:00 AM

21 September 2024

9:00 AM

The Substance

18, Nationwide

Both horribly familiar and wonderfully shocking, this body-horror film written and directed by Coralie Fargeat does a very traditional thing – turning the scramble for youth and beauty into a monster of immeasurable disgust and immorality – in a huge way. There is nothing minimal or restrained or overly clever here; nothing of the nuance in language or wit that makes its forerunner, The Picture of Dorian Gray, so haunting.

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