The Substance

Let me start with the positives. There are a LOT of them. The casting? Perfect. The acting? Pretty flawless. All performances drew me in and added greatly to the story. The concept was phenomenal and super interesting. A really great idea for a movie. The cinematography was unique and very good. The score also greatly added to the suspense. The first 2 thirds of the movie executed all of these things to a T

So why 6 stars? THE ENDING. Took the believable and suspenseful story aspects and threw them out the window in favor of indulging the director's Cronenberg fantasy and desire to max out the special effects budget. It came off as completely disorganized, almost like they had no idea what to do with the ending or any desire to make it interesting. A movie with so much going for it and I left the theater disappointed.

Side notes: enough with the butt shots. We get what you're trying to do, that's enough. Also, if you want to disgust your audience, put in the work in the writers room. Adding over the top squelching sounds to almost every scene is lazy.