Finally, “The Substance” is very much a woman’s movie. The way writer-director Coralie Fargeat presents Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley — the matter-of-fact way in which she films their bodies, and the trust that she elicits from them — has the unmistakable stamp of a woman director. This is obvious within minutes.

In Coralie Fargeat’s body horror shocker The Substance, Demi Moore stars as Elisabeth Sparkle, a former A-lister who is unceremoniously fired from her fitness TV show by a loathsome studio boss, played by Dennis Quaid.