The Brutalist 2024
Sean has seen it; Amanda has been kept away. 3.5 hours with a 15-minute intermission, and by his account it moves.
The Big Picture · Discussion · Review · Hall of Fame · Interview
We’re Addicted to ‘The Substance.’ Plus, the Body Horror Hall of Fame!
September 24, 2024/ 103 min/ Sean Fennessey · Amanda Dobbins
Sean and Amanda dig into Coralie Fargeat's 'The Substance,' run an impromptu body horror Hall of Fame, and Sean interviews Fargeat.
54 films across 5 segments.
AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.
The newsGolden Globes fees, and an unspeakable 'Brutalist'
‘The Substance’Amanda saw it days before giving birth
The Substance 2024
Coralie Fargeat's body horror satire with Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid. Sean calls it baby's-first-body-horror pushed to the 11th level; both read the male gaze as knowing satire and the finale as a movie about addiction as much as beauty.
Demi Moore, and the neighbors of ‘The Substance’Casting, the body-as-subject filmography, and the movies that echo it
Ghost 1990
The hit that preceded the 1991 Vanity Fair cover; Sean floats it as a Substance double feature.
Indecent Proposal 1993
A movie about literally buying her body.
Striptease 1996
Selling the body, on the nose.
The Scarlet Letter 1995
G.I. Jane 1997
Another movie built around her body.
Disclosure 1994
Amanda's flagged omission; Bill Simmons's white whale for The Rewatchables.
About Last Night 1986
An early role that raised her profile.
St. Elmo's Fire 1985
The Brat Pack years.
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle 2003
Cited as her last big American movie before the fallow stretch.
Mommie Dearest 1981
The Faye Dunaway / Joan Crawford camp-mania Sean reaches for as a precedent.
A Star Is Born 2018
The Sue billboard resembles the Château Marmont one.
Babygirl 2024
A future pairing on actresses and self-amplification.
Poor Things 2023
Where Qualley leaned into the same affectation.
Titane 2021
Julia Ducournau, working the Cronenberg form from France.
Blink Twice 2024
The former 'Pussy Island'; the idea-is-the-text comparison, but grimmer.
A Different Man 2024
Aaron Schimberg's A24 movie with Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson, opening the same weekend and 'so in conversation' with The Substance.
Chained for Life 2018
Earlier Schimberg film with Pearson; Sean sends people to it.
Vertigo 1958
Kim Novak, held to the standard she set (the 2014 Oscars moment Sean maps onto the film).
The Body Horror Hall of FameSean's impromptu countdown, No. 1 first
The Fly 1986
No. 1: the David Cronenberg wing.
Scanners 1981
No. 1: Cronenberg wing.
Videodrome 1983
No. 1: Cronenberg wing.
Dead Ringers 1988
No. 1: Cronenberg wing.
eXistenZ 1999
No. 1: Cronenberg wing.
Shivers 1975
No. 1: Cronenberg wing.
Rabid 1977
No. 1: Cronenberg wing.
The Brood 1979
No. 1: the pick of the wing; the pregnancy one.
The Thing 1982
No. 2: Carpenter's take on the genre.
Possession 1981
No. 3: Andrzej Żuławski, Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill.
Alien 1979
No. 4: double it with Prometheus.
Society 1989
No. 5: Brian Yuzna; the movie most cited about the Substance finale.
Basket Case 1982
No. 6: the Frank Henenlotter trilogy.
Frankenhooker 1990
No. 6: Henenlotter trilogy.
Brain Damage 1988
No. 6: Henenlotter trilogy.
Eyes Without a Face 1960
No. 7: Georges Franju's face-transplant film.
Raw 2016
No. 8: Ducournau's cannibal-at-college debut.
The Wolf Man 1941
No. 9: the Universal monster pick.
Altered States 1980
No. 10: Ken Russell, Paddy Chayefsky, William Hurt.
Death Becomes Her 1992
Honorable mention; another Substance double feature.
Re-Animator 1985
Honorable mention.
Braindead 1992
Honorable mention.
Tetsuo: The Iron Man 1989
Honorable mention.
Black Swan 2010
Honorable mention; the fingernails.
Ginger Snaps 2000
Honorable mention; menstrual-cycle werewolf.
Malignant 2021
Honorable mention.
Cabin Fever 2002
Honorable mention.
Demon Seed 1977
Honorable mention; the most fucked-up on the list.
Dolls 1987
Stuart Gordon killer-doll movie from the Cinematheque all-nighter.
Rosemary's Baby 1968
Debated as body horror; ruled slightly too psychological.
In conversation
Coralie Fargeat on
Revenge 2017
Her first feature; where the insert-shot, sound-driven style crystallized.
Coralie Fargeat on
RoboCop 1987
With The Fly, one of the first body horror movies she saw at her grandfather's, in secret.
Coralie Fargeat on
The Apprentice 2024
Her last-great-thing: Ali Abbasi's film, Sebastian Stan's performance, seen at Cannes.
Also mentioned raised along the way
In passing The Maltese FalconA Clockwork OrangeChicagoIt Ends With UsTransformers OneTrapLonglegsWe Live in TimeThunderboltsThe Shrouds
Universal monsters FrankensteinDraculaThe MummyThe Invisible ManCreature from the Black Lagoon
Trailers before ‘The Substance’ Smile 2AnoraMegalopolisTerrifier 3
Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads
TV Emily in ParisCBS This Morning
Podcasts Shift MealThe TownThe Rewatchables
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