There was a time when Elisabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore) was the toast of Hollywood, but now she’s 50 and her fame has long since faded. After she learns her sleazeball boss Harvey plans to drop her due to her age, an opportunity suddenly presents itself to her: a black-market drug called The Substance, which promises to give you a new, younger version of yourself. Initially hesitant, she soon gives in and agrees to try it. All she has to do is follow the instructions, and she’ll be back in the spotlight in no time, right? If you think you’ve heard this story before, that still won’t prepare you for what you’ll see in The Substance.

When a horror movie wins Best Screenplay at the Cannes Film Festival, you know you’re in for something special. Sure enough, The Substance is one of the year’s best films. It’s also one of the year’s hardest watches. Part social commentary, part body horror film, and part scream of rage, it takes the media’s unrealistic beauty standards to task before hacking them with a machete. It’s a nearly-two-and-a-half hour descent into cinematic hell….but, you know, the good kind.

The Substance is the sort of movie best experienced, so I’ll go light on any more plot details. Also, what an experience it is. The filmmaking is absolutely top-notch, with the editing, sound, and cinematography perfectly calibrated to induce as much anxiety in viewers as humanly possible. Demi Moore gives an absolutely tour-de-force performance in this, while special mention has to be given to Dennis Quaid as Harvey. Whenever he’s onscreen, the camera angles and edits become as grotesque and over-the-top as humanly possible to enhance his slimy performance. This is an absolutely masterful work of cinematic craft.

Of course, this is still a horror film, and not the kind that relies on cheap jump scares, either. This isn’t a film for the weak of stomach in the slightest. The makeup is extremely well-done, and hopefully the Academy will actually give this movie the time of day when the Oscars come around, because it absolutely deserves a nomination for it (not to mention several others). Yet it’s also not the kind of movie that relies on shocks for entertainment, either. The story is well-paced, even for a film this long. It’s a smart script that’s blistering in its satire (in more ways than one). A lot of times, I thought I knew where this movie was going, and ended up pleasantly surprised. Everything is also as garish and exaggerated as possible, which adds to the overall theme of the movie.

It all builds up to a finale that doesn’t so much go off the rails as it does blow up the train. It’s among the year’s most unhinged movie moments, and while I did think it went on a bit too long, I nevertheless loved every minute of it. If recent horror movies have left you cold, go see The Substance immediately. It’s not only the best horror film of the year, it’s one of the best films of the year, period.

Since 1974, more independent film distributors have gone out of business than I could probably fit into this paragraph. Yet against all odds, one scrappy artist-driven studio is still around to celebrate its 50th year in business. I am of course talking about production company, distributor, and B-movie stalwart Troma Entertainment. Last weekend at the Lucky 13 Saloon in Brooklyn, Troma brought the festivities as part of their 24th annual TromaDance Film Festival. Initially created by Troma founder Lloyd Kaufman with inspiration from South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone as an alternative to Sundance (after their film Cannibal! The Musical was rejected), TromaDance serves as a showcase for DIY filmmakers and some of the most out-there shorts and features available. Not only is there no entry fee, but the festival had free admission (though there was a suggested donation box), and while many of the movies featured have the kind of shock-and-shlock attitude Troma is known for, really, anything goes. (My G-rated high school film project made it into TromaDance 2014.)

Described by festival organizer Sabrina Mendoza as “a culmination of everything Tromaesque”, the festival consisted of a number of short film blocks and two feature films, Sweet Meats (as a work-in-progress focus group screening), and Murdaritaville. Unlike most of the times I’ve attended, the shorts were grouped by subject matter, with themes such as “Animation Nation”, “Shrooms ‘n’ Shit”, “Komedy Korner”, “Spooky Scary” and “Monster Madness”. Animation Nation was a particular highlight for me, not just for the obvious reason that I love animation, but because I was impressed with the quality of the techniques used. Considering the amount of effort animation takes, it was surprising how much the filmmakers were able to pull off with limited resources, including a number of shorts done with well-done cutout puppetry. The standout was easily Orchid, a short mixing stop-motion with chalk-like drawn animation that tells a story of drug addiction, murder, and monsters in a world populated by skeletons.

