“The Substance” is truly unhinged body horror.

Demi Moore makes a remarkable star turn as Elisabeth Sparkle, an actress and exercise show host who is getting booted out of the business on her 50th birthday.

She gets in a car accident on the way home, and while she emerges unscathed, she crosses paths with a mysterious young man who drops a thumb drive in her pocket advertising “The Substance,” a miracle drug that promises to bring back your younger self but better.

After some hemming and hawing, Elisabeth goes for it, and Sue (Margaret Qualley) emerges, for better or worse.

I will admit that the film got a little off pace for me in the first couple acts, but every part of that bloody third act hits it out of the park.

This movie most definitely is not for everyone. As someone who is very squeamish with body horror, “The Substance” is probably not a movie I will be rewatching any time soon.

However, it is a movie that will stay with me for months to come and is a great kick off to horror season, a breath of fresh air compared to “Speak No Evil” and “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”

While the cast of “The Substance” is great, this film relies a lot on story, tone, editing and cinematography, wrapped up in the overall direction of the film by Coralie Fargeat, who also wrote the script. She really brought a wild vision to life.

Sure, one could draw comparisons to Lynch, Kubrick and the Cronenbergs, but she has created a film all her own with clever references to iconic thrillers “Vertigo” and “2001” with musical cues in that fantastic final act.

If you can stomach the body horror, “The Substance” is definitely worth a wild trip to the theater this fall.

Rating: 4/5