Warning: the article contains substance spoilersThe first film adaptation of Stephen King’s work is his debut novel Carrie. The original film, starring Sissy Spacek as the titular teenager, is about a young outcast who becomes a woman while also mastering her psychic abilities. Although this is a drastically different premise from the plot of The substanceBoth films explore the social pressures women are subject to, especially when it comes to beauty and acceptance.
The thematic links between Carrie and The substance makes the visual reference to the Stephen King film in Coralie Fargeat’s film stronger. The substance is full of cinematic references, including some Stephen King adaptations. The prominent Carrie reference is at the climax of The substancemirroring the climax of this Stephen King adaptation, which will receive a television adaptation soon.
Carrie and Elizabeth Sparkle are victims of social pressure
Carrie fears being seen in the same light as Monster Elisasue
The most obvious reference Carrie in The substance That’s when Monster Elisasue takes the stage and is rejected by the public who loved her other person – Sue – so much. Along with the crowd turning against Elisasue, her body begins to explode in a bloody spectacle.
Visually, this scene references what happened to Carrie at the prom. In the 1976 film, which will receive a television update from Mike Flanagan, Carrie is a social outcast at her school, seen as a freak by some girls and invisible by others. However, when the high school prom arrives, she is elected prom queen, but this ends up being a prank where a bucket of pig’s blood is thrown at her.
One of the main differences between the climax in Carrie – a book that remains 50 years later – and the climax in The substance It’s how the public reacts to each woman. In the Stephen King adaptation, Carrie has it in her head that everyone will laugh at her, thanks to her mother’s abuse and harassment from several classmates. However, only a few students laugh at her. Many others are shocked, but Carrie has reached her breaking point and doesn’t realize it.
Meanwhile, in The substanceA body horror epic that upends beauty standards, audiences react to Elisasue in a way that reflects Carrie’s greatest fear. No longer the beautiful Sue, the audience rejects Elisasue to the extreme, a degree that captures the insecurities Elizabeth Sparkle felt when she left her industry, as well as the insecurities that plague Carrie after years of harassment, abuse, and rejection. Both women are subject to social pressurebut one of them – Carrie – is rejected because she doesn’t fit in initially and the other – Elisasue – is rejected for not fitting in no more.
Carrie isn’t the only Stephen King film referenced in The Substance
The Shining has several references in the substance
There are many Easter eggs and references to other horror films in The substanceincluding The Shining. In Elizabeth Sparkle and Sue’s film studio, the carpets are almost identical to those seen in the Overlook Hotel in The Shining; although there are some differences. Another callback to The Shining that’s when the hallway with these carpets is flooded with blood, just like when the elevators enter The Shining opened and flooded the corridors with blood.
Director Coralie Fargeat is clearly a horror fan and a fan of Stephen King for all the references contained in The substance, which is enjoying success on streaming. While some of them are nice homages to previous films, others – like those of Carrie – take on a deeper meaning thematically.