Demi Moore’s gory new film The Substance is prompting cinema-goers to walk out after mere minutes as they say it’s the ‘most graphic film they’ve ever seen’.

The Substance aims to tackle the issue of impossible Hollywood beauty standards and sees Demi play the role of Elisabeth Sparkle.

Unceremoniously sacked as she hits her 50th birthday, Elisabeth discovers a black-market drug which can create a ‘younger, more beautiful, more perfect’ version of its user – but the drug’s strict conditions are gruesome.

So grisly, in fact, that cinema-goers have been walking out of screenings both in Britain and in the US due to the extreme levels of gore on display.  

At least 20 people are understood to have walked out of a screening in Leicester Square in London before the movie finished, branding it ‘brutal’ – while American viewers have also told of people quitting their seats in dismay.

One cinema-goer at the showing in central London said: ‘At least 20 people walked out of my screening in Leicester Square before the end. It was brutal.

‘Most people watched it through their hands. It was the most graphic film I’ve ever seen.’

Social media users have been sharing comments about just how ‘gory’ and ‘disgusting’ they found the film – though with many praising it and Moore’s performance in particular.

Comments have included calling the film ‘a raw, gory, grotesque, WILD depiction of the effects of ageism and the beauty standards set on women’.

One poster on X, formerly Twitter, cautioned: ‘Be warned: Very gory & disgusting imagery.’

Another, from the US, wrote: ‘Ya shoulda seen the faces on the two women who walked out of the theater behind me. I guess they thought they were going to see a nice new Demi Moore movie.’

A separate poster wrote: ‘The Substance: not entirely sure what I just watched. Felt faint. Almost walked out. But also still enjoyed? Ageism is real. And despite at times feeling overly sexualised, it highlights that we can try to stop it – it’s impossible. Demi Moore is a force!!!’

Another said: ‘Three people walked out at my showing (which was quite full), each one during different scenes that were increasingly more graphic.’

Demi discussed the film and her character on her first ever appearance on The Graham Norton Show on Friday.

The Ghost star was joined on the show by her canine companion Pilaf, a chihuahua who attends many of her public events with her.

Her little dog proved to be an instant hit with Lady Gaga, who was also on the show alongside Colin Farrell and Richard Ayoade.

Talking about the critically acclaimed film, she said: ‘It is almost impossible to fully describe because it is dealing with some serious subject matters.

‘The best way I can sum it up is that it is like The Picture of Dorian Gray meets Death Becomes Her meets a Jane Fonda workout video.’

Asked whether it was liberating not to worry about what she looked like for the role, Demi said: ‘I was very much pushed out of my comfort zone, but it was great to show up and be allowed to look bad!’

Elsewhere in the conversation, she reminisced about being nude on the cover of Vanity Fair when she was seven months pregnant with daughter Scout.

She said: ‘It really was taken just for me but then I got the call to say they would like to use it. I said yes, never thinking it would have the impact it did.’

The Substance has been hailed by critics for what has been dubbed its ‘deliciously unhinged and dread-inducing’ levels of gore, with one describing it as ‘a shocking assault on the senses’. 

The film sees the character Elisabeth dealt a devastating blow on her birthday when she is fired by a ruthless executive played by Dennis Quaid.

Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Elisabeth learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to turn the user into a ‘younger, more beautiful, more perfect’ version of them self. 

Though Elisabeth initially tosses the phone number in the bin, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.

The one rule to follow is that Elisabeth and her better self Sue (Margaret Qualley) must trade places every seven days. 

So for one week at a time, she is forced again to live as her 50-year-old self. 

But the allure of youth and a made-for-TV butt proves too strong to resist that she tests the boundaries to see what the worst that can happen is if she squeezes an extra day or two in.

Earlier this month, Demi’s new film was described as the ‘most disgusting film ever’ by some viewers after it debuted on global streaming platform Mubi, having been generating buzz since its Cannes premiere in May.

It picked up the prize for best screenplay at the prestigious French film festival, as well as critical acclaim, with reviewers branding it ‘demented’ as well as ‘the most bats*** f****** insane movie of the last 20 years’.

Of course this chatter related to some of the movie’s unsavoury practices – which include 61-year-old Moore’s character Elisabeth Sparkle going as far as injecting herself in the spine.

This is all in a bid to stave off the physical effects of ageing by using a protocol described as ‘the substance’ – but leads to some unexpected outcomes, including a scene described by some as ‘boob vomiting’.

Following its Cannes premiere The Substance received positive reviews and, at the time in May, had a 92 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.