The Ugly Stepsister trailer is Cinderella by way of The Substance

Walt Disney meets David Cronenberg in the new trailer for The Ugly Stepsister, which hits next month.

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  March 17, 2025 | 9:18pm
Credit: Marcel Zyskind
Film News The Ugly Stepsister
The Ugly Stepsister trailer is Cinderella by way of The Substance
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Last year, The Substance used fairy tale tropes to tell a nightmare of modern beauty standards. With The Ugly Sister, writer and director Emilie Blichfeldt makes the subtext text, and with this trailer’s hard-charging techno score and bold font choices, it’s wearing the comparison on its surgery-scarred face. Finally bringing body horror to the timeless tale of Cinderella, The Ugly Stepsister pits stepsister against stepsister in a gorey war for Prince Charming’s love.

Here’s the synopsis:

A sinister twist on the classic Cinderella story, THE UGLY STEPSISTER follows Elvira (Lea Myren) as she prepares to earn the prince’s affection at any cost. In a kingdom where beauty is a brutal business, Elvira will compete with the beautiful and enchanting Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss) to become the belle of the ball.

The A.V. Club‘s Film Editor Jacob Oller reviewed the film during Sundance this year and called it “looksmaxxing at its most horrific.” He continues, “The impressively nasty first feature from Norwegian filmmaker Emilie Blichfeldt, this grimmer than Grimm take on Cinderella has already been snapped up by horror streamer Shudder, and it’s easy to see why. As Elvira (Lea Myren) gets put through a medieval body-horror makeover by her gold-digging mother (Ane Dahl Torp)—in order to prepare for the prince’s ball, where Elvira may follow in her mom’s seductive footsteps—The Ugly Stepsister gets more and more brutal.”

The Ugly Stepsister opens in theaters on April 18.

 
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