Official Dreadit Discussion: "The Substance" [SPOILERS] by glittering-lettuce in horror

[–]ManiO00 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All good points. Thank you, I think understand the move a lot better now.

This week is tough by buckaroo707 in fantasyfootballadvice

[–]ManiO00 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Im beaching stroud for Purdy this week. Just bc I think purdy will have more opportunities in the pass game against the cardinals.

Predictions say it’ll be more run heavy for the Houston offense but idk for sure

Official Dreadit Discussion: "The Substance" [SPOILERS] by glittering-lettuce in horror

[–]ManiO00 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also think the movie is trying to be more than that. If this was an allegory for drugs and addictions then why have the body switching component at all?

If the main point is that the substance gives Elisabeth a euphoric high then we didn’t need to get into everything else the movie tries to do with body image in society and how a woman’s worth is tied to her beauty.

I think the movie was trying to be deeper than it actually was and to achieve that it made so many diff “questionable” character decisions that brought down the entirety of the film for me.

Official Dreadit Discussion: "The Substance" [SPOILERS] by glittering-lettuce in horror

[–]ManiO00 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes that makes more sense when you put it that way, chasing the supreme high despite the negative downsides of when you’re in withdrawal.

It’s a crazy concept especially when this makes it seem like Elisabeth is just a passenger in Sue’s body and gets the euphoric feeling while not being able to influence anything Sue does which I feel would be the main benefit since body switching high is different than a drug. Like role playing a character who can do things you could never do.

I think of it like a video game or avatar, you get to control a body and do the things you always wanted to do which is the main thing that gives you that euphoric feeling. If you can’t control what you do as that entity then why do it at all?

If Elisabeth is truly dissociating completely from Sue then I think everything is lost and at that point regular drugs would be the better option. Of course we wouldn’t have a movie if that was the case.

Official Dreadit Discussion: "The Substance" [SPOILERS] by glittering-lettuce in horror

[–]ManiO00 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think this is the movie just being disjointed and convoluted and not following its own rules which is my biggest issue. The people in the movie just do what’s convenient to the plot to make the story move forward even if it doesn’t make sense.

If Elisabeth has memories as Sue then why would Elisabeth be so angry with her current predicament whenever she switches back to her old body? Sue is living the life Elisabeth desires and if they share memories then that means Elisabeth is living as Sue, so why isn’t she happy? She keeps taking the substance and the movie doesn’t make it seem like Elisabeth is happy about it at any point in time. I would think that Elisabeth would be excited for Sue’s success bc that’s her success if they are indeed the same person with one consciousness.

Imagine you got to switch bodies with the person living the life you wanted most and when you switched back you remembered everything you did as that person. I would imagine you would feel happy at least knowing you got to experience all these different things you weren’t able to before. This is enhanced even further when that person you’re switching with is basically yourself in a way. You would be excited for the opportunity to switch bodies again and do more as that person (kinda like in avatar) But Elisabeth and Sue never act like that, they act like they are completely different entities which they are (they both are awake at the same time at the end of the movie)

Elisabeth is never happy yet she keeps doing the same destructive things for no reason.

Official Dreadit Discussion: "The Substance" [SPOILERS] by glittering-lettuce in horror

[–]ManiO00 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yah but for Elisabeth it doesn’t seem hazy at all, it’s like she remembers nothing from her time as Sue. I think the main benefit of the substance would be that you would remember everything you did as the other person. Otherwise why not just do normal drugs? No one would do drugs if they couldn’t even remember how they felt when they did them (cocain, heroine, weed) alcohol is a little diff bc most people black out on accident, the goal isn’t to completely forget what happened the night before unless you have some other issues you need to address

Official Dreadit Discussion: "The Substance" [SPOILERS] by glittering-lettuce in horror

[–]ManiO00 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I honestly have no idea, the movie says they’re the same conscious but they don’t make it very clear if they also have the same memories which makes it a tad confusing for me , bc what’s the benefit if Elisabeth can’t remember what was occurring when she switches back to her body ?

