“What if Depraved and The Substance had a grubby child?” This was the headline for my review of The Ugly Stepsister out of Sundance 2025, as I cheered this twisted fairytale filled with violent magnificence therapies and physique horror.
Directed by Emilie Blichfeldt, The Ugly Stepsister re-imagines the story of Cinderella from the attitude of one among her maligned siblings. Elvira (Lea Myren) desires solely to be pals together with her fairly and correct new stepsister Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss). Effectively, that and he or she pines endlessly for the love of the prince, who publishes poetry that has her swooning into romantic fantasies. So when Elvira’s mom guarantees her a path to wowing royalty on the upcoming ball, she’ll do no matter it takes — even when meaning a medieval nostril job with out anesthesia. And issues solely get extra ugly from there.
As promised in my evaluation — which is pull-quoted within the above trailer — “The Ugly Stepsister is a deranged and dizzying achievement, folding in a traditional story with a bitingly trendy satire and daring physique horror…Merely put, The Ugly Stepsister is savagely brutal and but surprisingly stunning.”
The Ugly Stepsister opens in theaters April 18.
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