It’s a shame for Max Minghella’s “Shell,” a broadly comedic body horror film about an actress who undergoes a strange treatment to cling to youth, that it’s coming out after Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance” made such a big, bold and bloody splash at Cannes. Not only will this largely less successful film inevitably live in the shadow of that far more audacious one, but it will likely be compared to it in a litany of ways that don’t do it any favors.
However, there is always a big tent for horror and just because each shares a similar premise doesn’t mean that they can’t find their own joy in their respective executions.