Hello fiends. It's a big bonus week here at GoodTrash. The chute is open, and there's a new drop in your feed. This week, we're talking about the highly anticipated new release from Coralie Fargeat The Substance. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley lead this satirical body horror, but do they succeed in making it memorable? Dalton is joined by our dear friend, the Frightful Femme, Kirsten Therkelson to discuss this new release. And Arthur pops in at the end to make his thoughts known. So, tune in to hear our reviews of The Substance.
GoodTrash GenreCast
The Substance (2024): Garbage Chute Review
Hello fiends. It's a big bonus week here at GoodTrash. The chute is open, and there's a new drop in your feed. This week, we're talking about the highly anticipated new release from Coralie Fargeat The Substance. Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley lead this satirical body horror, but do they succeed in making it memorable? Dalton is joined by our dear friend, the Frightful Femme, Kirsten Therkelson to discuss this new release. And Arthur pops in at the end to make his thoughts known. So, tune in to hear our reviews of The Substance.
- Broadcast on:
- 26 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
(upbeat music) - What's the call again? - What's what called again? - That movie was targeting. - Blood Lake. - Blood Lake. - Blood Lake. - It's wild. - Sure, yeah. - It is streaming on Tooby for free, I believe. - Blood Lake, 1989. - And that's the cold open you can normally expect from an episode of The Good Trash genre cast, but make no mistake, this is a good trash garbage shoot. I'm freaking fooled you this time. Hey, it's me Dalton, that's right. It's a good trash garbage shoot. It's where we do a bonus episode on a movie that's new to streaming or newly in theaters. Today, joined by my dear friend, Kirsten Thirkelson. - Howdy. - How are you, dude? - I'm doing great, how are you? - I'm so excited to talk to you about - The substance. - Coralee Fergie, I have no idea. - I looked it up and forgot it already. Coralee Fergie, I think is close enough. Her second feature, The Substance, that's right, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. This film premiered at Cannes, won a screenplay award, was originally gonna be produced or distributed by Universal and they eventually backed out according to a bunch of Hollywood reporter, quote pull, or sources to Hollywood reporter. They were not sure about, you know, they weren't sure about it anymore. - A lot of stuff. - They decided they weren't sure about it anymore. - There's some stuff. - So this was bought for around 12 million by movie. What a wonderful little service movie doing, you know, they put out a decision to leave a couple of years ago. - Did that get theatrical? - Yes, but much more limited, much more limited. Passages last year. - Good for them. - So they're just, yeah, really out. You know, they've been around as a sort of a curated indie streaming service, international cinema streaming service for a few years. And they've been out here as a distributor for a while and they're making sure stuff gets in theaters and then lives forever on the service. I'm not sure about physical distribution for some of their bigger releases yet. I imagine, especially stuff like decision to leave, I think that might actually be getting a criterion. But I'm not the physical media pervert that some of our friends are, unfortunately. - I can ask my husband when I need one. - Yeah, I know we both have like one to three people we could text right this second and find out, but we can be doing that. - Yeah, but I'm simply talking about it. - Yeah, we don't have the time. We gotta talk about movies, the substance. - It's true, it's very true. - But anyway, I just wanted to give them some love 'cause they're doing cool stuff with releases. What is the substance you ask? As we said, it's a new film. It's, well, Kirk, I'll let you take a stab at this. - Okay. - What the substance? - I'm sorry, are we talking about the in? - As a film, as a film. - Okay, thank you, thank you. There is, of course, something in the film called The Substance. - No, not that I'm working, what is the substance in the film, The Substance? What is the shape of the movie, The Substance? - Sure, sure. - We had to put a hat on it. - Okay, Demi Moore. - Margot Qualley. - Margot Qualley, thank you so much. - Yeah, no, we got the cast already. I guess I mean, it's kind of a sprawling film. So I just like, what do you think is important for people to know going in as far as the shape of this film? - Yes, okay, sorry. Got off in the weeds, trying to remember actor names. Yes, so Demi Moore plays an aging, I mean, you know, because she has been an actress and a sex symbol for so long, they were kind of able to incorporate elements from her past into, she's this aging, I guess. - Yeah, Oscar winner, they say Oscar winner at one point. - Oh, really? - Yeah, they say Oscar winner. - Okay, they just really, okay. - They focus on the later career, though, yeah. - So she is at the tail end of her career, which appears to be hosting some sort of morning workout show. - Very