As mentioned, while a lot of the shorts did fit into the standard “Tromatic” aesthetic (I.e. sex, gore, and a lot of stuff that isn’t for the squeamish), there’s usually quite a lot of diversity on display, and this year was no exception. Last Day for Videos, for instance, was a melancholy documentary that focused on the closing of a Family Video in Kalamazoo, as the employees talk about what is lost from the communal video store experience in an age of streaming. The Triangular Door from experimental filmmaker Dylan Mars Greenberg was an anarchic, psychedelic work shot on Super-8 in which “the last survivors of an obliterated culture search for spiritual bondage in a reality show from hell”, narrated by noted Canadian art filmmaker Guy Maddin (which unintentionally created a link between TromaDance and the New York Film Festival, where Maddin’s new film Rumours is showing). Komedy Korner especially had a great deal of highlights, such as police procedural spoof Tornado County and Clownie Verses The Internet, an unhinged DIY short in which a clown gets his “revenge” on social media. Mendoza also had a short of her own in the festival, Coast to Coast AM, a re-enactment of an infamous phone call during Art Bell’s radio show.

Night 1 ended with a performance by Detroit-based band Fishfly, while Night 2 brought the arrival of Troma co-founder and head honcho Lloyd Kaufman, who took pics with fans. Meanwhile, Mendoza raffled off props from Kaufman’s upcoming movie The Power of Positive Murder, fresh off the shoot in upstate New York. The third day also had a Troma “Power Hour” showcasing the best and bloodiest moments from Troma’s 50 year history. Yet it wasn’t all fun and games, and Michigan video stores sadly weren’t the only thing being mourned that weekend. Earlier this year, Doug Sakmann, a longtime mainstay of the Troma crew and their events, died unexpectedly, making this the first TromaDance without him. He was memorialized in a heartfelt montage played during both nights, and as someone who knew Doug, his absence was definitely felt.

Mendoza told me that what separates TromaDance from other festivals is “the feeling of just wanting to be part of a greater community that is Tromaville” with “a bunch of people that have just shot things on iPhones [and] professional cameras…all here together to celebrate the power of filmmaking and disrupting media for 50 years.” Overall, TromaDance was a lot of fun, and if you’re in the New York City area (and have a strong stomach), I’d definitely encourage you to check it out next year. I’d also recommend that if you have a film to submit, do so. I mean, it’s free, and who knows? You might even make it in.

The program guide for the New York Asian Film Festival began its description of this film with the following statement: “If you’re still on the fence about whether animation is a genre or an art form, The Missing is here to smack some sense into you.” Those are bold words, but ones that should resonate with anyone tired of animation being considered “kids’ stuff.” An independently made feature and the first animated film to be submitted for the Best International Feature Oscar by the Philippines (which is how I first heard about it), The Missing is an example of animated drama that uses the medium, and its association with and capabilities for the fantastical, in masterful ways to discuss some very dark subject matter. While I don’t think it 100% works, this should still be one to keep an eye on.

Eric works as an animator, and for whatever reason can’t speak—he doesn’t have a mouth. He communicates with a whiteboard he hangs around his neck. One day, his mother asks him to check in on his uncle, only for him to find that he’s been dead for several days. At the same time, an alien from his past has returned to Earth in order to finish something that started years ago. In the wake of his uncle’s death, Eric begins losing more and more of himself—literally, yet nobody seems to notice any of the strange happenings going on with him. It’s up to his fellow animator Carlo (who he’s also in love with) to help Eric figure out the mystery of the alien and what’s happening to him.

The film is rotoscoped–shot in live-action and then animated over. While some may consider this a cheat to “actual” animation, the truth is that this was really the best way to tell the story. The combination of the realistic art style and fantastical imagery perfectly set the tone for what’s about to follow. Meanwhile, in contrast, Eric’s childhood flashbacks are presented in cartoony, crudely drawn 2D animation, which I also thought was fitting, especially with how it’s used in the premise.

While the plot description may make it sound like a sci-fi movie, it eventually becomes apparent that there’s more happening than what can be taken at face value. This is a much darker movie than it initially lets on, and I really appreciated the use of animation to tell that story in a way that makes it stand out. Granted, i didn’t feel it entirely worked well in execution, but by the film’s ending, a scene that will probably stay with me for a while, I understood what this movie was trying to do and I really admired it. Some of the film’s best images are when the animation and production mediums themselves actively revolt against the protagonist, in ways I don’t want to spoil, but also don’t think can be conveyed with words.

A great and creative example of animation being used to discuss difficult subject matter in ways that purely live-action films simply can’t, The Missing is a genre-defying drama that often must be seen to be believed. It’s not perfect, but still should be of strong interest to adult animation enthusiasts. With recent play on the festival circuit, I hope it gets more exposure soon, as well as US distribution. For now, though, all I can do is spread the word.

