Feminist body horror reached a new peak with Coralie Fargeat’s Oscar-nominated The Substance. But who says there can be only one gross-out spin on the twisted way society forces women to do extreme things to achieve impossible beauty standards. Norwegian filmmaker Emilie Blichfeldt has upped the ante with The Ugly Stepsister, and let’s just say if Cinderella and The Substance had a baby with David Cronenberg this would be the delightfully grotesque result.
There’s even a bit of Wicked at the heart of Blichfeldt’s reimagining, one that could have you feeling sorry for one of Cinderella’s evil stepsisters for falling victim to the pressure to be pretty, for falling victim to her heart’s desire, for falling in love with a Prince who is basically a toxic royal dickhead, for falling victim to her pushy mother. You might feel sorry for her for a little while, anyway, but then you’ll be too busy choking back your gag reflex as The Ugly Stepsister is not for the weak of stomach.
Not much needs to be changed from the darkest versions of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Set in 18th-century Sweden with all of the castles, royal gowns, and corsets to match, the film begins with the doomed holy union between two families. Arriving to a palatial estate via carriage is Elvira (Lea Myren), the brace-faced eldest daughter to Rebekah (Ane Dahl Torp) whose new marriage will prove to be short-lived. Elvira swoons for the heart of Prince Julian (Isac Calmroth), whose beautiful books of poetry have her dreaming of a happily ever after love story with him. In her wildest imaginations, she is decked out in a beautiful blue gown, blonde-haired and regal like a true princess. She feels the Prince is her one true love, and couldn’t imagine living a life without him.
But in this twisted take on Cinderella, everything and everybody is a nasty piece of work. Reality sucks for Elvira which is why escaping into fantasy is all she has to cling to. The Prince is a toxic dude bro who demeans women at every turn, and upon seeing Elvira for the first time declares her the one woman he has no interest in fucking. It doesn’t deter her in the least. Instead, it fuels her to do whatever it takes to be the object of his desire. Making matters worse is her elegant new stepsister Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss), who deeply resents these money-grubbing additions to her family. Agnes can barely hide her scorn, and when her father suddenly dies in graphic fashion at the dinner table, leaving her alone with Rebekah, Elvira, and the level-headed youngest stepsister Alma (Flo Fagerli), it leaves her outnumbered in her own home.
The Ugly Stepsister‘s whimsicality constantly collides with brutal body shaming, scenes of shocking gore, and physical deformity. There’s no money in this struggling household. Things are so tight that the body of Agnes’ father sits rotting and bloated without a burial, while Rebekah spends what little money is left on whatever suits her. When the Prince declares that he will choose his bride at a king’s ball mere days away, Elvira and Agnes are pressured into submitting themselves as a last-ditch effort to marry into wealth. While Agnes, who is hardly the shining example of charity and goodness she appears to be, is forced to shameful work around the house, Elvira undergoes violent transformations to become the most beautiful woman at court.
It’s these ghastly procedures that will leave audiences struggling to keep down their popcorn. As seen in the eye-catching promo images, she gets the nose job from Hell by a prancing quack equipped with a comically oversized tool. She’s fitted with a hideous nose brace that makes her an even greater target for humiliation. But that’s hardly all, as her cherubic face is deformed further with sickening eyelash implants, the camera zooming in on every disgusting, bloody thread as the needle pierces close to the eyeball. That’s not even the worst of all, as a scheming finishing school mistress offers her the medieval equivalent of a weight-loss pill; a tapeworm egg that will help her drop a few gown sizes. As you probably guessed, this turns out disastrously, the gurgling of the hungry tapeworm can be heard through all of Elvira’s attempts to refashion herself.
All of this self-mutilation is extremely hard to watch, and it also makes you feel something for the angelic Elvira. Her innocence and naivete shine through every disgusting procedure, as she clings hopelessly to her fantasies tighter than ever. This is her tragic, darkly comic story, but Agnes, scornfully nicknamed Cinderella, makes an impression with her rebellious spirit and eagerness to be her own woman. She’s no saint, as a scene of sexual depravity in the farmhouse will prove, but that also makes her the one character who doesn’t feel like she’s from a storybook.
Similar to The Substance, the focus on external beauty leads to monstrous results, culminating in Elvira’s big reveal of her glossy new self at the king’s ball. As she comes tantalizingly close to the man of her dreams, Elvira’s hopes are washed away in blood, vomit, viscera, and severed toes to fit a fateful slipper. And yet, there’s something hopeful and freeing in Elvira’s disturbing journey. The Ugly Stepsister isn’t saying anything new about impossible beauty standards faced by women, but who cares? With all of its nose-breaking, tapeworm-devouring, toe-chopping insanity, you’ll never look at Cinderella the same way again, and why would you want to?
Shudder will release The Ugly Stepsister in 2025.
