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DIGITAL

Opening Date

29 May 2025

Rating

R21 Sexual Scenes and Gore

Runtime

110 mins

Language

Norwegian with English subtitles

Genre

Horror

Director

Emilie Blichfeldt

Cast

Lea Myren, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, Ane Dahl Torp, Flo Fagerli

Synopsis

A sinister twist on the classic Cinderella story, THE UGLY STEPSISTER follows Elvira as she prepares to earn the prince’s affection at any cost. In a kingdom where beauty is a brutal business, Elvira will compete with the beautiful and enchanting Agnes to become the belle of the ball.

Reviews

By InCinemas 29 May 2025

A terrifyingly honest portrayal of one’s struggle with high beauty standards and cultural norms.

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Drawing inspiration from the Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella, writer-director Emilie Blichfeldt makes a (bloody) splashing debut with The Ugly Stepsister, starring Lea Myren, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, Ane Dahl Torp, and Flo Fagerli.

The body horror film is a retelling of the classic fairytale through a different perspective – more specifically the eyes of Elvira (Myren). At its core, the story remains the same. Elvira and her younger sister Alma (Fagerli) move in with Otto and his daughter Agnes (Næss) when their mother Rebekka (Torp) weds the former. Otto dies much too soon after and the family learns that he was actually poor, forcing a desperate Rebekka to marry off Elvira for money.

Elvira dreams of marrying the superficial Prince Julian and is ecstatic when she receives an invitation to the royal ball alongside her stepsister Agnes. To prepare, Rebekka sends Elvira for finishing lessons and cosmetic surgeries – a desperate attempt to beautify her otherwise conventionally ugly daughter competing against the likes of Agnes’ natural beauty. Alma on the other hand, while too young to married off, is unbothered by all the fuss over beauty.

Here is where the film takes an evidently darker turn, a far escape from the happily-ever-after animated Disney version of the same tale. The gruesome cosmetic surgeries Elvira undergoes are graphic and stomach-turning but also so unique and mind-boggling, you won’t be able to look away. In addition to the vivid procedures, Elvira also swallows a tapeworm egg to help her lose weight, a move that eventually deteriorates her body.

Despite this, Elvira manages to hide her discomfort and impress the prince at the ball. That is, until a veiled Agnes shows up and steals his attention. Agnes accidentally leaves behind a slipper when leaving the ball. Knowing Prince Julian would use it to identify his mystery woman, Evira forces Agnes to give her the remaining slipper in a last ditch effort to woo the prince. Upon realising her feet are too big, Elvira chops off her toes so she can fit the dainty slipper. If you think that’s bad, it gets worse because Rebekka finds her and exclaims she severed the wrong foot and proceeds to dismember Elvira’s last remaining toes while she drifts in and out of consciousness from the loss of blood.

Prince Julian correctly identifies Agnes anyway, deeming all of Elvira’s torturous efforts futile. She eventually breaks down from the excrutiating pain and revelation (and ever-growing tapeworm in her body). Alma – no longer able to see her dear sister in distress – coaxes Elvira to drink an antidote to expel the tapeworm and leave their avaricious mother.

The level of distressing body horror peppered throughout the film increases over time, one worse than the next, with the film’s final attempt at shocking viewers being the most horrifying of them all. The grisliness of seeing the giant tapeworm exiting Elvira’s body through her mouth is reminiscent of the chestburster scene in Alien (1979) – a strong closer that will definitely stay in your mind for awhile.

Underneath all the shock factor, The Ugly Stepsister is ultimately a terrifyingly honest portrayal of one’s struggle with high beauty standards and cultural norms. Elvira’s desire to be socially acceptable is something we can all relate to and it’s not too untypical for that desperation to drive us mad enough to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal. It’s a teachable lesson that sometimes the price we have to pay for validation is not all that worthy, if you can stomach it.
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