Jane Fonda coated. - Yes, in that regard. - Yes, I would say pretty directly Jane Fonda coated, yeah. - Yeah, there's a couple of different people I think they're pulling from. - Definitely, of course, in any movie like that is gonna pull from several different, you know, touchstones for a character like that, but yeah. - That's a good one. - Yeah, so she's at the tail end of her career, and it's really getting hammered into her from like multiple angles. She's kind of being like, you know, forced into retirement. I don't think that that's necessarily a spoiler. - No, and that's pretty, yeah. - I think we'll, we're gonna have to spoil this one to talk about it, but yeah, we'll tell you the shape of it before we really crack it open and spoil it. - Oh yeah, I won't get into a spoiler, spoiler territory. If you're a spoiler baby, what are you even doing listening to us in the opposite of this movie? - Yeah, you never really gotta just see this pull. - I'm safe, I'm safe, okay. Yeah, so she is at the end of her career, and it is made abundantly clear to her that she is at the end of her career. And then she has a chance encounter with a gentleman who is a nurse. She has to go to the hospital. And he sort of puts her in contact with this black market drug called the substance. - The substance. - The substance. And the substance is kind of this dark bargain of you get to live in the body of like a younger, hotter, more perfect you. But you have to switch into your old body every seven days. I think that's pretty much the long and short of-- - Yeah, that's the setup. - Yeah, the setup of-- - The substance. - Very well done, very well done. That's sort of what I was looking for. I was like, I had a feeling you'd be able to really kind of put a bell on it real quick for us as far as just like, what's the setup? - So real quick, I got to say, do you like it? Do you recommend it? What's, how fast is this a walk, run, don't walk situation for you? How, I know you like it. How strongly do you recommend it? And to what degree do you think you like it? - I do like it, but I would only recommend this movie to people that I know are going to be on board with some of the things in it. Some of the more challenging visuals that are in it. - Outlandish body horror. - Yes, yes. - Campy, but certainly not lacking in brutality. - I don't think it is for everyone. However, I don't think that that is its intent. So I don't think I'm doing it, you know, any kind of disservice to say so. - No, I don't think so. - I think it knows it's not for everyone. - Yeah, it's a confrontational film for sure. I think there are elements of it that are very crowd-pleasy though. And I guess for that reason, I really think you got to run to this one. If you have like even a passing interest in horror, you should get to this while there are still crowds watching it, you know, it's been out a week now. So it's opening, it's tracking to do about the same kind of numbers as Megalopolis. - Oh, wow. - No, that's bad for Megalopolis now. I guess good for the substance as well, but mostly bad for Megalopolis. - Yeah, that's two kinds of, that's two kinds of wow. - Yeah, I think Megalopolis which opens this weekend as our recording is supposed to open like three to five and that's about what the substance did for its opening weekend, so yeah. - Interesting. - Yeah. Definitely two movies that are like maximalist in nature for sure though, right? - Yeah, definitely. - I saw Megalopolis last night, I can't stop thinking about it, but like thinking about it with the substance. - I am going on Friday. - I'm excited for you, but like, it's gonna give you some like really interesting stuff to like pair with the substance, I think. - I often really like maximalism also. - Yeah, yeah, I know that tends to tickle your fancy. - Yeah. - So I guess get out of here, if you wanna go see it without knowing anything about it. The rest of this is for people who have seen the film or need to be sold on a sort of a body horror beauty satire. It's a spoiler's a hoy, we're gonna like really fucking talk about this. The young hop version is Margaret Qualley. - Yes. - And Margaret Qualley is not ultimately a good steward of their health in the way that 20-somethings often are not. - Yes. - And Denny Moore is not exactly a good steward of like her mental health in the way that isolated people often are not. - The thing, I'm gonna say what they say in the film, which is you are one, there is no she, there is no her. - That's true, that's true. - You are you. So, Denny Moore is always-- - I guess, better way to put it. - Yep, that she is her. - It's important, yeah, we should just call, you know, Liz and Sue Elizabeth and Sue are sort of the two monikers because obviously she can't just live out in the world as a new young version of Elizabeth Sparkle. She's going by Sue and it really does just not waste any time telling you what its deal is. - Yeah. - It really is, like, could not be more in your face, could not be more-- - It's hitting the hammer over the head. It is, I would say, impossible to misinterpret this film. - Yeah, yeah, I think the only danger is people under-interpreting