The Ugly Stepsister

Name: The Ugly Stepsister
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama, Horror, Comedy
Released: April 18, 2025
Duration: 105 min
Rating: 70

2025

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Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews

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Movie Details & Credits

Shudder | Release Date: April 18, 2025 | Not Rated

Summary: In a fairy-tale kingdom where beauty is a brutal business, Elvira battles to compete with her incredibly beautiful stepsister, and she will go to any length to catch the prince’s eye.

Genre(s): Sci-Fi, Drama, Horror, Comedy

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 105 min

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Critic Reviews

Jeannette Catsoulis

Apr 17, 2025

The movie, adapted by the Norwegian filmmaker Emilie Blichfeldt from the Cinderella story, is the opposite of didactic: Slyly funny and visually captivating (the luscious cinematography is by Marcel Zyskind), its scenes move with ease from gross to gorgeous, and from grotesque to magical. Read full review

Bilge Ebiri

Jan 26, 2025

We know, of course, that none of this will end well, and Blichfeldt gives us every gnarly, disgusting consequence in agonizing detail, be it vomit, blood, severed body parts, or some combination thereof. Nevertheless, the film is beautiful in its own way, like a Scandinavian fairy-tale riff on Italian giallo, narratively disquieting but cinematically exhilarating. Read full review

Tara Brady

Apr 24, 2025

The Norwegian writer-director Emilie Blichfeldt roasts conventional heroines and female beauty standards in this gruesome, hilarious reworking of Cinderella. Read full review

Jacob Oller

Jan 26, 2025

Blichfeldt’s film offers a R-rated counterpoint better than most “faithful” fairy tale adaptations. Read full review

Chase Hutchinson

Jan 26, 2025

It’s far from perfect and is at its brutal best in the final stretch, though it manages to get there in mostly one piece — even when its characters do not. Read full review

Lovia Gyarkye

Jan 26, 2025

Blichfedlt’s aesthetic ambition — hyper-pop prevails here — and a committed performance from Les Myren as the titular stepsister help enliven a film that, at times, is weighed down by its more farcical antics. Read full review

Hannah Strong

Apr 23, 2025

The film’s creative gore alone cannot paper over the ultimate flimsiness of Blichfeldt’s concept, which amounts to an adolescent scrawl of fairytale satire, somehow less interesting and transgressive than Angela Carter’s ‘The Bloody Chamber’ which predates it by 46 years. Read full review

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