The Ugly Stepsister (2025) Dir.  Emilie Blichfeldt

Second Sight continues its excellent run of special edition releases with this stunning edition of Emilie Blichfeldt’s 2025 horror The Ugly Stepsister. This gruesome retelling of the Cinderella story follows Elvira (Lea Myren) whose mother (Ane Dahl Torp) ends up destitute after her new husband drops dead of a heart attack.

Obsessed with marrying Prince Julian (Isac Calmroth), who is due to hold a ball, Elvira – egged on by her mother – begins a painful series of cosmetic surgeries. Blichfeldt uses the procedures as a blunt instrument – never slipping truly into all out gore but providing plenty of moments to make the audience wince. It’s worth remembering how dark the original Grimm story was, and Blichfeldt deftly integrates a commentary on how we police women’s bodies throughout.

This isn’t just through the ‘beauty is pain’ motif, which sees our protagonist willing have her nose broken, have eyelashes literally sewn into her skin and ingest a tapeworm, all to look her best, but also the construct of virginity. The Prince calls a ball for noble virgins yet is spied discussing his latest conquests with his friends. Virginity is yet another way in which he can control the women in his life.

This is further explored through Elvira’s stepsister Agnes (Thea Sofie Loch Næss), who is also invited to the ball until she is caught having sex with a stableboy. When Elvira moves in, Agnes is reserved but kind, until her father dies and then, in the throes of grief and disgusted by the actions of her stepmother, she rejects the ‘ugly’ stepsister. She is forced into her scenario to escape the family, a natural beauty, yes, and therefore the focus of Elvira’s jealously, but also truly in love with a stableboy, regardless of his position in society.

It's a brutal piece, all building towards a bloody, puke-covered, bone-breaking end, but Blichfeldt never loses touch with the deeper themes at play. It never feels excessive, just uncomfortable enough to make the audience empathise. Like Walerian Borowczyk through the lens of Julia Ducournau, it uses genre to ask deeper questions about bodily autonomy and gender roles, careful to never sacrifice the meaning, or the fun of a good horror flick.

As normal, Second Sight have done an incredible job with this release. The transfer looks incredible – although to be fair it should as the film is only a year old – and the interviews provide a little bit of insight into the story, and how this fairytale can resonate with modern audiences.

There’s also a video essay by Kat Hughes on the film, and Blichfeldt’s previous short films How Do You Like My Hair, and Saras intimate betroelser. Not included with our review copy, but available with the special edition is a 120-page booklet containing Blichfeldt’s own short story of the film, storyboard comparisons and new writing about The Ugly Stepsister.

★★★★

4 / 5

Matthew Tilt

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