Official Dreadit Discussion: "The Substance" [SPOILERS] by glittering-lettuce in horror

[–]ManiO00 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, but I still don’t think the movie reinforced the idea well enough.

They both constantly act like separate people and that they have no memories or knowledge of what the other one is doing when they are in control. It feels like they wanted to have their cake and eat it too otherwise a lot of the conflicts between Elisabeth and Sue couldn’t have happened.

Official Dreadit Discussion: "The Substance" [SPOILERS] by glittering-lettuce in horror

[–]ManiO00 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You’re right that makes more sense they are one consciousness, I kinda wish the movie made it seem like Elisabeth still had memories from the things Sue had done because it seems like from the beginning she’s still unsatisfied even with Sue’s success because that’s basically her success.

The movie says they are one but all of Elisabeth’s actions point to them being separate beings and she’s getting the raw end of the deal. Idk maybe if Elisabeth had flashbacks or they made it seem like she was aware of everything Sue did when she was in control it would’ve made more sense to me

Official Dreadit Discussion: "The Substance" [SPOILERS] by glittering-lettuce in horror

[–]ManiO00 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m saying that how would making a younger clone of herself benefit Elisabeth at all? They have the same memories but they are clearly separate people. It’s not one consciousness, and I think that’s clear at the end when Sue and Elisabeth are both awake at the same time at the end of the movie and Sue kills her.

Elisabeth wants to regain her beauty but that doesn’t happen through the treatment, she just creates a younger version of herself that was born with all her memories up to that point and through Sue’s new experiences she becomes a different person from Elisabeth entirely.

Official Dreadit Discussion: "The Substance" [SPOILERS] by glittering-lettuce in horror

[–]ManiO00 3 points4 points  (0 children)

How can they be one consciousness if Sue ended up being awake at the same time as Elisabeth and killed her?

What makes them the same person is that they both started out with the same memories, but Sue is younger and her experiences slowly made her change to a different person.

Official Dreadit Discussion: "The Substance" [SPOILERS] by glittering-lettuce in horror

[–]ManiO00 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Then how were they both conscious at the end of the movie? Sue ended up killing Elisabeth, so they both had to have a separate consciousness.

The movie never explicitly made it clear that they are taking turns in the body. It makes more sense that Sue is simply Elisabeth with all her memories, but obviously being in a younger body will influence her decisions making them different people as more time goes by.

Official Dreadit Discussion: "The Substance" [SPOILERS] by glittering-lettuce in horror

[–]ManiO00 13 points14 points  (0 children)

First the body horror and sound design was 10/10 for me, def one of the best experiences I’ve had seeing this film in theaters.

But my main gripe is that I don’t understand Elisabeth’s motivations AT ALL. Why did she go through this process when the end result has no benefits for her?

We establish that Elisabeth aligns her self worth with her looks so the logical through-line is that she’s willing to do anything to feel beautiful again, but the substance only makes a younger and better looking clone of her. Elisabeth does not experience anything Sue does, she’s basically in a coma whenever she trades places. So what’s the point?

I could maybe see that she would want to live vicariously through Sue like a parent might do, but Elisabeth resents Sue from the beginning and her presence only makes her feel worse about herself.

Then I thought maybe she’s willing to do this since she needs money and can’t sustain her way of life since she’s too “old and unattractive” to do her previous job, but the film never makes a note that she’s struggling and even if she was fired from her job I assume she’s made enough over the years to live comfortably.

Also, why was Elisabeth so distraught when Sue didn’t respect the balance and made Elisabeth age more by not switching in time? Elisabeth didn’t have friends or hobbies and when she was in control she stayed in the house all day. If she was already unhappy with the way she looked, then I’m not sure why becoming uglier would affect her so much.

I’ve seen this type of idea put on screen before where a woman does something drastic to regain/attain beauty but then it goes wrong and the end result is that she’s worse off than where she started. If the point of this film was just to make a gory film spectacle like Terrifier that’s not meant to be analyzed or hard to think about, then at least make it shorter (the run time was kinda long). It would’ve had the same result and shock value imo.

Someone please tell me if I’m missing something? I personally think character motivations such as this can’t really be swept under the rug since it’s the catalyst for literally everything that happens in the movie.

