The Ugly Stepsister

“Beauty is pain” is a phrase that every woman has heard consistently throughout her lifetime. Being a woman is being taught to sit through blood, sweat, and tears to get that much closer to the physical ideal and thus, to approval from a suitor. It’s a theme that’s present in life, so it’s no doubt that it’s become present in our horror movies too. From 1997’s anime classic Perfect Blue to 2024’s Oscar-winning hit The Substance, the phrase has seemingly evolved into “beauty is excruciating horror”, and in a world that can’t seem to shake plastic surgery or diet cultures, it’s no surprise that this concept has grown only more popular in our horror films.

Fairytales are also concepts that women have been shown consistently since birth. A quintessential girlhood experience is watching Cinderella and playing dress-up, dreaming of the day that you’ll get to be just like her. Norwegian director Emilie Kristine Blichfeldt’s debut film The Ugly Stepsister combines the most mindlessly innocent and the most darkly sinister concepts a little girl can be obsessed with, which are Cinderella and beauty standards respectively.

The vaguely 1800s world of Blichfeldt’s film reflects our modern one, where corrupt men give painful procedures to insecure girls that are lured into it by the older women who should be looking out for them. Elvira (Lea Myren) is the titular Ugly Stepsister in our story; she fits in with neither her family nor the surrounding town. Elvira’s stepfather has just passed away, leaving her family in a financial predicament. Her mother decides to obtain more money by marrying Elvira off to a rich man. The conflict occurs when Agnes, Elvira’s beautiful stepsister, is also an eligible bachelorette. Her mother cannot have Agnes receive any money, so she inquires about procedures that her unattractive daughter can get.

These procedures start off as painful but relatively normal, something as modest as getting braces removed. But as Agnes keeps receiving more attention while Elvira still cannot compete with the standards of her society, they get increasingly more demented. The horror of the film lies here: there’s no lengths she won’t go to in order to be beautiful, even if they amount to outright torture. Combine this with creepy princes that are universally desired and increasingly surreal dance sequences, and you have a film that’s bursting with style and gore and something to say, even if it doesn’t push the envelope as much as it could.

When watching a modern retelling of a classic story, it’s obvious when there’s an internet influence on it. This isn’t necessarily a detriment to the film, but there are ways to unravel a narrative that make the time period it was written evident. Out of every Cinderella retelling, there is something that feels distinctly 2025 about The Ugly Stepsister.

Maybe Blichfeldt just got incredibly unlucky releasing this film only a few months after Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance took over the world, as both are movies about women who go to impossible lengths to conform to the beauty standards of societies that have already made up their minds on them. It is ironic that a film about how toxic social comparisons are has been incessantly compared to an Oscar-winning film it was likely never going to exceed in sheer audience love. Because when you take The Ugly Stepsister at face value, it is an undoubtedly fun movie with excellent though sparingly used gore, a last act that goes into pretty deranged territory, a distinct and exciting visual style, and an undoubtedly star-making performance from Lea Myren.

Above all of those features, what makes this film has to be its visuals. Placing the plastic surgery aspect into Victorian times allows for a different, more sinister take on the gore, as the parallels with today are not lost on the audience. The main difference is that the machinery is older. something a little more sinister, something that lets the viewer realize that it’s the same techniques as today, just older machinery. There’s a particular scene with an eyelash surgery that is absolutely nasty and did have me squeaming, though it is not as vomit-inducing as reviews would have you believe. The gore has creativity and flair, as does the lighting and shot composition, which all point to the work of a truly promising director. The unconventional costume choices are another highlight, even if they serve little purpose besides looking cool. This is all elevated by Lea Myren, who exceptionally portrays obsession and depression in a girl who has been tormented by her society, her family, and even herself. She is absolutely brilliant in this role and will no doubt have a bright future after this debut.

Yet despite its clear standout elements, something is missing to solidify it as something worth watching—namely, nuanced messaging. It’s been established that beauty standards are hellish and that we’re being sold torture by the plastic surgery industry, but the film fails to say anything beyond that. There is nothing wrong with being shallow, but when there is an entire horror subgenre devoted to the pain women inflict on themselves for the sake of ever-advancing beauty standards, it is a letdown that this film has no further, more unique takeaway. 

When the trailer for The Ugly Stepsister dropped, the immediate question on everyone’s minds was “Is this just copying The Substance?”. The answer is no. Believe it or not, horror flicks about beauty standards have existed for decades! Neither film is saying anything particularly new with its messaging, but with the current state of society, it is clear that their themes are still crucial even if they feel stale. For what it’s worth, The Ugly Stepsister has interesting visual choices, solid production value, and a gripping performance at its center, and it is amazing to see stylish, gross horror films with something to say. For the girls!

6/10