PopHorror Let's Get Scared
I’m a huge fan of body horror and I grew up on Disney’s animated films, so when I heard we were getting a dark body horror take on Cinderella known as The Ugly Stepsister, I was pretty excited. Recently I was given the opportunity to check out The Ugly Stepsister.
Read on for my thoughts on this upcoming Shudder offering!
Synopsis
The story follows Elvira as she battles against her gorgeous stepsister in a realm where beauty reigns supreme. She resorts to extreme measures to captivate the prince, amidst a ruthless competition for physical perfection.
The Ugly Stepsister was written and directed by Emilie Blichfeldt. The film stars Lea Myren, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, Ane Dahl Torp, Flo Fagerli, and Isac Calmroth.
A Twisted Fairy Tale
The Ugly Stepsister is a story that I think everyone can relate to. Everyone’s wanted to be more beautiful, more handsome, skinnier, or wanted to change some aspect of our appearance. This makes the protagonist Elvira a very relatable character. It could easily be us in her shoes.
Elvira starts the film as a very sweet and hopelessly romantic young woman. She’s fallen for Prince Julian after reading a book of his poetry. After her stepfather Otto dies, Elvira’s family is left broke. When all the young woman are invited to a ball where Prince Julian will pick his bride, Elvira is pressured by her mother Rebekka to undergo procedures to alter her appearance to make her more traditionally beautiful as to be more appealing to the prince and any other wealthy suitors that may be at the ball.
I really enjoyed following Elvira’s journey. That she starts the movie as such a sweet and good natured person makes her easy to root for. As the film goes on and Elvira is made more beautiful on the outside, she becomes uglier on the inside and becomes more the wicked stepsister we know from the fairy tale. She becomes a different person to win the love of her handsome prince and elevate her families status. Even as she descends into obsession, Elvira is still relatable because at the end of the day, she just wants to feel loved and wanted. Elvira’s arc reminded me of one of my absolute favorite films, Lucky McKee’s May.
Lea Myren is excellent as Elvira. She gives her all in her performance and completely embodies Elvira’s changing personality. Ane Dahl Torp is wickedly evil as her mother Rebekka. She’s cold, calculating and manipulative. It’s easy to see how Elvira feels helpless in the situation her mother puts her in, with her families livelihood at stake. Thea Sofie Loch Næss is wonderful as Agnes, the Cinderella of the story. You see her go from a cold, distant, grieving character to someone who is more sympathetic, though not entirely so as she only wants the prince for his money and not love.
The Ugly Stepsister features some deliciously dark imagery including surgical procedures, severed body parts, rotting bodies with tons of maggots, vomiting up tapeworm eggs and a disgustingly massive tapeworm. The film also dips its toes into the traditional Disneyfied version of the story without diving in headfirst.
Final Thoughts
The Ugly Stepsister is a dark body horror takes on the traditional Cinderella story. It’s feature an intriguing and emotionally investing journey for the main character Elvira and a ton of dark and unsettling imagery. If you like dark fairy tales and/or body horror I highly recommend The Ugly Stepsister.
You can check it out on Shudder and in select theaters starting April 18, 2025.
