The Gutter’s own Sachin Hingoo reviews Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance (France, 2024) at Biff Bam Pop! “I once joked to a friend that no one in Hollywood has the guts or gumption to do a 360 degree whip-pan around the room when a character answers a telephone like Bollywood/Tollywood does. There’s an undisciplined surety in that kind of style that includes flourishes and unusual points of view that I appreciate when the narrative supports it, because no matter what anyone tells you, less isn’t more–more is more. It’s that kind of audacious directing that Coralie Fargeat brought to the table in Revenge (2018), and what she develops even further here in The Substance. 

Everything you’ve heard about Fargeat’s new project–delirious, bewildering, perverted, blood-soaked – is true. I usually have one or two screenings at every TIFF that leaves me stunned and reeling as the credits roll, and The Substance is definitely one of them, even putting aside the fact that it was one of my most anticipated films of the year. A film that builds and builds on it’s insane concept until it careens into pure over-the-top madness in the year’s best climax, it’s far and away one of the best body horror films I’ve ever seen.”

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