Celebrating Horror at the 97th Academy Awards

I try not to be a pessimist in my critical writing. It’s a slippery slope that trades the ability to induce rage for profit and that’s just a miserable experience for everyone involved.

Despite The Substance falling short in the “major” categories at the Academy Awards this year, there is so much to celebrate about the role of horror at this year’s ceremony. 

After a stellar live performance from Wicked co-stars Cynthia Errivo and Ariana Grande celebrating the cinematic world of Oz, host Conan O’Brien paid tribute to The Substance was a body horror/slapstick comedy sketch inspired by the emergence of Sue from Elizabeth Sparkle. 

We see intercut footage of Elizabeth taking the titular substance for the first time and Conan O’Brien running late to the Oscars ceremony. The reason? He’s emerging head first through Elizabeth’s back. This tongue-in-cheek celebration of the most critically acclaimed body horror film in decades forced the audience in the theater and at home to see the secret of The Substance. 

For those who watched The Substance but missed the Oscars, don’t worry. Conan’s emergence is bloodless. He does lose a shoe and dive back in, which is hysterical. But yes, the scene is recreated without buckets of blood and viscera and it’s still as…off-putting as the original.

That practical effects sequence, combined with the masterful aging makeup and the rise of international superstar Monstro ElisaSue, earned The Substance an Academy Award for Makeup and Hairstyling. Pierre-Olivier Persin, Stéphanie Guillon, and Marilyne Scarselli took home an Oscar for their brilliant makeup and hairstyling work, establishing the transformation sequences of The Substance and tormenting the balance between Elisabeth and Sue as the use of the substance goes horribly wrong. 

In recent years, The Academy has strayed away from recognizing full on body horror or even gore in Makeup and Hairstyling. The last horror film to win was 2010’s The Wolfman, where inaugural Best Makeup winner Rick Baker returned for another bloody victory lap innovating the creation of werewolf transformation effects on camera. 

I’m not predicting a Renaissance of horror films winning Makeup and Hairstyling, but it’s nice to see a full on body horror film reign supreme after such a long drought. The only other body horror film to win this category is 1986’s The Fly, where Chris Walis and Stephan Dupois led a team of expert artists to transform Jeff Goldblum into the doomed Brundlefly. The Substance defied the odds and triumphed in a category I genuinely thought they would miss out on at the Oscars. 

Sometimes, I do let the nihilistic tendencies of my fiction take over when commenting on awards shows, and the lack of wins for The Substance certainly pushed me there. 

Did you realize that the Academy Awards proved the point of The Substance, a deeply satirical film about the disposability of women of a certain age in Hollywood in search of the next young thing, by only recognizing the film in Hair and Makeup? That’s bleak even by my standards, but it still stings because it’s true.

This takes nothing away from Anora, which I long predicted to sweep the awards. Writer/Director Sean Baker has been on the precipice of a record-breaking Oscar night for a decade now with his brilliant storytelling, eye for detail, and focus on human stories in less celebrated areas of society. Anora is a masterpiece and Mikey Madison absolutely deserves recognition for her performance.

Still, it is totally acceptable to be disappointed that your own favorite didn’t win. Demi Moore gives the best performance of her career as Elisabeth Sparkle, more than meeting the challenge thrown down by the brilliant writer/director Coralie Fargeat to make The Substance resonate with audiences. It’s rare to discuss the subtlety of work in a splatter film but Moore’s performance is best described as nuance and highly physical. We all talk about the mirror scene for good reason. 

One of the best things for the longevity of a film in pop culture is that “robbed” narrative. To be clear, I feel awards are earned, not stolen, and a nomination is just as good as going down as the winner when we’re listing off the best of the best in an art form. The dark irony of The Substance’s message mixed with the shock of Moore’s loss is going to keep The Substance in the critical discourse for years to come.

You couldn’t avoid The Substance at this year’s Oscars even when The Substance wasn’t being directly recognized. Margaret Qualley, the Sue to Moore’s Elizabeth, led the massive James Bond tribute with a gorgeous dance, channeling the femme fatale Bond girls of decades of cinema. Moore was seated near the front of the crowd, leading to lots of reaction shots from the star throughout the night. Combined with nominations in four of the above the line categories, the Oscar-watching audience now knows the impact of The Substance even if the 20000 gallons of fake blood in the climax might put them off from watching.

Really, you can’t realistically ask for a better night for a horror film at the Oscars than this. Remember to support your favorite artists and their future endeavors so they might have another chance to triumph at Hollywood’s big night.

The Substance is streaming on Mubi and available on physical and digital media now.