it or sort of recoiling from the telling in a way that kind of makes them miss the forest for the trees. - Sure. - But I think you're right, that it is pretty directly about beauty standards, directly about aging, about feminine self-hatred. I mean, what are some of the other like, these are all like of a piece with each other, obviously, but what are you to use some of the big ease on the eye chart for this one? - I mean, yeah, just society's obsession with youth and beauty and especially Hollywood's obsession with perfection and what it's like to be under that constant microscope. Yeah, and also, of course, how impossible it is to be a woman. - Yeah, I saw somebody point out on Letterbox and I forgot who it was, so I feel bad about that. But just point out that there's something particularly porny about the camera's gaze in this movie. - Yes. - It's like super deliberate, and yeah, it's like, that's so smart to call out and like obviously gonna be off-putting for a lot of people. - Oh, definitely. - But it's kinda, you need it. It's sort of part of like all of what holds it together. - Oh, true. - 'Cause it is kind of unabashedly horny at some level, but it wants to condemn you at the same time, but not in sort of a finger-raggy way. - I would say that it is definitely good that it is as gross as it is horny. - That's a great way. - It's the balance. - That's a great way to put it. - And I think that it is effective. - Yeah. - Yeah. - So, do you feel like, as we're kinda talking about, the twin coin, or the two sides of the coin that are horniness and grossness in this film? - Sure. - I've seen different levels of the idea expressed about, the condemnation of sort of us, the audience, us society. How much do you think like this film is sort of pointing a finger at audiences? How much do you think it's inviting them in? 'Cause I've seen like a lot of splits on this, as well as like, as you said, it really hits the nail on the head aggressively with a mallet, if not a jackhammer, and that's really off-putting to some folks. So I guess for your money, like, where do you stand? - Okay, I know what I just said about it being impossible to misinterpret the message, but I also, part of the reason that I, part of the reason that I do like it, as much as I do, is that I kind of feel like it is, I feel like it is comparing more than condemning. I think it's more expressing a feeling, right, than it is making any kind of condemnation. It's not like, it's not like an anti-Ozempic film, for example, you know what I mean? - Yeah, that would be like the easiest, most obvious read. 'Cause yeah, I mean, you could walk away from it with sort of that take, for sure. - Right. - But I think it's certainly, and you know, I'm that kind of thing being in the zeitgeist right now, sort of being in the ether, I'm sure contributed to like Fergie's like thoughts on her screenplay, but yeah, it's not that simple of a one-to-one metaphor at any level, I don't think, which is something I like about French filmmakers generally is like, I don't know, they seem less concerned about like deliberate, like one-to-one correspondences, like the allegories are often a little bit more esoteric and out there, I think it was specifically of the raw and to tame director. I think we're naming it all. - Yes, mm-hmm. - It's not kind of to me, but we can keep going. - I know who you're talking about, though, yes. - We don't need to look it up, it's fine. This is a loose one, it's a garbage shoe. We don't look it up, and we can't remember things. But anyway, all that to say, like yeah, I think you're right, I think it's like, it's more amorphous in sort of what it's getting at. - Because I do think that it's, I don't know, it's like, it is kind of doing this like push-and-pull thing of where it's like, it wants you to be disgusted. Like obviously, with, I mean, in both cases, I think. - It wants you to mad at both of you. - It wants you to mad at each other. - Exactly. - Well, she's mad at herself, right? And that's such a key part of it. - Yes. - Especially when the violence starts. - Yes, that's why I'm like, I think it's more interesting than like, does the movie want people to like it and take something away from it so much as I kind of think it just makes, I think it wants to make people think about like what the fuck it's trying to say, which is good in and of itself, you know? - I mean, yeah, dude, you're gonna be saying the same thing walking out of Megalopolis, I think. - Okay, hell yeah. - It's a paraphrase Adam Driver in that. Yeah, having the conversation that basically is a utopia, dumber than dog shit, I love it. Yeah, no, these are definitely, we'll keep it on the substance. Yeah, it's definitely a film that I doesn't really care if you like it and you have to admire that. Even if it's not for you or like, yeah, I get it. I get the message, I didn't need it and deliver to me that way. Okay, it's not for you, you get it. Not everybody is gonna get this and some people need to think about it a little bit harder than they already have. And then I guess that would be my defense for anybody who's like, finds it objectionable. - Sure. - 'Cause