CHRISSY VS. THE UGLY STEPSISTER

Chrissy Winters gets into why Shudder’s body horror film the Ugly Stepsister isn’t a Disney Fairytale

Determined to outshine her beautiful stepsister, Elvira resorts to extreme measures to win the prince’s heart in this dark re-imagining of the Cinderella fairy tale.

Written and Directed by: Emilie Blichfeldt

Starring: Lea Myren, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, Ane Dahl Torp, Flo Fagerli, Isac Calmroth, Malte Gårdinger

Debut director Emile Blichfeldt’s Norwegian film, The Ugly Stepsister, subverts the classic Cinderella story, using gruesome and familiar body horror to depict the extreme measures women will go to achieve outward beauty and attract undeserving men. This is a story that turns an episode of “Botched” into a fairytale nightmare.

What if the story of one of the “ugly” stepsisters was told instead of that of the bedraggled beauty Cinderella? How fair is it that this popular fairytale taught generations of children that the worst thing one can be is unattractive? That beauty and goodness somehow go hand in hand. 

The Ugly Stepsister is not a film about the merits of inner beauty or even goodness, in fact, not one character in this film seems to have true inner beauty save, the youngest sister Alma, who joins the viewer as audience to the madness of her mother and sister. 

The film’s opening scene introduces us to Elvira, a teenage girl who is travelling by horse-pulled wagon with her mother and younger sister, so her mother Rebekka can marry a widower named Otto because of his presumed wealth.

Elvira spends the journey reading a poetry book written by Prince Julius and daydreaming of becoming the object of his affection. Her dream depicts his love shooting her in the heart. And Elvira becomes overtaken by his love. Fairy Tales, romance novels and romantic comedies have been leading generations of women to the idea that a prince is going to make them happy. This is Elvira’s fairytale gone wrong.

Not long after their arrival, Otto passes away, in a wholly unattractive manner and the family learn that he was financially broke. In fact, Otto married Rebekka because he thought she had money. Otto’s daughter Agnes, a teen herself, looks down on Rebekka and her girls because of their social standing. Agnes is perceived as very beautiful, especially compared to Elvira.  Agnes now had the bad luck of being part of Rebekka’s family.

Rebekka decides that the only way out of their precarious financial situation is to marry Elvira off to Prince Julian and pushes her to partake in primitive plastic surgeries to improve her looks. Elvira even swallows a tapeworm to lose weight, and her physical health begins to suffer greatly, even causing her hair to fall out. 

I couldn’t help but marvel at the similarities that these primitive surgeries performed by a very unsettling and unscrupulous doctor have with today’s modern procedures. In modern times women and even men are more obsessed than ever with their own physical beauty. 

This is despite the equality of women in education and the workforce. In 2025 there is a rapidly dissipating need for women to marry to ensure financial stability. But still the beauty industry makes billions of dollars on women’s insecurities. Who are we trying to impress? Is it the image of our own selfies? Do we want to prove that we have somehow beat the aging process that comes for us all? 

 Elvira’s story also rings true in the way that she never sees it as enough. One procedure leads to another. She refuses to take an antidote to kill the tapeworm, for her and her mother she’s never thin enough, never good enough. What makes it worse is that Elvira is chasing the affection of a man who quite frankly kind of sucks. 

Eventually Rebekka turns Agnes into a house servant and in a fit of jealousy Elvira destroys Agnes’ dress that she’s meant to wear to the ball. 

The next act of the film contains a fairy godmother, anguish and competition. Elvira isn’t finished going to extremes to get the prince’s attention. What will it all cost her? Who will stand by her side in the end? Will she ever be enough? 

The ending of this film was satisfying and deeply impactful. I urge you to watch it. Normally I struggle with subtitles, but it didn’t bother me in this film. With open mouthed dread I couldn’t stop watching. The most disturbing scene is one that Elvira inflicts on herself. 

I won’t give it all away but remember the scene in the classic Disney film where the glass slipper didn’t fit the stepsister’s feet?  I’ll leave you to ponder what might come from that, in a film like this one. 

The gruesome scenes in The Ugly Stepsister are spaced out but when they happen, they are deeply impactful. Elvira’s transformation in both body and mind is disturbing. 

The Ugly Stepsister is a commentary on impossible beauty standards, the fleeting nature of being the ingenue of the ball and the curse of self-hate that women have been carrying with them for generations. That today in the world of social media, AI created beauty, and dating apps,  the increasing popularity of weight loss drugs, and plastic surgery is stronger than ever.

Chrissy Winters is a writer who lives surrounded by golden wheat fields and swaying soybeans in rural Ontario, Canada.  A graduate of Simon Fraser University’s The Writers Studio, Chrissy is a wife and mother of three and dog mom of two.  She loves creating characters, reviewing books, film and television and is fueled by exercise and coffee. Connect with her on Instagram @chrissyreadsandwrites.