• Director(s)

    Coralie Fargeat

  • Production Year

    2024

  • Genre(s)

    Drama, Horror

  • Approx. running minutes

    141m

  • Cast

    Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Demi Moore

Film

The Substance

strong bloody violence, gory images

This dark and unsettling body horror satire on celebrity, mortality and body image in which an ageing celebrity acquires a drug to create a younger version of herself contains brutal scenes of graphic violence and gore.

This dark and unsettling body horror satire on celebrity, mortality and body image in which an ageing celebrity acquires a drug to create a younger version of herself contains brutal scenes of graphic violence and gore.

Film showing times

Please enter your postcode below (or use your current location) so we can find the nearest cinemas showing this film.
Content Advice(May contain spoilers)

violence

threat and horror

language

sex

discrimination

drugs

suicide and self-harm

injury detail

  • Director(s)

    Coralie Fargeat

  • Production Year

    2024

  • Genre(s)

    Drama, Horror

  • Approx. running minutes

    141m

  • Cast

    Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Demi Moore

One or more of the releases in this collection was cut.

strong bloody violence, gory images
Classified Date:
11/07/2024
Version:
2D
Use:
Cinema
Distributor:
MUBI
violence
A person is beaten in prolonged and brutal fashion in a sequence which also emphasises blood and injury. A character is decapitated and blood gushes from the victim's neck stump.
threat and horror
Scenes of threat include those in which a frightened character locks herself inside a bathroom while her pursuer smashes her way into the room. A terrified character runs naked from a woman's apartment. A vehicle crashes into a person's car, spinning the vehicle around.
language
Strong language ('f**k') occurs, as well as milder terms ('bitch', 'shit', 'God', 'damn', 'butt').
sex
Two people passionately kiss and grope each other during foreplay; however, the couple remain clothed and there is no strong detail. Sexualised images feature during scenes in which dancing and gyrating is suggestive of sex.
discrimination
Negatively presented characters make sexist and ageist comments.
drugs
Characters inject unnamed drugs intended to renew and preserve their youth.
suicide and self-harm
In one sequence, a person slaps herself repeatedly, and in another sequence she pulls at her hair.
injury detail
There are several scenes in which gore and injury detail are emphasised. People are drenched in blood which erupts from a person's wrist after their hand detaches. A character's leg falls off, and blood and viscera bursts from their body. A person pulls out her teeth with their bare hands in a scene filmed in close-up, which also includes blood subsequently pouring from the character's gums. Characters mutate in scenes which include a foreign object removed from a person's stomach and a breast growing out of an eye socket. A person's back splits open and a younger version of themself emerges. There is subsequent emphasis on the younger version stitching her former host's body together. There is close-up sight of infected wounds.
nudity
There are several scenes of full body nudity. These often include close-up emphasis, as well as sexualisation in scenes in which characters run their hands over their naked bodies.
flashing/flickering lights
This work contains flashing images which may affect viewers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy.
strong bloody violence, gory images
Classified Date:
13/08/2024
Version:
2D
Use:
Physical media + VOD/Streaming
Distributor:
MUBI
violence
A person is beaten in prolonged and brutal fashion in a sequence which also emphasises blood and injury. A character is decapitated and blood gushes from the victim's neck stump.
threat and horror
Scenes of threat include those in which a frightened character locks herself inside a bathroom while her pursuer smashes her way into the room. A terrified character runs naked from a woman's apartment. A vehicle crashes into a person's car, spinning the vehicle around.
language
Strong language ('f**k') occurs, as well as milder terms ('bitch', 'shit', 'God', 'damn', 'butt').
sex
Two people passionately kiss and grope each other during foreplay; however, the couple remain clothed and there is no strong detail. Sexualised images feature during scenes in which dancing and gyrating is suggestive of sex.
discrimination
Negatively presented characters make sexist and ageist comments.
drugs
Characters inject unnamed drugs intended to renew and preserve their youth.
suicide and self-harm
In one sequence, a person slaps herself repeatedly, and in another sequence she pulls at her hair.
injury detail
There are several scenes in which gore and injury detail are emphasised. People are drenched in blood which erupts from a person's wrist after their hand detaches. A character's leg falls off, and blood and viscera bursts from their body. A person pulls out her teeth with their bare hands in a scene filmed in close-up, which also includes blood subsequently pouring from the character's gums. Characters mutate in scenes which include a foreign object removed from a person's stomach and a breast growing out of an eye socket. A person's back splits open and a younger version of themself emerges. There is subsequent emphasis on the younger version stitching her former host's body together. There is close-up sight of infected wounds.
nudity
There are several scenes of full body nudity. These often include close-up emphasis, as well as sexualisation in scenes in which characters run their hands over their naked bodies.
flashing/flickering lights
This work contains flashing images which may affect viewers who are susceptible to photosensitive epilepsy.
Classified Date:
04/09/2024
Version:
2D
Use:
Cinema
Distributor:
MUBI
Classified Date:
15/08/2024
Version:
2D
Use:
Cinema
Distributor:
MUBI
Cuts:
This work had a compulsory cut made. A cut was required to remove a non-BBFC rating symbol. Cut made in accordance with BBFC policy.
Classified Date:
09/08/2024
Version:
2D
Use:
Cinema
Distributor:
MUBI
Classified Date:
04/07/2024
Version:
2D
Use:
Cinema
Distributor:
MUBI
Classified Date:
28/06/2024
Version:
2D
Use:
Cinema
Distributor:
MUBI
  • Classified date

    13/08/2024

  • Language

    English