Craig Chester as Henry is perfect and devastating. After that the movie kinda loses any of what makes the og text interesting. I think hes the only one here who really understands the task at hand.
The editing and the Coil soundtrack carried. Some genuinely haunting gay sex mixed with provocative nonsense.
I do think there is a decent movie here somewhere. I genuinely enjoyed some of the imagery, from the glamorously sterile design of The Substance product to its Cronenberg-esque (junior or senior, you pick) maintenance procedures.
But I can't bring myself to enjoy this purely as a body horror film because of how naggingly moralistic it is, like Black Mirror at its most condescending. Meanwhile, its lessons about vanity are constantly undercut by its revulsion towards food(!!!) and aging. The overall experience is more exhausting than it is fun. Perhaps I prefer my exploitation films to come without a lecture.