it's objectionable, but deliberately so. And I think with purpose and with intent in a way that's like really useful. - Yeah, if you're gonna be a pearl clutcher over the amount of ass in this film, there is so much specifically butts, there's so much butts. - The most. - There's a lot of Margaret Qualley's butts. - But a lot of everyone's butts, especially Margaret Qualley's butts. So yeah, the most Tina Belcher coated film of all time. - Yes, obsessed with that. - A love letter to butts. - Yes. - There's one particular cut to a hairy butt that's so funny. - Yes. - Oh my God, yeah, oh, such a funny move. But anyway, yeah, there's a lot of sexuality, a lot of violence, a lot of body horror and all the body horror classics, teeth, fingernails, hair. You don't wanna see something come out, it's coming out. - Yeah. - It's falling out, it's getting pulled out, it's ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. So be warned, it's intense. If you're still hanging around to kinda find out, is this movie for me, give me the full context? You're gonna have to decide for yourself whether it's for you but be prepared. - I would say if you can handle Cronenberg, you can handle this. - I think that's totally, that's a great way to put it. Yeah, if you're into Cronenberg at all, you're good, you're good to go. That's a great touchstone. I've definitely seen-- - If you sat through spring breakers, you can sit through this. - Yeah, for sexual content, yeah. I definitely saw people compare sort of her, her take the way she communicates to sort of like, Linchian, Cronenbergian, as much as people hate it when you put an Ian on those sometimes. But I think it's apt here, right? I think it makes sense. And I've seen that set of it and I think that's totally fair 'cause it's very dream logic, it's very sort of like, yeah, or is this our world sort of? Is this then or now? Yes, it's kind of creating an aesthetic and an environment that is undo itself, right? It's not trying to be any specific time which is a strength. It follows-- - Yeah, exactly, I love when things exist like out of time or in like just a very slightly, what is it, is it like low fantasy or something when it's like, there's just a few weird things instead of being in full-on like-- - Yeah, very-- - Red vs Kingdom or whatever. - Yeah, Blue Velvet, another one that's sort of like, wait, is this the '50s or the '80s? Yes. - Yeah. - Yeah, yes it is. - Yeah. - Yeah, and this is, is this 2024 or the '80s? - Right. - Sure. - Is it's answer? - Yeah. - Yeah, there's like, the aerobic stuff is so '80s code. - Yeah, and whenever the TV's are so now. Whenever the show, whenever they're showing Lizz's version of the show, it truly is like she's got on like, she's got on like, like opaque, like light pink tights like underneath her powder blue leotard with the-- - The pink coffee socks. - Mm-hmm. - Yeah. - The ankle warmers, yeah. It was just like extremely, but then yeah, you like fast forward and it kind of reminded me of that like club scene in "Game" or whatever, where everyone's wearing like swimsuits and body glitter and-- - And it definitely certainly, I don't know, I should say definitely or certainly. To my mind, there seems to be like an escalation common being made there. Like we just keep letting it escalate. We just keep escalating our culture at some level. - Yes. - That's ultimately very toxic. - And it's fun to explore in, you know, a kind of sci-fi. - Yeah, in a way like this. - And again, I don't think the film is necessarily like sex-negative, but it threads a needle that's so tricky. - Yeah. - That I think is really, really satisfying to like be a part of if you can get on its wavelength. - Well, and I mean, it all comes back to youth though, right? - Sure. - Because obviously, you know, you were at your sexiest as it were when you're like 24 or whatever. - Yeah, the camera's very matter of fact about Demi Moore's body in a way that it's not about Margaret Qualley's body for sure. - Yes, yes. - Yeah. Although it definitely lets Demi be glamorous and be beautiful and sort of tries to like say, not isn't it sad that she doesn't see it, but like say, obviously this woman's beautiful. - Right. - Yeah, we're adults here. - Yes. - Like, yes, obviously. But she can't see it and it's because like, no one will acknowledge it and wear no one's acknowledging in a way that is like the ways it's acknowledged are so cataclysmically different, I guess. - Right. - Yeah. - Well, and I mean, I do think that it's somewhat implied to also be like a cancer of Hollywood, right? Then everyone that she's around all day, every day, literally just doesn't, just dismisses her because she is dead in their eyes because the only thing that matters is fame and money and being, you know, hot and young. - Yeah, we get these cool. - Being consumable. - Yeah, yeah, totally. The commodification thing is huge, right? The packaging, your identity. - Yes. - All that shit is in here and sort of like the mementos and memorials to yourself, like that stuff's in here, both like societally and privately. - I wanna circle back to something that you said before, which was talking about, okay, so