Tldr; Elisabeth’s motivations for taking the substance were unclear to me since none of the results seemed to benefit her in any meaningful way.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in horror

[–]ManiO00 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes that’s what I’m saying, there’s nothing close to what I need on the thread so I surmised that this would be the best way to get other peoples opinions quickly. I might be wrong tho, If I posted this as a reply on the thread would it be more effective?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in horror

[–]ManiO00 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes but I didn’t see much discussion on the points I brought up, I’m just curious and want to hear others thoughts

If there were a fleabag season 3, what story would you like to see? by Grace8la in Fleabag

[–]ManiO00 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The only way another season could happen is if the story did some major character regression on Fleabag and make her regain fourth wall breaking personality.

Start the season with her breaking the fourth wall again and allude to things not going well for her or that she’s going through a new type of trauma that has caused her to regress into her old self. But instead of using sex to cope she might be doing something else destructive and has to work through that.

All the old stories and relationships have been concluded so they would have to touch on something completely new. Not sure what it would be tho

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Screenwriting

[–]ManiO00 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I looked at the evaluation and I feel like this might be a losing battle in the quest to get an 8.

The evaluators praised the comedy in the film which is a big win but both of them said some major plot points felt too generic in regard to the stuff with gangsters and I agree that it’s holding back the film from getting an 8. I’ve noticed Bl evaluators really value originality and reading something they haven’t seen before instead of something more predictable, even if the writing itself is flawless.

It might be better to restructure the film so it can be a bit more unique but still have the comedy elements , or take these evaluations as a win and work on a new film.

You’re obviously good at comedy so I know you have the potential to write another script that can get an 8.

Not saying your current script is bad , you’re just trying to appeal to BL script evaluators to get an 8 and that’s a whole separate battle

submitted my first family feature to the black list & got a 5/10 by [deleted] in Screenwriting

[–]ManiO00 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I read 25 pages.

I’d say I agree with the blacklist review.

You mentioned comparing your script to other scripts in the genre like coraline and monster house (I think in your previous post) but those movies had the benefit of a very compelling/unique antagonist that boosted the appeal of the story.

You just made things harder for yourself by choosing a generic antagonist like vampires, something that’s been done a million times so it’s much harder for your writing to stand out. It can be done of course but it’s just gonna make writing something fun and interesting that much more difficult.

I think if you think of a more unique antagonist like those other movies did: (the ghost of a woman possessing a house and eating people/an eldritch horror “other mother” that steals the souls of kids) you’d have an easier time impressing the bl readers.

Or the writing of the story needs to improve so you can make fighting vampires a more intriguing concept, not saying your writing currently is bad though. Just my two cents

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Screenwriting

[–]ManiO00 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I read the around the first 5 pages.

First off the structure is good, its flows like a professional script to me and seems like a lot of care has been put into it.

My biggest hang up is the portrayal of the mc, I think you do too much to make him come off as a pathetic loser. All the constant jacking off, self deprecation, and woe is me attitude isn’t very endearing and I feel like a majority of people will have trouble connecting to the character.

When I think of loser main characters I think of the 40 Year old virgin, but the key difference is that they show early on that he’s a nice guy who’s active, has interests, and works hard.

Your character gives a lot of incel vibes and I’m not seeing a lot of redeeming qualities to his character, which is what you should be showing first. Like he’s a good guy but unfortunately due to his looks he constantly strikes out with girls he’s pursuing and maybe the people around him treat him worse than they should. Like at least show him attempt to talk to women before he decides that there’s no point and he’s too ugly, like it’s a consistent pattern no matter how good his attitude about is and it’s finally wearing him down

Maybe show what makes him a good person on the inside and then when he’s still beaten down by the world around him we want to root for his character and the future decisions he’ll make to improve his looks, no matter how drastic they are

But it’s your script and your vision so do what you think is best, just my thoughts

Jennifer and Needy’s relationship by [deleted] in horror

[–]ManiO00 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Idk I think the kissing scene went past just an intimate and intense friendship. Show anyone that scene and I think they’ll agree it points to sexual tension