New horror movie debuts first full-length trailer featuring blood, sweat, and tears – and it's already got a near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score

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Upcoming body horror movie The Substance has a new, full-length trailer – and it promises a wild ride of blood, sweat, and tears.

Demi Moore stars as Elisabeth, an A-lister past her prime who we find out is fired from her gig hosting a hit fitness TV show once she turns 50 by sleazy exec Harvey (Dennis Quaid). Her luck looks like it might be about to change, though, when she's offered a mysterious drug called the Substance, which promises to turn her into a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" self. The only catch? Elisabeth must split her time equally between her current self and her new, younger body (played by Margaret Qualley), with one week in each body.

Elisabeth jumps at the chance and is promptly re-hired by an unsuspecting Harvey under her new alter ego, Sue. "The one and only thing not to forget: you are one," Elisabeth is warned. "You can't escape from yourself." But that's easier said than done, it seems, as we see Sue exclaim that "the balance isn't working" and Elisabeth reporting a "slight misuse" of the drug. Does she want to stop taking it, then? "I'm fine," she says. "Everything's fine."

Written and directed by French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat, who previously helmed the 2017 action thriller Revenge, the movie premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival, where Fargeat won the award for Best Screenplay.

The Substance hits the big screen on September 20. While we wait, check out our guide to the other best upcoming horror movies on the way in 2024.

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.