Definitely not Cronenberg, but some strange mix of inspirations. The result, however, is not that great. It's a nice movie but the hype is overblown. Some marketing was talking about people leaving theater because it was too disgusting, or people vomiting or whatever. Don't know if this really happened, at least for me there was no reason to do so. I guess some Millennials that never saw a movie made before the year 2000 may find this movie gross, but I can assure them that it's quite light on the gore and the body horror. And for those who was impressed with the Picasso monster, you should probably see Peter Jackson's early movies, specifically Braindead. The Substance is a romantic comedy compared to that one.

Thematically it's also quite thin. The point is not complex and the subtext is shallow. The movie is not a bad entertainment, but fills too dumbed down for the modern generation.

Clear Cronenberg influences , the director said it herself during the UK premiere . All those body horror elements ( including the comic glances )along the pathos in the Elizabeth/Sues's eye were very reminiscent of finale of The Fly.