talking about Margaret Qualley's character, Sue, right? Being in her 20s and not taking very good care of herself and not, you know, respecting the balance, which is a big thing that the film, the rules on the substance and drive home is you must respect the balance. And of course, younger, it's a two, almost immediately just starts abusing (laughs) - Pretty much right away. - Yeah, just like pretty much right away. But she, I mean, Liz hates herself, right? Like that's some of it. - Big time. - Is that it is just, I don't necessarily think, it kind of honestly never really occurred to me to think about it like that. That it's that like her being like young and in her 20s and like probably, yeah, hormonal, right? Still, I mean, even though you're like a clone of yourself, they don't really go into the specifics of like the chemistry of it all or the biology event. - But I think that's a reasonable assumption, right? - Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. - I mean, yeah, whatever the reason, she is definitely behaving like a young person compared to how she was before the substance. - Right. - Yeah. - I, my read on it was more that she was just addicted to feeling how she used to feel, you know, when people were admiring her. - Yeah, there's definitely a lot of stuff that's addiction coded. - Yeah. - And especially like the upkeep of the substance, right? We haven't gotten into like, there is a literal like drain on the old body to sustain the new body. You like literally have to take samples from it and inject yourself and like, that sort of turns into this like infected injection site sort of gross body horror thing that's straight out of reckless and perjury. - It's wild, it really is. Yeah. - Yeah, pretty, pretty gnarly. But again, like, I don't know, I think there's like a sort of a deliberate goofiness to a lot of the effects in this. - I think so too. - It's like very like, of the piece with like the tone of the rest of the movie. - Right, yeah, no, I mean, it's, it is, it wants to be cartoonish in a way. Like, I think it is intentionally cartoonish. - Diled all the way up. - Yeah. - Right. - Definitely. - But yeah, back to the addiction thing. Yeah, I think it like, and this, you know, may or may not work for all viewers, right? Your mind was just gonna vary a lot on this, but it definitely is sort of using some drug addiction imagery to sort of examine the fame addiction, the youth addiction, sort of other tangential topics. - Right. - Which, you know, that's not gonna work for everybody, but I think it's useful to draw those parallels for people because again, like as you said, like, we, you know, we don't even think about some of the stuff harder than we are. - Yeah. - Yeah. Are there any other big notes that we want to touch on and anything else we haven't hit on that's like, ooh, this is something, either a moment in the movie or a theme in the movie that you're like, this deserves unpacking. - I wanna talk about the ending. - Yeah, okay. - Okay. - Yeah, let's go heavy spoilers. - Okay. - I'm sorry about it. It's pretty wild and it's kind of cool book. It got a cool book in with the opening of the movie. - I wanna talk about it mostly because I still don't know how I feel about it. - Yeah. - That is like, it is like the main part of the movie that I'm just like, I don't know, it's like, I don't know. It is what keeps me from making it like a higher writing in my book, you know what I mean? - I do, 'cause it does feel a little long. - It does. - And I kind of thought about-- - Specifically, the ending is paced very strangely, I think. - It's got kind of a lot of ups and downs and detours and alleys and yeah, kind of like-- - It meanders. - It meanders. Let's go ahead and put it. It lets you know where it's going but takes a while to get there. - Yeah. - And I don't know. So like, I remember-- - But let's you know where it's going kind of, I would say, I expected it to end like three different times. - I think I expected the confrontation between the two selves, right? There was gonna be a split and both would sort of be cognizant at the same time. - Sure. - And it sort of predicted that confrontation. I definitely did not see where it went from there, obviously. - Sure. - Other than, I assumed the substance would be taken again because like, there being a little bit left was a bit kind of lingered on and don't use it again. - Right. - It was really lingered. - Yes. - So I assumed we would get there. It does take a while to get there and sort of, yeah. I thought about Matt Singer's review of "Killer of the Flower Moon" a little bit 'cause he talked about, you know, the Osage people are like, are waiting for help to come and in movie run time, it's hours before help comes. Just like it was, you know, decade, like decade plus in real life. And so like, I've been thinking about that a lot for like all these long run time movies that we've been getting lately, sort of about how does that pace of a long film, like how does that add or detract to like what the film's doing? And so thinking about that third act, I'm right there with you. I don't know where I am at on it just yet 'cause