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How Demi Moore’s Awards Run for ‘The Substance’ Could Redefine Horror at the Oscars

Horror movies are seeing Oscar buzz, thanks to Demi Moore and "The Substance."

After watching the scene in “ The Substance ” where Elisabeth Sparkle, played by Demi Moore, repeatedly applies and wipes off lipstick in front of a mirror — a chilling metaphor for identity, erasure and self-loathing — I couldn’t have imagined that critics and awards voters would embrace it. The 2025 race is stacked, with Moore up against an abundance of riches, which include other genre-bending turns such as the musical performances of Cynthia Erivo (“Wicked”) and Karla Sofía Gascón (“Emilia Pérez”), young ingenues Mikey Madison (“Anora”) and Zendaya (“Challengers”) and international veterans Fernanda Torres (“I’m Still Here”) and Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Hard Truths”). At 62, she would become the sixth-oldest winner in the category’s history, alongside Meryl Streep (“The Iron Lady”), Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”), Marie Dressler (“Min and Bill”), Katharine Hepburn (“On Golden Pond”) and Jessica Tandy (“Driving Miss Daisy”).

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