Honestly, if you’d told me two years ago that Demi Moore would be the face of the most unhinged, blood-soaked body horror film of the decade, I probably would’ve blinked twice and asked if you were talking about a weird fever dream. But here we are. 2024 and 2025 were basically the years of the "Demi-ssance," and it all started with a movie called The Substance.
It’s not just a "new movie." It's a statement.
If you haven't seen it yet, or if you're just trying to figure out why your Twitter feed was suddenly full of people talking about "floors of blood" and "prothetic spines," let's break it down. Demi Moore plays Elisabeth Sparkle. She’s a fading fitness star—think Jane Fonda meets a Hollywood nightmare—who gets fired on her 50th birthday by a producer who is, quite frankly, a total pig. Enter "The Substance." It’s a black-market drug that promises to create a "better" version of yourself.
The Movie That Broke the Internet’s Stomach
The premise is simple but the execution is purely chaotic. Basically, Elisabeth injects this neon-green goo and, well, a younger version of her (played by Margaret Qualley) literally rips out of her back.
It's gross. Like, really gross.
But it’s also weirdly heartbreaking. There is this one scene—honestly, the best piece of acting Moore has ever done—where Elisabeth is getting ready for a date. She puts on makeup. She looks in the mirror. She sees a flaw. She wipes it off. She tries again. She does this over and over until she’s literally scrubbed her face raw and gives up on the date entirely.
🔗 Read more: Blink-182 Mark Hoppus: What Most People Get Wrong About His 2026 Comeback
It’s the kind of visceral, painful look at self-loathing that usually gets buried under Hollywood gloss. Director Coralie Fargeat didn't want gloss. She wanted 21,000 liters of fake blood. That’s a real stat, by the way. Five thousand gallons of the red stuff.
Why The Substance Still Matters in 2026
We are sitting in early 2026 now, and the dust has finally settled on the 2025 awards season. Remember when everyone was calling Moore a "popcorn actress" back in the day? That's gone. She took home the Golden Globe for this. She got the SAG win. She finally got that Oscar nomination people have been screaming about since Ghost.
What most people get wrong about The Substance is thinking it’s just a horror flick. Sure, it’s got the Cronenberg body-melt vibes. But it’s actually a satire on how much we hate ourselves for getting older. It’s about the "violence we have against ourselves," as Moore put herself in interviews.
The industry is still talking about it because it changed the game for Mubi. It became their highest-grossing film ever, pulling in somewhere between $77 million and $82 million on an $18 million budget. That is a massive win for an R-rated movie where a woman grows a second ear on her back.
What’s Next: I Love Boosters and Beyond
If you think she’s slowing down after the carnage of The Substance, you’ve got another thing coming. Moore is moving straight into the sci-fi world with a project called I Love Boosters.
💡 You might also like: Why Grand Funk’s Bad Time is Secretly the Best Pop Song of the 1970s
It’s directed by Boots Riley—the guy who did Sorry to Bother You—so you know it’s going to be weird.
- The Plot: It’s about a crew of shoplifters who take on a luxury fashion mogul.
- The Cast: We’re talking Keke Palmer, Naomi Ackie, LaKeith Stanfield, and Demi.
- The Date: It’s set to open the SXSW Film Festival in March 2026, with a theatrical release on May 22, 2026.
It feels like Moore has found her niche in these high-concept, slightly "left of center" films. She also just showed up in Taylor Sheridan’s series Landman on Paramount+, playing the wife of a powerful oilman. She's everywhere.
The Real Impact on Hollywood
There’s a lot of talk about "ageism" in the industry, but The Substance actually forced people to look at it. Dennis Quaid’s character, Harvey (and yes, the name is a very unsubtle nod to a certain disgraced producer), is shot with fish-eye lenses to make him look as repulsive as possible while he eats shrimp and tells a 50-year-old woman she’s "expired."
It’s heavy-handed. It’s loud. It’s about as subtle as a sledgehammer to the teeth.
But maybe that’s what it took. We’ve had decades of "polite" movies about aging. Moore decided to give us a movie where she turns into a literal monster to show how the world sees her.
📖 Related: Why La Mera Mera Radio is Actually Dominating Local Airwaves Right Now
What You Should Do Now
If you haven't seen The Substance yet, it's currently streaming on Mubi. Just... maybe don't eat while you watch the last 30 minutes. If you’ve already seen it and you’re looking for more, keep an eye out for the I Love Boosters trailer dropping this spring.
For those who want to dig deeper into why this film worked, look up the "female gaze" versus "male gaze" debates that popped up around the film’s release. There’s a lot of conversation about whether the camera’s obsession with Margaret Qualley’s body was a critique of the male gaze or just more of the same. It’s a fascinating rabbit hole.
Demi Moore is 63 now, and she is arguably the most relevant she’s been in thirty years. Not because she stayed the same, but because she was willing to get very, very messy.
If you're planning to catch her next move, mark your calendar for the Memorial Day weekend release of I Love Boosters. It's likely to be the buzziest film of the summer, especially with NEON handling the distribution. They know how to pick the winners.