I agree it's a little saggy, but I-- - Just let directors make the movie the length they wanna make it, Hollywood, get the fuck out. - Well, and you know, with a distributor like Mooby, you have to assume they kind of let Fargi like, you know, have her way on Final Cut, I assume. So, you know, obviously she wants at this length. - It is where financing is concerned at least. That is apparently a thing that like Disney has damaged irreparably is film run times that will get greenlit. - Hmm, that's interesting, that's so funny. So, they oftentimes, if you're wondering, maybe not this movie specifically, but like, you know, movies that are like major production, like Fox or whatever. - Well, even weird stuff you start to hear about is like the international sales agents and like the dollar amounts like attached to human beings and like their perceived value to a production. - Sure. - It's yeah, it's weird stuff. - Yeah. - And obviously stuff that this movie gets at Julie, that's commodification, absolutely. - As far as like how effective this sort of final stretch is, yeah, I think it wants you to feel bad for a while. - Sure. - Because it really wants that payoff. The delirious like bat shit go for broke, full throttle sort of lunacy of the last five minutes. It really wants to put you through some shit before it gives you that like release. - Sure. - Which again, subjective on how well that's gonna work. And I haven't decided for myself how well it works personally. I, yeah, and I see why you're struggling yourself. - I do not, I think that if it comes at the cost of the immersion to the experience, it is ill-advised. Totally fair. - Yeah, the one thought I had that I was like maybe worth it is just sort of how long Margaret Qualley keeps putting off the consequences. - Sure. - Sort of like justifies how retributive the consequences are and then sort of like her violent response to retribution. Kind of like, I don't know, there's, I like everything that's in there. I agree though, probably that maybe it needs to be tighter, I guess. I just don't know what you would lose. And maybe the defense I'm giving is I kind of like everything we get. It's just like, I didn't expect there to be so much. So I was a little same, taken aback at how long it takes to get to the firehose of blood. - I think she should have just blown up on stage. - Yeah, and we left it there. - I kind of like-- - I think you really could have ended. - I like the crawling face. I like the ending on the Walk of Fame star. I'm kind of all about that. I think where I'm like, maybe we tighten it up is like the confrontation. - It's like too goofy for me. It's like a bridge too far. - Yeah, I kind of like it. I kind of like how, it's not, I see how like it could read as too clever, but I kind of like that about it. - Isn't it wonderful that people can like different things audience? - Well here, let me ask you about this. One of the things that I think he's tightening up, which, you know, I hate to like armchair quarterback a movie. I, you know, it's not, it's one of the least interesting things you can do. But a moment that I was like, oh boy, this is going on for a while, is the fight, which I like. I love the long fight scene, of course. But boy do we brutalize like elderly Elizabeth in a way that is like, how much do you hate old people? How much will you put your fucking grandparents in a home? Like it's just like really, really aggressive. - It is pretty graphic. - It's extremely graphic and it's like, I don't know, I mean, I find violence against the elderly about as unpleasant as violence against children. So it's pretty rough. - Okay. - Especially just like, you know, just talking about, you know, the frail elderly. You know, I think I'm game for a geezer teaser. - Sure. - Like beat the shit out of, you know, 60 year old. - The lone? - Yeah, the lone or Jeff Bridges in the old man or whatever that shows called. Yeah, that's fine. But like, just like a feeble crone being beaten savagely is like a tough sit. And I get it at the medical level. But boy, did I want it to end so bad. And I'm sure that's what she wanted me to feel. But I agree with you kind of like, it robs like some other components that are really firing for me. I don't know. What about you? Does that sequence work for you to-- - I really like that whole sequence. - There you go. It's kind of speaks to what we're talking about. Yeah, I like a lot about it. I don't know, I'm not out on it at all. - I don't know. But it really, maybe it is excessive. There's so much about this movie that's fucking excessive. So I think that if that's, yeah, exactly. So like, I don't know. I just, it really drives home. This person hates herself. - Big time. - This person hates herself. - Big time. - Especially that version of her. - Especially older, yeah. Especially the idea of being elderly. - Yes. - Fills her with a rage that like cannot be computed. - Exactly, well, and I mean, you know, she's got all of these other feelings tied in with that as well because of what she did for a living, which is that, you know, she's also disposable now, according to, you know, herself. And also, yeah, Dennis