Movie · 2025 · Horror, Comedy, Drama · 1h 49m · NR · NO
Curator score: 6.2/10 (534.1K ratings)
If the shoe doesn't fit...
Overview
In a fairy-tale kingdom where beauty is a brutal business, Elvira battles to compete with her incredibly beautiful stepsister, Agnes, and she will go to any length to catch the Prince’s eye.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.2/10
IMDb: 7.0/10
Letterboxd: 3.64/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
Metacritic: 70
TMDB: 7.3/10
Director
Emilie Blichfeldt
Production
Mer Film, Lava Films, MOTOR, Scanbox Production, Zentropa International Sweden, Mediefondet Zefyr
Cast
Lea Myren, Ane Dahl Torp, Thea Sofie Loch Næss, Flo Fagerli, Isac Calmroth, Malte Gårdinger, Ralph Carlsson, Cecilia Forss, Katarzyna Herman, Adam Lundgren, Willy Ramnek Petri, Kyrre Hellum, Isac Aspberg, Albin Weidenbladh, Oksana Czerkasyna, Richard Forsgren, Paweł Janyst, Piotr Czarnecki, Agnieszka Żulewska, Staffan Kolhammar
Where to watch
Hulu, AMC+, Philo, Shudder
Curator Review
Verdict
A savage, body-horror fairy tale that turns beauty standards into a grotesque competition. It sounds like it blends dark comedy, social satire, and queasy transformation imagery into a knowingly outrageous take on Cinderella-adjacent mythology.
Best for
Viewers who like feminist horror satire
Fans of glossy but nasty body-horror
People drawn to fairy-tale deconstructions
Audiences who enjoy pitch-black comedy with social commentary
Skip if
You want a faithful, family-friendly fairy tale
You dislike body horror or cosmetic-obsession satire
You prefer subtle, low-key horror
You’re not in the mood for sexualized, grotesque, or confrontational material
Overview
The Ugly Stepsister takes a familiar fairy-tale framework and weaponizes it, turning beauty into a system of violence, vanity, and humiliation. The setup suggests a sharp blend of period-pageant sheen and splattery discomfort, with the comedy coming from how brutally the film understands social competition and self-destruction.
Worth noting
The Letterboxd reaction points to a movie that is both nasty and gleefully self-aware: part body-horror provocation, part class-and-beauty satire, part twisted coming-of-age story. It seems especially interested in how desire, status, and femininity get distorted when a kingdom treats attractiveness like a blood sport.
Bottom line
If you like films that use excess to make a point, this should land. It sounds less like a straight horror film than a feral fairy tale with a mean streak, aimed at viewers who enjoy style, shock, and a very unsentimental view of romance and beauty culture.