Episode 20: Seconds (1966) & The Substance (2024)

Welcome to episode 20 of The Horror Double Bill, the podcast where each week we pair two films to create something far greater than the sum of their parts.

This week we are exploring the horrors of ageing and identity with two movies that take the viewer on a disorienting journey into the price of reinvention and rejuvenation

First up we have Seconds from 1966 and director John Frankenheimer, featuring a career best performance from former matinee idol Rock Hudson alongside Salome Jen and Will Geer. Then we bring ourselves bang up to date – nearly - with the Substance from 2024 and director Coralie Fargeat, featuring a career best performance from Demi Moore alongside Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid.

References

Seconds

Seconds by Jez Conolly and Emma Westwood

The directors commentary on the Masters of Cinema blu ray release

https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/22848?

https://theasc.com/magazine/nov97/seconds/pg1.htm

https://theasc.com/articles/aces-of-the-camera-james-wong-howe-asc?

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/08/a-second-life-for-em-seconds-em-the-1966-cult-classic-that-made-audiences-sick/278930/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Frankenheimer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_Hudson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seconds_(1966_film)

https://youtu.be/FV2LuK8wVsg?si=z-IZcYN5eF6ZB0h4

https://youtu.be/UjT-db11ZwM?si=W9L12SzTFjBuSDrZ

The Substance

https://www.hammertonail.com/interviews/coralie-fargeat/

https://www.screendaily.com/features/coralie-fargeat-on-making-the-substance-her-own-way-everything-had-to-be-in-excess/5199519.article

https://www.indiewire.com/features/interviews/coralie-fargeat-feminist-body-horror-the-substance-1235048769/

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/sep/14/we-can-be-violent-to-ourselves-brutal-demi-moore-on-body-image-reinvention-and-her-most-shocking-role-yet

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/demi-moore-on-the-substance-and-resisting-a-toxic-beauty-culture/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Substance

https://youtu.be/8H64HNvXrqU?si=tJyXTPL6niEzfnZM

https://youtu.be/UMicrbtjFKU?si=vAM0EnUtOI-qMsSR

https://youtu.be/BKcMm5RG2M4?si=fn0a134K_Vz5lCBi

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/the-substance-shot-list-coralie-fargeat-awards-insider

https://www.elle.com/culture/movies-tv/a62297701/the-substance-coralie-fargeat-interview/

Instagram: @thehorrordoublebill

email: thehorrordoublebill@gmail.com

youtube: @thehorrordoublebill

artwork by Justin Parker (IG jpkr_illustration.com)