Why Demi Moore’s Golden Globe For ‘The Substance’ Is Rare Horror Win

How rare is The Substance star Demi Moore’s win for a horror role at the Golden Globes? You may find the answer—especially for female actors—well, shocking.

Moore won her Golden Globe Sunday night for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for the body horror film, which makes her feat even more remarkable.

However, since The Substance is part satire, its dark humor helped qualify Moore and writer-director Coralie Fargeat for a combined four nominations for the film in the Globes’ Musical or Comedy category.

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For Moore’s character, Elizabeth Sparkle, her story in The Substance is not a laughing matter. Once an A-list star in Hollywood, Elizabeth luckily found success after her heyday by becoming a TV aerobics guru.

That success, however, is brutally taken away the day Elizabeth turns 50 years old, as her crass, sexist boss (Dennis Quaid) fires her from the show with the goal of replacing her with a younger host.

Desperate to hang on to her youth, Elizabeth begins to inject herself with a black-market drug known simply as The Substance, which replicates her cells and in a ghastly physcial transition, gives the former Hollywood luminary a younger, “better version” of herself.

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Renaming her younger self (Margaret Qualley) Sue, Elizabeth quickly learns that there are horrific consequences if she does not use The Substance properly.

Despite the film’s wicked sense of humor, The Substance is billed as a “body horror” film that features scenes with blood and gore as Elizabeth’s neglectful use of the drug has monstrous implications—with an emphasis on the word “monster.”

When Is The Last Time An Actor Won For A Globe For Starring In A Horror Film?

The last time an actor won a Golden Globe for a horror film role was in 2007 when Johnny Depp took the Best Actor in a Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy for playing the title character in Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Of course, since Sweeney Todd was a film adaptation of composer Stephen Sondheim’s legendary Broadway music, it didn’t seem unusual that Depp was nominated in the Musical or Comedy category. However, the narrative—where the vengeful barber killed customers and his co-hort Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) ground them up into meat pies—screamed straight-up horror.

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While Depp’s win for Sweeney Todd seems relatively recent, the last female to win a Golden Globe for a horror film dates back more than three decades when Jodie Foster took the trophy for what was known then as Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for the 1991 hit The Silence of the Lambs.

Some movie fans may argue, however, that The Silence of the Lambs is not horror, though, since it’s billed as a psychological thriller. The horror arguement seems plausible, though, especially considerating that the film’s main villain, Dr. Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), is a serial killer who likes to consume his victims.

Another film that could be considered horror but is billed as a psychological thriller is the 1990 big-screen adaptation of Stephen King’s best-selling novel Miserywhich, like Foster, earned Kathy Bates a Best Actress in a Motion Picture — Drama Golden Globe.

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However, if film purists insist that Misery—despite the horror pedigree of the author who wrote the source material—is not a horror film, there is a chilling classic from the early 1970s that experienced Golden Globes glory that undeniably is.

Released in 1973, The Exorcist—a tale of demonic possession that is billed as horror —won star Linda Blair a Golden Globe for what was then called Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, as well as a Globe for Most Promising Newcomer (an award that no longer exists).

‘The Substance’s’ Director Wants Horror To Be Recognized By The Oscars

Film fans will find out soon whether Demi Moore’s awards season fortunes will continue, first with the Screen Actors Guild Nominations on Wednesday and when the nominations for the 2025 Oscars are announced on Jan. 17.

One person being vocal about how horror should be recognized by the Oscars is The Substance’s writer and director Coralie Fargeat, who told IndieWire in an interview Monday that horror films shouldn’t be treated differently by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

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“I don’t see horror films as any different from other movies,” Fargeat told IndieWire. “They are so political. They are such a great way to tell so many things in a very rude way, and in a very indelicate way. To me, they should compete at the same level as everything else.

“I learned to accept who I was as a filmmaker, not loving writing dialogue, for instance, but expressing myself in a visual and very visceral way,” Fargeat added. “And that’s when you accept who you are, and then the magic can happen. The best thing I wish for the Academy is that there is not this barrier, that every movie is considered as cinema, which I think it is.”

The Substance—starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid—is streaming on Mubi and available to purchase or rent on video on demand.

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