SHELL

US, 2024, 100 minutes, Colour.

Elisabeth Moss, Kate Hudson, Kaya Gerber, Brandon Keener, Estee Haim, Dustin Milligan, Arian Moayed,.Peter McNichol.

Directed by Max Minghella.

Somehow or other, the title for a horror genre has emerged, “Body Horror”. Recently, with Festival awards and Oscar nominations, “Body Horror” gained quite some respectability with the film, Substance, and startling performances from Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley.

And the dramatic question arises, in the context of actresses and ageing and possibilities for performance, are there any limits as to what can be done to prevent any loss of beauty, to counterbalance the onset of age? In Substance, this question was treated with great seriousness (not without some satiric moments), issues of ambition and identity.

Shell was released at much the same time but was overshadowed by Substance. And perhaps it is a difference between the two films, one Shadow, one Substance.

This time the focus is again on an ageing actress, Sam Lake, played by the always reliable Elisabeth Moss. She has had success on the television series, Hannah Had a Heart. And we are introduced to a somewhat satiric tone when we realise that the theme of the series was that the heart literally talked! So, throughout this film there is some sending up of media, television…

However, the opening is rather more sombre, again an ageing actress, this plot time played by Elizabeth Berkely (with memories of her career and Showgirls). Something has happened to her skin. She is scraping at it. Then mysterious presence in the room. And she is brutally killed.

The film has been directed by Max Minghella, an actor, and son of the Oscar-winning British director, Anthony Minghella. He and the screenwriter have opted for melodrama rather than drama, some tongue in cheek attitudes towards the subject and characters, and, at times rather horribly for the audience and gleefully for the filmmakers, indulging in some gore and splatter and the creation of horrific monsters.

And, behind it all is Kate Hudson, playing Zoe, the executive in chief of the Shell Company, not only beauty products but also opportunities for beauty sessions, surgery and medications. (The screenplay explains that while she looks like Kate Hudson in her 40s, Zoe is actually 68, an advertisement for her company treatments!). And Zoe takes a shine to Sam Lake, offering her all kinds of opportunities, and, in a rather minor way, it is a variation on Faust and the Devil, Zoe being ultimately quite diabolical and Sam selling her soul for a starring role in front of the cameras.

There are odd characters, especially the sinister Cornelius who does the brutal bidding of Zoe. On the other hand, Sam has a great support in her friend, Lydia, both of them eventually trapped and threatened by Cornelius. And, there is a subplot with Chloe, a young actress whom Sam had babysat, who auditions for the role that Sam had hoped for initially, who is a great disciple of Zoe – but…, literally horror of horrors.

So, while there is some substance in the themes, the option has been to move into dark and horror shadows.

1. The title, the company, the beauty industry?
2. Body horror, skin, the human shell? The pot boiling aspects of the scenario? Serious themes, fast treatment? Creature-monster, gore and splatter?
3. Life in American cities, the 21^st-century, affluence, beauty, the media, industry?
4. The opening, the actress, Elizabeth Berkeley and her career, the growths, cutting them, the sinister figure, her death?
5. Sam Lake and her story, ageing, family background, growing up, ambitions, her career, the television series, Hannah had a Heart, the talking heart, comments by fans? Her career on hold, call to the studio, waiting, the encounter with Chloe and her glamour, having babysat her? The interview? Chloe getting the part?
6. The discussions with Chloe, the Shell Company, the reputation of Zoe Shannon? Treatments and possibilities, Chloe encouraging Sam?
7. Sam and her hesitations, her motivation for going, the invitation to the party, meeting with Zoe, the meal, her flesh being served, the reaction?
8. Kate Hudson Zoe, glamour, make up, allegedly 68 but looking younger? Her empire, her entourage, Cornelius and his sinister presence? Her befriending Sam, the bonding, the effect on her? Sam, the discussions with the doctor, his assurance, going through the treatments, success?
9. Months passing, the new lease of life, going to the studio, getting the part, Zoe has her patron?
10. The beginning of the changes, Sam and her friend Lydia, protecting her, upset, the continued manifestations, the final growths, her desperation, trying to cut them off, at the studio, rehearsals, performance, her vomiting the black blood?
11. Been taken back, the confrontation with Zoe, Lydia helping, imprisonment? Cornelius and his presence, the car?
12. Taking refuge with the doctor, the process, the removal of all the scars, his being killed?
13. The mystery of Chloe, Sam confronting Zoe, the search? The revelation of Zoe as the monster, giant, the attacks, Sam attacked, the gore, and the final splatter?
14. The comments that the film could have been more serious, like the body horror in The Substance? The option for the farcical treatment and the gory conclusion?