Hooptober is a Letterboxd movie challenge created by Cinemonster. The goal is to watch 31 horror films in October, but the catch is that they have to fit the criteria Cinemonster posts. This year that means things like 2 Indian films, 1 film by Wes Craven, 1 film from 1984 and so on.
I’m hesitant to say I’m taking part because 31 films in a month would be tricky, but I’ll see how far I get. There’s a horror film festival on in Vancouver this month so maybe that will help.
I did kick off the month by going to see Coralie Fargeat’s, The Substance. And it was a wild ride. At one point, somewhere near the end, a guy down the front of the packed theatre shouted out “Oh, come on!”
I think he meant it in a good way.
The Substance
A fading celebrity decides to use a black market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.
“There’s been a slight misuse of the Substance.“
The Substance’s satirical body horror reminded me of Brian Yuzna’s Society, but with a modern layer of gloss. I enjoyed it, but I preferred the first, slightly more subtle, half of the film over the viscera drenched scenes of the climax.
As promised, there are plenty of blood and bodily fluids in this one, although it was actually the food eating sequences that grossed me out more. Not sure what that says about me.
At 2h 21m, it’s on the longer side for horror films and almost outstayed its welcome. Apparently, the home entertainment version is three seconds shorter so maybe that’s the version to go with if you’re wary of subjecting yourself to too many oozing body parts.
In a departure for me, I watched this in a mostly full theatre and for a change the groans and squeals of the people around me added to the experience rather than detracting from it, so if you want to feed off the revulsion of your fellow moviegoers I’d recommend seeing this one on discount ticket night like I did.
The Substance isn’t great for the challenge but it gives me a 2020s film and it was filmed in France so gives me one of the six required countries. Technically there are two cuts of the film, but I’m sure I can find a better example for that one.
[Hooptober 11 – The Substance by Philip Harris first appeared on Solitary Mindset on 8th October 2024]