‘The Substance’s’ “Reverse Carrie” Is Just One of the Scenes Making Viewers Walk Out

Some of you might say calling out the “reverse Carrie” in the headline is a spoiler for The Substance. Arguably, it could be, but the movie poster itself gives more away visually. And that one scene is nothing compared to the body horror in its over two-hour runtime. You aren’t ready.

Don’t worry we aren’t going to spoil the movie for you, but be careful if you decide to watch The Substance, you truly might get sick. It’s happening in the UK already. There are several stomach-churning moments in the Demi Moore gross-out movie — too many to count, even one involving cooked shrimp.

The Substance is the film that other movies say that watching will make you ill but this one actually will. pic.twitter.com/GCRMi7XVhY

— strlng. (@sterlz_r) September 21, 2024

Movie studios think it is a badge of honor to claim that their horror movie is so sickening that audiences have either vomited or fainted during a screening. These claims have been so abundant that people are starting to not believe the hype anymore.

But here comes Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance and we can tell you, nearly 90% of it is nauseating, especially if you are new to the genre.

The Independent wrote a story about people walking out of the film unable to stomach what they were seeing.

I’ve seen thousands of films and it’s very hard to shock me, but this gloriously demented movie was cray-cray on 11. ‘The Substance’ is not for the faint of heart (during my viewing, several people walked out mid film), but is an instant cult classic. You’ve been warned. pic.twitter.com/rQwIq7AO2I

— Alan Heathcock (@alanheathcock) September 24, 2024

Moore herself addressed the graphic subject matter of the film, “When I read The Substance I thought, wow, this could be really amazing — or it could be a f***ing disaster. So, of course, I had to say yes. I feel like Ghost was very similar, but I think when we push ourselves out of our comfort zone and it makes us afraid it always makes us a little better. Even if it fails. The reviews for Ghost were disastrous.”

The Substance is now playing theatrically.