Combining science fiction and supernatural forces is a common occurrence in a lot of genre fiction, but in Kalki 2898 AD, well, the title says it all. Kalki is the name for the prophesied final incarnation of Vishnu, said to usher in a new epoch of existence. Suitably, this film, one of the largest productions in Indian history and the start of a cinematic universe, takes place at the end of the world. It has a cast of the nation’s biggest names, and a production that pulls out all the stops for visuals and set design. It’s also a pastiche of some of sci-fi’s biggest franchises with actual religious mythology thrown in. In short, it’s nothing less than one of the year’s most epic films by definition, but is it any good? As it turns out, yeah, it is. It’s not great, but I was really pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it.

It’s the year 2898, and Earth is a hellscape run by the 200-year-old totalitarian Supreme Yaskin. A war has left only the city of Kasi, and the planet’s resources are dominated by The Complex, a large structure of the world’s elite that has been forcibly taking fertile women for the deadly and consistently failed experiment Project K to extend Yaskin’s lifespan. The forces of Yaskin, the Raiders, have been searching for the hidden city of Shambhala, whose rebel residents foretell the coming of Kalki. Meanwhile, one of the kidnapped women, SUM-80, has managed to remain pregnant longer than any of the other women, which may be a sign of Kalki’s coming. Also meanwhile, Bhairava, a bounty hunter, longs of the day when he can enter The Complex and make a new life for himself. Also also meanwhile, Ashwatthama, who has spent the last 6,000 years cursed by Krishna with immortality, realizes the prophecy of Kalki may be at hand. All of these people ultimately converge when SUM-80 manages to escape The Complex, as it becomes extremely apparent that something bigger than anyone can fathom is about to happen.

First of all, I don’t normally say this, but seeing as how this has a major release in the US, I feel like I need to. If you don’t know anything about the plot of this movie, I would look it up first. While heavily inspired by pre-existing franchises, the backbone of the plot is the actual mythology and epic poetry of Hinduism, specifically, the Mahabharata. The film opens not with a future dystopia, but with a lavish recreation of the events of the poem, which are key to the story as a whole. However, as someone who isn’t versed in the mythology, it was pretty easy to follow along. It’s a combo of science fiction and faith that actually ends up working pretty well.

Speaking of lavish production values, this is also among the most expensive Indian movies to date, and you can see where they put the money in. The production design is incredible, and really wears the film’s influences on its sleeve. There’s visual splendor on full display, from hellish desert dystopias, to beautiful mythical cities, to a musical number set in the elite corners of the Complex where greenery and opulence abound. There’s even a devastating hand-drawn animation sequence of the historical events leading up to the film. It looked great on the big screen.

However, visuals only go so far, especially if your film runs a full 3 hours, but for the most part, I was entertained. I can’t ignore that this movie feels like several major sci-fi franchises thrown into a blender, but as a pastiche applied to scripture, it works really well. It does drag at a certain point though, but never to the extent where the length felt too much, and there’s a lot of plot here. The cast is great, but Prabhas steals the show as bounty hunter Bhairava. Like a combination of Han Solo and Spike Spiegel, he’s a clear comic relief in an otherwise dismal world. As in other films I’ve seen with him, he has a charisma and screen presence that, based on audience response alone, Hollywood’s biggest celebrities wish they could have. (The film also contains a hilarious and unexpected meta-cameo involving him that I won’t spoil here.) The action sequences are top-notch overall, with an absolutely epic climax and a lot of emotional weight.

Without spoiling the movie, some last-minute plot twists did feel a tad out of nowhere (even in-context), and some scenes could’ve been heavily trimmed, but overall, this one impressed me. As the first part of a cinematic universe, it does a great job of setting up an epic story based on real-life mythology that actually made me anticipate the next installment. While cliched and a tad long in the tooth (there is an intermission, but my screening didn’t include one), I’d recommend this to people looking for epic genre cinema they might otherwise not seek out.

Boys Go to Jupiter is something rare these days: an animated feature with a fully unique vision. The first and self-financed feature from artist and animator Julian Glander (Off the Air, Summer Camp Island) is many things: a commentary on hustle culture and the gig economy, a musical, E.T. if it took place in the suburbia from Edward Scissorhands, and a teen hangout comedy. Featuring Glander’s signature low-poly CGI aesthetic and surreal humor, this is a future weirdo animation cult classic in the making, and a clear hidden gem at this year’s festival.

Set in suburban Florida at the end of the year, the film follows Billy 5000, a 16-year-old high school dropout who operates a a delivery guy for Grubster. (Deliverers are required to call food “grub” and say “have a grubby day” upon leaving.) Billy’s goal is to make $5000, which he attempts by delivering food to various bizarre inhabitants. When Billy isn’t trying to grind out as many deliveries as possible without sleeping, he’s hanging out with his troublemaking friends and striking up a friendship with Rozebud a.k.a. Rosario Dolphin, the daughter of ruthless juice magnate and scientist Dr. Dolphin of Dolphin Groves (which Rozebud is trying to take down from within). It’s clear that Billy’s workaholic life is increasingly taking its toll on his health and his friendships, and the fact that he’s trying to hide that a mysterious gelatinous, donut-shaped creature has suddenly befriended him doesn’t make things easier.

