Thinking about it, I wasn’t sure which image disturbed me more: the one where an eyeball begets another eyeball and the two of them start jostling for prominence in the same socket hole?; or the one where one eyeball begets four other eyeballs and they, you know, start slamming into each other?
On reflection, it’s the first that’s worse. As terrifying as the second may be, in a moment that sets off The Substance’s super gross-out denouement, it is at least expected. Also, with four eyes (actually it could be six, or eight, it all happens so quickly) you can feel the body horror being ratcheted up to levels of preposterousness that take the edge off. The first instance, by contrast, is simple and pure; it jabs its fingers into your stomach and squeezes away until it takes physical effort to stop yourself from gagging.
