Movie Review: SHELL

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: October 3rd, 2025 / 12:50 AM

SHELL movie poster } ©2025 Paramount PIctures / Republic Pictures

Rating: R
Stars: Elisabeth Moss, Kate Hudson, Arian Moayed, Este Haim, Elizabeth Berkley, Kaia Gerber, Peter MacNicol, Randall Park, Ziwe, Brandon Keener
Writer: Jack Stanley
Director: Max Minghella
Distributor: Republic Pictures/Paramount
Release Date: October 3, 2025

THE SUBSTANCE was hardly the first cautionary horror tale about the perils of attempted self-improvement in Hollywood, but it may be what springs to mind while watching SHELL.

SHELL is a much more conventional horror thriller than THE SUBSTANCE, which has its pros and cons. It doesn’t keep us on our toes too much about where it’s going and it’s not nearly as visually wild.

On the upside, SHELL has clear motivations (we’re not wondering why the heck anybody would continue with the process, or what the providers are getting out of it) and a trajectory that makes sense, even if director Max Minghella seems a bit shy about writer Jack Stanley’s big third-act plot development.

We open with actress/activist Jenna Jenaro (Elizabeth Berkley) in her bloodstained bathroom, trying desperately to scrape black encrustation off her legs. She’s on the phone, hysterical. Then an intruder enters, breaks Jenna’s neck, and puts her in a body bag.

A news report announces Jenna is “missing.” A morning show host then interviews Zoe Shannon (Kate Hudson), the head of the largest health and wellness brands company in America, including the youth-preserving company Shell. Zoe, who looks just like Hudson does these days, reveals that she’s actually sixty-eight years old, but maintains her stunning appearance with the aid of Shell treatments.

Then we meet Samantha Lake (Elisabeth Moss), once the star of a long-running popular sitcom, now auditioning for roles where her competition includes erstwhile influencer Chloe Benson (Kaia Gerber). Chloe is not only about half Samantha’s age, Samantha used to be Chloe’s babysitter.

Demoralized after not getting the part (and surreptitiously recording the conversation between the casting directors, so she hears it’s definitely about her age), Samantha then gets a second whammy from her agents. Their firm now represents Shell, and they’re encouraging all their clients to avail themselves of that company’s services.

Samantha is nervous but makes an appointment at Shell. She encounters Chloe again, although the twenty-two-year-old wouldn’t seem to need anything just yet. It’s the agents, pushing the notion that nobody can ever appear too young.

Samantha sees a promo reel from Shell co-founder Dr. Thaddeus Brand (Peter MacNicol) talking about how certain marine creatures, like lobsters and jellyfish, do not age and regenerate their cells. Shell has synthesized this phenomenon.

Reassured by agreeable Dr. Hubert (Arian Moayed), Samantha submits to the treatment. She indeed has more energy, looks more youthful and is then befriended by Zoe.

But of course, the possible side effects surface at the worst possible time. Samantha starts to get suspicious, partly about what’s happening to her skin, but also about how Shell and Zoe want to handle things.

Big pharma hiding conspiracies is common in both reality and fiction, so we’re inclined to go along with this aspect of SHELL. We’re not quite sure why Zoe so fully gravitates to Samantha, other than Moss’s charm in the part, but we accept this, too.

Moss is wholly convincing throughout, including when Samantha goes through her phase of renewed fame and insensitivity. Moss is a performer who can readily combine intelligence and naivete, so that Samantha’s emotional transitions flow naturally.

Hudson has the appeal and authority of a CEO down to a T, and plays up her amiability, so that we see why Samantha is willing to trust her. Gerber has genuine sweetness, Moayed is affable as Samantha’s primary doctor, and Esme Haim is likable as Samantha’s put-upon bestie.

Most of the makeup effects look like legitimate epidermal outbreaks. However, when we get to the third act, we can’t tell if Minghella was afraid that going big would be too goofy, or if perhaps major effects were attempted and deemed insufficient.

SHELL is overall the kind of horror thriller escapism it advertises in its premise and style. If it doesn’t get quite as gonzo as it might, it still pretty much delivers the goods.

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