Animated with the style (and humor) of a quirky PS1 game, the lo-fi animation not only charms, but also makes it stand out in a generally uniform CGI landscape. Honestly, the visuals made me smile just as much as the film’s absurdist comedy, which is complemented by an incredible voice cast of alt-comics and a few notable names. Of particular note is Janeane Garofalo’s great turn as Dr. Dolphin, as well as Miya Folick’s performance as Rozebud. Her song “Winter Citrus” will likely remain in your head long after the film ends. Taking inspiration from such films as Napoleon Dynamite and Ghost World, the eccentric locals Billy delivers food to make the already fantastical premise seem par for the course. Among the customers are a shadowed figure who insists Billy pre-chew their food for an extra tip, a mysterious spaghetti critic, and an aging mini-golf course owner perfectly voiced by Joe Pera.

Fittingly for the film’s animation style, the neighborhood has the feel of a video game where one travels around to interact with various oddball NPCs. Yet this also speaks to the deeper melancholy of Billy’s character, constantly going from place to place in pursuit of “G-points” (Grubster’s system that makes it more difficult to track how much money one is actually making). The frequent absurdity is mixed with social commentary, and as Billy grinds out deliveries, he occasionally breaks into synth-laden, often existentialist tracks about his life choices and the constant pursuit for his economic goal. A lot of this movie has the feel of something you don’t so much watch as let wash over you, and the musical portions definitely add to that. (“I Hope They Have Chickens In Heaven” serves as an unexpected tear-jerker.)

To be honest, I really haven’t seen an animated feature like this. If you grew up watching Adult Swim or are simply looking for something different in animated movies, this movie is for you and I really hope this gets to be seen by a wider audience. Boys Go to Jupiter is a trippy, funny, otherworldly take on our workaholic world. Stay tuned for more on my coverage of the 2024 Tribeca Festival.

Mars is an adult animated feature, and a quick look at the cast list makes it clear this isn’t just another raunchy animated comedy. It comes from sketch group The Whitest Kids U’ Know as their first project together in over a decade, and while their taboo-shattering comedy has raised more than a few eyebrows over the years, their inclusion in this festival should raise eyebrows for a different, less funny reason. Trevor Moore, the de facto leader of the team, died in an accident in 2021, and while he managed to record all of his lines for his movie before his death, it was clear from the introduction prior to the screening that the other members are still reeling from his death. As a result, Mars is essentially the last hurrah for the team, and the good news is it’s a fitting note to go out on.

The film focuses on an expedition to Mars led by an eccentric billionaire. Five people are picked from a pool of submissions to be the first humans to set foot on the red planet, among them a devout Christian, a woman with an unsettling backstory, and Kyle, a dentist feeling unfulfilled with his life and practice who ditches his fiancée on her wedding day in favor of space travel. The team’s excitement for what lies ahead very quickly fades as things go south fast due to some very unexpected developments.

If the crowd at Tribeca was any indication, fans of The Whitest Kids will absolutely love this movie. (I noticed a lot of nods to the sketch show, as well as some tributes to Trevor Moore sprinkled throughout.) I had a lot of fun with this, and likely so will anyone with a twisted sense of humor. Yet while the group’s signature dark comedy is out in full force, they also try and keep a more mindful eye on what they joke about. That’s not to say there still aren’t some pitch-black gags in this (though many of them got a big laugh out of me), but other times they’re definitely aware that times have changed and even address that, while still being funny. Some of the movie did wear a bit thin in my opinion, though I sorta expected that given that they’re a sketch group.

The animation was crude, but I’ve gotta be honest, I’ll give it a pass. Seriously, if you think you can do better with a DIY animated feature, be my guest. It still takes full advantage of the medium, incorporating a number of scenes that that would otherwise break the bank on a live-action feature, and the twisted comedy definitely works well within an animated framework. That’s the nice thing about animation: if you put in the work, you can make a blockbuster premise on pocket change. The plot is elaborate and honestly not something I want to say too much of. There’s a lot of twists, and seemingly innocuous moments ultimately later play big roles in the story. Overall, I had a lot of fun with this, and if you’re a Whitest Kids fan, you will too. It’s a shame this ended up being the end for them, but the fact that they were able to finish this is nothing short of a miracle.

Stay tuned for more on the animation at Tribeca Festival 2024, including Boys Go to Jupiter and the animated shorts.