Jen Hicks

The use of color - yellow - yolk imagery, the coat, nascency in opposition to the red - menses, fetal, blood is a powerful use of visual sign posting throughout the film. It nods to Carrie, The Fly, Frankenstein, Requiem for a Dream, and Clockwork Orange without ever being derivative. The men serve as grotesque caricatures, peering from the sidelines in the reduced and marginalized position women typically occupy in film. It is wildly bold and uncomfortable. The Substance is an experience.