The Ugly Stepsister Review: A Horrifying Tale

The Ugly Stepsister is a retelling of the magical Cinderella story, this time with a petrifying twist as the titular ugly stepsister takes center stage.

In The Ugly Stepsister, we follow the titular ‘ugly stepsister’ (Lea Mathilde Skar-Myren), also known as Elvira, as she descends into madness when the Prince (Isac Calroth) of the nearby town is looking for a wife. Elvira’s mother (Ane Dahl Torp) desperately needs her to look her best in order to win the Prince’s love and will do whatever it takes to make her appear beautiful. This retelling is set in 19th century alternative reality Swedlandia, so the cosmetic procedures we know about now are much more advanced than what Elvira is about to undergo. Think needles into the tear ducts of the eyes, and a hammer straight to the nose. No pain relief, just the fingers crossed of those in the room that it all goes well. And for those who know how horror films unfold, we all know it isn’t about to go smoothly. 

Elvira is a quiet, secluded girl, who is forced to make changes to her lifestyle when her mother marries into a rich family, making her a step-sister to Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss), this story’s Cinderella. Agnes has luscious long blonde hair and a wardrobe full of ball gowns to die for. Elvira moves into Agnes’ house without even a hairbrush, leaving her dreaming of a life where she could be as glamorous as her. 

Whilst it’s labelled as a horror, there’s only the occasional scene that is really wicked. The body horror elements we see towards the final act of the film are somewhat horrifying, but after a few seconds, it’s all done. The real horror in The Ugly Stepsister is the way in which a young girl would undergo a rhinoplasty and consider a breast lift as a teenager just to get a man’s attention. A comparison to The Substance is justified here, due to the nature of the women in both films not feeling good enough, and the scenes of body horror. But it’s definitely also comparable, if not moreso, to obsession movies like Black Swan and Luca Guadagnino’s version of Suspiria, where the women will stop at nothing to prove they’re good enough. There is no limit when it comes to trying to impress someone. 

On the surface, Elvira isn’t ugly. Her character is given braces and unbrushed hair to make her seem unattractive, but it’s her mother who feeds her unpleasant words about her appearance, and that’s when she begins to doubt herself. In fact, it’s never Elvira’s choice to get the procedures done to her face to make her seem more ‘beautiful’. Elvira believed she could marry the Prince just by being herself. The Ugly Stepsister is a story about self worth. When there’s someone constantly talking in your ear about how you’re not good enough, you start to believe it. 

Cinematographer Marcel Zyskind captures the fairy-tale land of Swedlandia to look elegant, even if the goings-on aren’t so pretty. Its aesthetic is a mix between the bewitching visuals in both Sofia Coppola’s The Beguiled and Marie Antoinette, mixed with Lucky McGee’s disquieting May and Jack Hill’s 1967 Spider Baby. It marries both the luscious banquet meals and illustrious balls with dead rotting bodies. It’s gorgeously contradictory in the way in which Elvira wants to be beautiful but everything around her seems to be gruesome. 

The Ugly Stepsister, for the most part, is a unique retelling of the Cinderella story. It doesn’t reach its potential with the body horror elements, but if anything, it once again reminds the women in the audience that there’s never any point in changing yourself for a man; it will never do you any good. 

The Ugly Stepsister will be released in US theatres on April 18, 2025 and in UK & Irish cinemas on April 25.