Quaid. - So I'm fucking eating horror from Dennis Quaid, which I didn't expect. - Oh my God. - Sorry. - I love him in this. I mean, he's a fucking awful, but like-- - He's so good in this. - He's so good. - Yeah. - Really good. - I mean, literally, but also figuratively, as the kids say. - Yeah. - He's killing it. I loved it. - Yeah. - Definitely gets what the movie is. - Yes, definitely. - And I think everybody, everybody does. That's part of what makes it work so well. - I just love to see it like a beloved, like dad type of actor just like go full asshole. - Yeah. You know, speaking of sort of movies like this, that we, you know, we mentioned Requiem for a Dream earlier, Patrick Swayze. I don't know, I'm thinking Patrick Swayze and Donnie Darko. Sorry, I forget who it is in Requiem for a Dream, but it's another beloved personality. - I think it's like an anti-Christ, sure. - Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just those sort of casting subversions are always so fun. - Yeah. - It's good stuff. - Let's end on some Margaret Quality Appreciate. - Sure. - Well-- - She's got a great ass. Can I say that? - That's, you can. - Sure, fair. - Yeah. - You're allowed to. - Thanks. - For the sake of, you know, not doing Stern, I won't. But yeah, she just rocked, man. She's just making such cool choices. - Yeah. She's very, she is very fun to watch in this. She's so entertaining. - Yeah. - And like, you know, not to-- - 'Cause she's going so over the top too. - So big. - So big. - She's so outlandish in this. - Yeah. - And just like, feral in a way. Like, if you liked her in Sanctuary, if you liked her in Kinds of Kindness, like you're gonna love her in this. And you know, let's have a little dimmy flowers as well. What a treat to have her back. - I know. - She thought she was so good in this too. - She just rocks. - Yeah. She's so game for all of it. And like, I just like, let's not. Let's not with the posts about how brave she is. Like, come on. - Oh, is that what's happening? - Just, yeah. I didn't even bother to like, look at it. She-- - I hate being at it. - And she said some shit too about it already. And it's like, I was like, I can't. I simply cannot, cannot engage with this. It's gonna make me so mad. - Yeah. - Absolutely. - Yeah, actors be getting naked sometimes. - Yeah. - Be cool and normal about it. - Be fucking cool and normal about it. - Jesus. - That is, yeah, the gaze that you mentioned earlier. - Well, you know, it wants you to like, it wants you to feel a lisivious a little bit, I think. - Sure. - Right, yeah. - But it is just like, I don't know, it is very matter-of-fact when it's, when it's a liz. - Yeah, yeah. For sure. Actually, it totally is, the camera is doing something entirely different by design. - Very cool. - Yeah, really cool stuff. Yeah, cool movie. We think you should see it with the crowd, if at all possible, right? - Yeah, I agree. - Yeah, if that's in your, if it works for your budget and health concerns and safety, try to see it with folks in a cinema. If not, you know, it'll be on movie soon. - Oh yeah. - Have folks over or, you know, streaming in a server, whatever your deal is. But that's a big recommend on the substance for us. Stay tuned to this feed. We've got Shocktober going on very, very soon. We're gonna be doing taped terror and we all found footage of the Shocktober. Also stay tuned for me, Arthur and Dustin doing a little garbage shoot on the aforementioned Megalopolis. Thurg, anything to plug, any follows you wanna give out? - I mean, do you wanna plug the thing that we're doing next month? - Yeah, oh yeah, I guess we should, we have time. Yeah, Thurg will be one of my guest hosts for Down in Front in October on Tuesday the 15th. If you wanna see Thurg and me talk about Carnival of Souls and by talk about it, I mean, Talk Daring and About. Carnival of Souls from 62, that'll be on the 15th and we'll be doing all kinds of cool war movies throughout October. Probably just barely gonna hear this in time, but on the first I've got Rowan Weathers, one of the funniest folks doing comedy here in Oklahoma City and we're covering the cat and the canary, which is like a 20s horror comedy. And then at the end of the month, we got Josh Lathy for The Little Shop of Horrors. But yeah. - Jack Nicholson. - Yeah, The Jack and The Wolf Nicholson, the Roger Corbin version, yeah, very excited for that. So anyway, yeah, that's what we're doing at Down in Front, the first the 15th and the 29th at seven and again, Thurg specifically. We'll be on the 15th. You're at Cranston on Letterbox. - I'm at Cranston pretty much everywhere. - Yeah, I'm at Dollywood Squares pretty much everywhere. It's at Good Trash Media for the show and the network. patreon.com/gtm if you wanna keep the lights on, goodtrash@gmail.com for the long form feedback. Arthur, that's it, we're done. I'm throwing it back to you, bud. - I thank you, Dalton. Thanks for throwing it back to me. I was sad that I couldn't be there in person with you to discuss Core Life Argeats, the substance movie. I have been very hyped for since I heard about it. I followed it since Con. I'm very excited to see how wide it opened. I