Demi Moore and the (Not) Ageing Body. Ageism, Self-branding and Post-feminism in Contemporary Horror Cinema

This chapter examines Demi Moore’s performance and public persona in relation to The Substance (Coralie Fargeat, 2024), situating the film within contemporary debates on female ageing, post-feminism, celebrity culture, and horror cinema. Starting from the long-standing association between the female body, monstrosity, and abjection in the horror genre, the chapter explores how The Substance engages with feminist horror’s recent reconfiguration of female monstrosity as a site of rebellion, transformation, and self-determination. At the same time, it argues that Moore’s comeback narrative reveals the ambivalences of contemporary celebrity feminism. While the film appears to denounce ageism, the male gaze, and the impossible beauty standards imposed on women in the entertainment industry, Moore’s off-screen self-branding often relies on the very ideals of agelessness, discipline, and bodily control that the film seeks to critique. Through this tension between on-screen performance and off-screen persona, the chapter shows how narratives of empowerment can be absorbed into neoliberal post-feminist culture, transforming feminist claims into individualized practices of self-care, visibility, and marketability. The case of Demi Moore thus highlights both the critical potential and the ideological limits of contemporary feminist horror and celebrity activism.