Superficial, artificial, the body horrors of vanity.

Presentation:

Body horror is an emerging and peculiar genre. It’s supposed to disgust you and the more you don’t like what you see, the better the movie, which is honestly a very difficult criteria to judge. The film is clinically shot by design, digital and modern with very clean lenses and color grading. It looks like a commercial for a beauty product at the MoMA, shallow music video in execution. The film is framed well with the use of spherical ultrawides that support the themes of the film. The body horror elements are comical and grotesque, though I think cartoonish at times. I think the shrimp scene is actually the most nauseating. The film’s performance hinges on word of mouth shock factor as there is a ton of nudity, surprisingly for Demi Moore. Margaret Qualley is visually a good choice and not too distracting. The problem with the film is the script and ending. The best parts of the film are when they aren’t talking and once they do, you are immediately taken out of the experience. Dennis Quaid is one of the best parts of the film and carries the entire tone of the film’s themes on his shoulders.

Story:

The whole purpose of body horror is to be increasingly grotesque until a final climax of glorious mutilation. Some may not like the ending of the film, but that's because for this genre endings are supposed to be excessive and over the top. Even still, it was executed poorly and overly drawn out. It unfortunately ends up being more hilarious than gross. I think it attempted to take cues from Carrie, which has a stronger payoff. The climax in this film isn't rewarding because nothing feels reasonable or motivated, it's simply over the top for the sake of shocking audiences for a bloody catharsis. But you need emotional investment to have that moment and the conflict of the main character doesn't make any sense. You know you are the same person, so why are you fighting with yourself? Flip flopping between wanting the substance and not wanting it is just weak storytelling. Characters end up feeling like hollow puppets and not in a good way. The double body aspect is an interesting concept that does allow for visual interaction in a cinematic medium, but this dynamic is never utilized to expand upon any metaphors or symbolism. There was a ton of opportunity to explore internal struggle, the split paradoxical desires of wanting beauty as well as normality, but we aren't given that. At least give us a more interesting motivation behind the abuse of the substance rather than simply, why not?

Analysis:

The film has themes of misogyny, vanity, addiction, essentially the struggle for relevancy and pursuit of beauty in a shallow and insecure industry where your appearance is everything. It's a decent theme, but there's nothing else behind the mirror and it doesn't reveal or explore any new ideas that audiences don't already know about Hollywood.

Conclusion:

For those new to the genre, this should be a wild experience. It’s executed in a way that makes the genre more accessible to the masses. Unfortunately like the shallow themes it presents, the script is also just as straightforward without any meaningful commentary to add. It’s not as great as Titane, but it should be more enjoyable and entertaining to watch. Still, one of the best body horror films in recent memory.

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