live in a small side of this town right outside of the Oklahoma City Metro that has a small multiplex with just a few screenings. And to see the substance there was very exciting. It was a funny sort of amalgamation of films because I made a joke to Dalton in our chat that I was gonna go see Am I a racist? Reagan and the substance in the same day. And that was the sort of spread of availability at that theater. I did not see those other two movies. I do hope to hear the stories of conservative elder couples going to see the new Dennis Quaid film and them being bedazzled by the substance. This movie to me, I know I wasn't part of this conversation but I'm gonna put in my two cents because I think the substance is very good. It's very enjoyable. I've watched it in the same week that I've watched Megalopolis, you're gonna be hearing our thoughts on Megalopolis soon. And as was watching Megalopolis all I wanted to be doing was watching the substance again. Jimmy Moore's great. Margaret Quaid's great. And Dennis Quaid is also just cheesing it up in a fantastic way. It's wears its inspirations on its sleeves. It is bombastic and gross and gooey and silly and fun and snarky and I like that about it. I'm a big fan of Fargit, I love revenge. I thought it was a great movie the year it came out. I think in my top 10, I think that was 2017. And to kind of wait for another project from her and for it to be this and to be this big and this widely received and this I think well critically received is exciting because it's fun and it's a throwback to sort of a different era. It wears those inspirations on its sleeve of Kubrick and Carpenter and Cronenberg and it feels like it could have come out in sort of their time and that kind of late 70s and 80s period, it has that and it's very sort of on the nose and a lot of its criticism and critique and cultural awareness and what it's trying to say. And there's nothing wrong I don't think with the sort of on the nose directness that it approaches its topics and its subjects and double standards in Hollywood and aging in Hollywood and femininity in Hollywood and all of these sorts of things that it tackles feel very prescient but they felt very prescient 40 years ago, 50 years ago and that's the sort of sadness that underlies us. It opens with this great shot and it closes in the same space. And I just, it really enjoy it. I think about it, I've been thinking about it. I was so sad I didn't get to record with Dalton and Thirk because it is a movie I enjoyed and I really wanted to talk about and I intentionally made time to go out and see it in a kind of a time frame where I haven't been able to go to the theater a lot and I'm glad that I did. And so if you're a horror hound, you dig body horror, you like satire, this one's co-see it in theaters. That's my highest recommendation. I'll probably be thinking about this for a while and I wouldn't be surprised. And right now with what I've seen I wouldn't be surprised if this isn't my top 10 at the end of the year just because it really is resonated. I'm thinking about it a lot and just everything that Fargit does here. And so again, assembling a great cast, assembling this sort of timeless world out of time world in LA but not maybe LA. And so there's that lynching thing happening as well. And so so much to appreciate, so much to enjoy here. So Dalton, I'm glad you threw it back to me. I was trying to figure out how to edit around that and said, hey, I'm gonna give my two cents real quick on the substance because I wanna talk about it. I like to talk about it. I wanna think about it. And yeah, it goes see this one. I highly encourage that it's for the freaks and that's cool, you know, that's where, I mean, there's jokes to be made about, you know, carrier, the shining and where the blood gets off and all this fun stuff and the imagery in this movie and the designs and the prosthetics and it's cool. It is the craft on display here should just sweep all of the technical awards this Oscar season. And I don't know that it will because of what it is as a horror film and I don't know. It's in a weird place and I hope the Academy and I hope all these union, the different guilds will look at it and recognize it and honor it because it is a work of art, I would say. And so I love it. I love the substance, thinking about it a lot. Glad I got to see it. I'm glad I jumped in here for just a few minutes. Yeah, Dalton's already gave you all the tags. Again, we're gonna be coming in later this week. We gave you Rebel Ridge. We're giving you the substance today and later this week, we're gonna be giving you Megalopolis, Dalton Dustin. Myself will be sitting down to discuss all of that entails. So be on the lookout for that. We also got our episode on Crystal Ferry and the magical cactus over in our main show, Canon, developing slightly two cannons here, the garbage shooter and the genre cast. And so maybe someday we'll split into a different channel, but that's a conversation for another time. Otherwise, thank you for listening. You keep watching. We'll keep talking and we'll see you all next time. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)