I honestly don’t know how to feel about this movie. Every part of it left me viscerally horrified, so many different kinds of horrified. So I guess as a horror movie it did its job.

I have never understood celebrity culture/worship, in fact the older I get the more I actively loathe it. And as a middle-aged woman that was in her 20s during the “heroin chic” days, I am not keen on seeing how we’re revisiting that era in Hollywood; especially now that we’re finding out that the requirement for women to look young and skinny forever is really all to please the p3do class. Also body horror in general is a little hit or miss for me.

So, having said all that, you can probably see why there really wasn’t any part of this film that didn’t leave me unsettled, uncomfortable, and disgusted. When she became shiny and new I was repulsed by the objectification and disgusted by the men surrounding her. And I couldn’t stop thinking about all the damage being done to women and girls taking in those unrealistic beauty standards and creating horrendous self-image, perpetuating the cycle ever forward. (Honestly, as the mom of a teen girl, the little girl fan in the audience at the end was one of the more upsetting parts for me.) And while most of the process of using “the substance” didn’t go over my enjoyment limit for body horror, when she was actively falling apart I couldn’t even watch because stuff with losing teeth and nails wigs me out.

I know that all of these elements are supposed to be part of the horror. I 100% support the messages of this movie. I think it addresses a lot of important things. And it’s a really outstanding film. I just know that I never want to watch it again.

2026 Challenges
Horrorx52: 1. Most Popular horror you've not seen on your watchlist
Legacy of Horror: Week 23 - Women Director 
The Podcast Macabre: 43. Written/directed by a woman